note ariels "It depends" on what you (and they!) mean. Sure, we use our tools. For instance, you are clearly a misguided <a href="http://www.vim.org/">vim</a> heathen, whereas I program in the light of pure (<a href="http://www.xemacs.org">X</a>)<a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/">Emacs</a>. Even vi lovers are better than the wimps who "program" Perl using <a href="http://www.washington.edu/pine/">pico</a>. Then there are tagging tools, cross-referencing tools, different modules for profiling, <a href="http://www.gnu.org/software/a2ps/">programs for printing code</a>, ... Since we all have Too Much Time, we tweak our tools: syntax highlighting editors, macros, indentation styles, ... So almost no two environments are alike. But are we really each building our own tools? Not really. I didn't write my text editor. RMS did, but he still uses other tools he did not write. I pick and choose which Emacs Lisp extensions to add to my basic setup; I occasionally add some Emacs Lisp of my own, but I did not write my own editing environment. I suspect you did not, either. The solution? Set things up so you can work from any station at your place of work. With centrally-installed Emacs, vi, compilers, perl, and a few other well-chosen components, you get access to your heart's desire (or at least to your less-hated tool). But how to load your configuration? Usernames are a great help here (too)! When I log on as <tt>ariels</tt>, I can run Emacs and know it will read <tt>~ariels/.emacs</tt> for configuration. I believe in centrally-installed tools, but with an "open" administration policy: If I want some other tool, I stuff it in <tt>~ariels/bin</tt> (or an architecture-dependent subdirectory for a binary). If two more people show an interest, I should be able to ask administration to install it centrally. Everyone should use mostly centrally-provided tools, but with personal configurations. Woe to the person who forces an editor on me. 178776 178776