Post your favorite programming/computer/IT tips

Anything you like.  Tools you use, techniques for readability, resources, etc. etc.

The first one that comes to mind isn't particularly useful, but was kind of fun.  The power switch on my desktop's case got broken when I was installing my video card back in 2020.  Not wanting to buy a new case, I hooked up the power pin to the reset switch.  What's fun about this configuration is that the LED for the power switch still functions, so if the FBI (for whatever reason) took my computer as evidence, they'd have a frustrating few days trying to turn it on before opening the case.

Computers collect dust; more than just inert boxes because most computers use forced-airflow to cool down.  As part of spring cleaning, open your computers and clean the dust off surfaces.   Do it more often if you've got pets that shed fur.

Pro tip:

If you date a CS nerd or make it such that all of your friends are CS nerds, you don't need to learn CS. 😉

Pro tip:

If you date a CS nerd or make it such that all of your friends are CS nerds, you don't need to learn CS. 😉

I don't think you know this, but as a rule, "General Discussion" is for more serious discussion.  However, I'm not going to ban you as I don't think you are intentionally trying to derail the conversation. 

That said, as a non-computer science person, your tips and ideas are especially appreciated, as they give a perspective that is uncommon in this space.  So share away!

programming

• at least try disabling syntax highlighting. I use a very minimal theme: comments and strings are red, all other text is white. This enables me to read code naturally, like a book vs skimming
• I like helix for a text editor because it's like vim but good out of the box due to integrated LSP so "spending hours configuring <editor>" isn't a thing
• once steel scheme plugin support gets merged into helix some day I think we're gonna get something like org-mode and it will be amazing
• If you do a lot of parsing pls learn to write grammars instead of spaghetti code parsing for reasons (https://langsec.org/)
• learn readline shortcuts for bash/shell navigation https://www.bigsmoke.us/readline/shortcuts
• download Zeal and offline docsets because the modern web is slow and irritating

*nix

• EFI stubs can replace the bootloader
• most commonly shipped initramfs tools cook up some mid af initramfs, https://github.com/anatol/booster makes way smaller/faster ones (can improve boot time)
• systemd-analyze can help you improve boot times
• try a weird distro or BSD to learn about "standard" components via negativa: musl void linux = no systemd, no gnu libc, no apt (i dislike apt very much)
• if you care about FOSS networking: pfsense for router, openwrt for APs (because FreeBSD/pfsense network stack outperforms linux, openwrt because one place FreeBSD doesn't outperform linux is wifi drivers)
• also if you care about FOSS networking, Protectli sells corebooted devices
• watch this talk on how Netflix uses FreeBSD, it has so much good info on drivers, ISP <-> netflix relations/infra, kernel optimization for I/O https://youtu.be/36qZYL5RlgY. Amazing example of things being done different than you might expect because the theoretical "best practices" didn't turn out to be so great (e.g. not using ZFS on their ISP cache devices, just letting drives die)

physical stuff

• if your house is wired for coax, you can use MoCA adapters which often outperform wifi (and DEFINITELY powerline)
• use red lights at night for sleep / night vision preservation reasons
• self-dimming red night lights are pretty cheap and nice for non-bedroom house areas

minimalism

• hammock-driven development is real and I don't believe people can think/reason to their full potential well in front of a phone/computer/screen. write on paper.
• go completely offline sometimes, preferably often. I have firewall rules that disable internet after 6:30pm 10/10 highly recommend. Might add an exception so I can still use my OS's package manager
• use grayscale mode on your phone and you might find yourself reading books more
• compulsive phone use is literally a stim https://youtu.be/KKjMn_elwlY

DIABOLIZER TIPPED 1111 CORAL FOR THIS POST

I know that Windows is not the preferred OS on Wetfish.  For those who use Windows, there is a program I like called AutoHotKey.  It's a Windows scripting language for task automation and macros.  I use it to enable "always on top" for whatever video I'm watching.  Here are some other suggestions from Wikipedia:

• Remapping the keyboard, such as from QWERTY to Dvorak and other alternative keyboard layouts
• Using shortcuts to type frequently-used filenames and other phrases
• Typing punctuation not available on the keyboard, such as curved quotes (“…”)
• Typing other non-keyboard characters, such as the sign × used for dimensional measurement (e.g. 10′×12′)
• Simulating mouse cursor input via a script or keystrokes
• Opening programs, documents, and websites with simple keystrokes
• Pasting text strings on command (e.g. adding signatures to e-mails, message boards posts, etc.)
• Monitoring a system and automatically closing unwanted programs
• Scheduling an automatic reminder, system scan, or backup
• Filling out forms automatically
• Prototyping applications before implementing them in other, more time-consuming programming languages

macOS has a “search pasteboard”, which is like a global clipboard, but only for the contents of the current text search. I can select text in one app, copy it with Cmd+E, and then “paste” it with Cmd+G to find this text in any other app. It’s equivalent to copy&pasting into search box, but saves Cmd+F, Cmd+A, Cmd+V keystrokes, and doesn’t overwrite the normal clipboard. I use it all the time when cross-referencing stuff between web, docs, terminal, editors.

Wrap your thumb drives in velcro tape, so they can't get a finger print off them if you need to toss them.