# autocompletion: i prefer using my brain to autocompletion

there are two sorts of autocompletion. the first is where the autocompletion just lists all possible syntaxically correct options, like path completion for the cd command in bash. the other autocompletion is where a black box tells me the most likely ending for whatever i am typing. over time i learned to loathe both.

syntax completion is usually quite straightforward, predictable and generally understood how it works. however it is often flaky and invoking the completion then choosing the right option takes more time than what it would have taken if i just typed in the option myself completely. it also allows complexity to stay, it does not intrinsically motivate me to fix my environment such that autocompletion is not necessary.

let me explain through the path completion example. suppose i have a bash open, i am in a network file system directory with many files in it. i press tab tab. now bash has to stat every file and the whole shell just locks up. when the autocompletion is not instant, it is super annoying. do i just wait longer or shall i try to kill the botched autocomplete or shall i type further and hope for the best? all i wanted to spare typing 2 keyspresses and now i am involved in a complex decision making process. the other issue is when i press autocomplete too early, i get many choices and now i find myself reading through all the choices and have to make a choice whether to continue typing or take the first suggestion. again, in most cases i already know what i want and i could have finished typing but now instead of doing that i am reading words on the screen, eating up precious cache space in my small brain. the third problem is that if i have deeply nested directory hierarchies, i just keep tabbing through them. i never actually take action to fix them. "it is not so bad" i keep telling myself.

so without syntax or path autocompletion, my editor will never lock up. i will never need to think about whether to wait for autocompletion or not. no more pondering whether i should debug or improve the autocompletion or not. no more contemplation about the ideal autocompletion system. i just type the identifiers naturally. the screen is not jumping around with random unrelated information while i type. the only thing appearing is what i typed in, leading to a very distraction free experience. this is a blessing since have a very easily distractible personality. the other nice thing is that if i am forced to type in long identifiers or deep path hierarchies regularly, i will have some motivation to refactor the environment or structure so that such typing is unnecessary. basically no autocompletion intrinsically helps me maintain simplicity in my projects.

so these days i do not use any sort autocompletion. i even disabled path completion in bash. it was very odd at first. but eventually i got used to and i no longer miss autocompletion. and whenever people are complaining about an autocompletion failure, i just smirk under my nose, and feel happy that i no longer have such problems.

the other type of autocompletion is this machine learning based "let me finish what you started" sort of machinery. basically it wants to finish my sentences instead of letting me do so. i find this very misguided. i take pride that i am able to formulate full sentences without external help. i do not want help in writing. i do not use smartphones or other toys so i always have the ability to comfortably type in any word or sentence i wish. if i do not type the words myself, i do not learn how to spell them correctly. i am a kinesthetic learner. if i do not practice something, i do not learn. similarly if the computer finishes my thoughts, it is much harder for me to think. if i do not need to think then why am i even here? thinking and formulating full sentences is fun for me, i do not want computers to take that away. the implementation is usually also quite distracting. say i start typing a list of keywords i am interested in and then the search box starts suggesting others. the problem with this is that sometimes the suggested keyword has absolutely zero relevance to my query, yet i find it interesting so i am likely to search for that instead of what i originally wanted. basically the search box is taking away control of my interests and telling me what to look for instead. i am weak against temptations so i find it manipulative if things take advantage of this. so i do not want this either. i made sure that i see no completion on my machine when i use it. i can think and type for myself, thank you very much.

published on 2017-12-05

to the frontpage