Stuff that every programmer should know but isn't necessarily in the school books
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
dabs wrote:
WinRar
How about 7zip instead?
John
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
notepad++
John
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dabs wrote:
WinRar
How about 7zip instead?
John
+1 for 7z.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
- MSDN
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- "How to get an answer to your question" aka "Chris Maunder's 11 commandments"
:)
If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler. -- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.
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dabs wrote:
Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.
Ctrl+Tab is much neater for that purpose (in the browsers and VS, etc.,).
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
That's the first thing I thought of when reading the original post. Ctrl+Tab also switches between toolbars where as Ctrl+PgUp doesn't (at least it doesn't in VS2008). I only found out the Ctrl+Pgup shortcut existed a couple of years ago where as I've been using the Ctrl+Tab shortcut for over 10 years.
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
What does computer science and windows short-cuts have in common? I think that material is better left to an introduction to computers or business software lay course. If I walked into a C.S. course and the first day the prof. went over such things I would drop the course or switch professors. (Or go to the Department Head and yell).
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
Concept: Virtualization (What it is, with a demo). More shortcuts: Alt+Space+N, Alt+Space+C, Alt+Space+X, WinKey+M, WinKey+D (this is different from WinKey+M, this will "show" the desktop and pressing it again will toggle the windows to previous state, whereas WinKey+M will minimize everything) and there are plenty other I use every day. And when a non-technical person happens to see it, usually it is "shocking" for them. :) Most people know Alt+Tab, but there's also Alt+Shift+Tab and WinKey+Tab. There's also Ctrl+RightArrow (and Ctrl+other directional arrow keys), Ctrl+Home, Ctrl+End, Ctrl+A, ... How to use osalt[^] to find an application that is open source, free and that "just works". How to keep the computer safe (hosts file to begin with?), how can SysInternals suite[^] help in development, etc., NOT using the download manager that comes with IE (oh wait, IE does not have one :rolleyes: ), especially while doing reasonable large downloads. There's a thing called FDM[^], which is free, open source and works like a charm.
It is a crappy thing, but it's life -^ Carlo Pallini
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
dabs wrote:
instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer
:omg: :omg: No no no. It screws most applications that have an icon in the tray area.
If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki
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What does computer science and windows short-cuts have in common? I think that material is better left to an introduction to computers or business software lay course. If I walked into a C.S. course and the first day the prof. went over such things I would drop the course or switch professors. (Or go to the Department Head and yell).
Need custom software developed? I do C# development and consulting all over the United States. A man said to the universe: "Sir I exist!" "However," replied the universe, "The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation." --Stephen Crane
I totally agree with Ennis on this. Forget all this intro rubbish. If you've got a bunch of undergrads on a computer science course who don't know basic windows short cuts then they might as well leave immediately. Give them a proper intro to programming, show them some code, get them writing code. Don't teach them how to use computers. If they are ever going to be even semi decent programmers they should be able to figure things like that out for themselves. By all means, if you feel like it, giving them a printed sheet of "tips" then go for it, but don't patronize them by wasting their time with this stuff. Our first day at uni included an intro to "the labs". It was handled perfectly, there was one 3rd year for every ~10 newbies, They handed out printed sheets of common unix commands, and the basic tools you would need, a Java tutorial, and a guide to the various file shares. You could tell within about 5 minutes who was going to make it through the course and who wasn't. The best had emacs/vi up and some simple code running almost immediately. The worst were still trying to figure out what the ls command did. Even having never touched unix before (and very little Java), I was very quickly compiling code. Lesson 2 went straight into full on Java. You could figure out the commands and short cuts in your spare time.
Simon
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dabs wrote:
instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer
:omg: :omg: No no no. It screws most applications that have an icon in the tray area.
If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki
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I totally agree with Ennis on this. Forget all this intro rubbish. If you've got a bunch of undergrads on a computer science course who don't know basic windows short cuts then they might as well leave immediately. Give them a proper intro to programming, show them some code, get them writing code. Don't teach them how to use computers. If they are ever going to be even semi decent programmers they should be able to figure things like that out for themselves. By all means, if you feel like it, giving them a printed sheet of "tips" then go for it, but don't patronize them by wasting their time with this stuff. Our first day at uni included an intro to "the labs". It was handled perfectly, there was one 3rd year for every ~10 newbies, They handed out printed sheets of common unix commands, and the basic tools you would need, a Java tutorial, and a guide to the various file shares. You could tell within about 5 minutes who was going to make it through the course and who wasn't. The best had emacs/vi up and some simple code running almost immediately. The worst were still trying to figure out what the ls command did. Even having never touched unix before (and very little Java), I was very quickly compiling code. Lesson 2 went straight into full on Java. You could figure out the commands and short cuts in your spare time.
Simon
Simon Stevens wrote:
If you've got a bunch of undergrads on a computer science course who don't know basic windows short cuts then they might as well leave immediately.
In my experience it's even worse - if they have never programmed before they might as well leave immediately. They won't learn it from the course, and if they do then it's only "just enough" to pass that course - they'll still fail on the first course where programming is a means rather than a goal.
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notepad++
John
I reply on it every day... much quicker to look at a source files.
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
I think you can assume a certain level of computer skills if someone is in a CS class.
"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
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"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001 -
Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
If I was going to a school and they were teaching that, I'd ask for a refund. Don't get me wrong, some nice "benign hacks/tips/tricks" are fun to learn, but do not make that a "chapter" in your curriculum. Anyway, don't forget to tech them to use the "shut down" button of their computer and learn to live.
This signature was proudly tested on animals.
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Only very badly written ones...
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
He he. As if there are just a few out there! :-D
If you truly believe you need to pick a mobile phone that "says something" about your personality, don't bother. You don't have a personality. A mental illness, maybe - but not a personality. - Charlie Brooker My Photos/CP Flickr Group - ScrewTurn Wiki
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
- in fifteen years, the only programmers in the West will be academics and hobbyists.
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Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
* Unit-testing (NUint, TestDriven.NET) * Using a profiler * Virtual Machines / Remote connections / Remote debugging * Some basic patterns The book "Don't make me think" should also be included :)
I are troll :)
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Only very badly written ones...
I doubt it. If it isn't intuitive then we need to fix it. - Chris Maunder
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- in fifteen years, the only programmers in the West will be academics and hobbyists.
And the software industry will collapse because of horrible code quality :)
Cédric Moonen Software developer
Charting control [v2.0] OpenGL game tutorial in C++ -
Hi all, I will be teaching an introductory course for students studying computer science this fall, and I was thinking that it might be a good idea to spend a little time teaching them about all kinds of stuff that they will probably not read in their books, but are nonetheless useful (and sometimes useless) information for all programmers. Stuff like: - shortcuts, both obvious and not-so-obvious (such as Windows+E to start Windows Explorer, Ctrl+PageUp to switch between tabs in Excel/Chrome etc.) - command line commands, maybe the 10 most commonly used (both on Windows and Unix) - tools they should know exist, both tools that are already installed on their computers (Task Manager, Event Viewer etc.) and others they can download (WinRar, Firebug etc.) - tricks that might come in handy at times (you can use Ctrl+C to copy error messages to the clipboard when a messagebox appears, instead of rebooting when you install Subversion you can just kill Explorer etc.) What would you add to this list? Regards, Daniel
Wenn ist das Nunstück git und Slotermeyer? Ja! Beierhund das oder die Flipperwaldt gersput!
How to use a debugger - it's amazing how many new grads have never debugged anything before, and seem amazed when you tell them that using prints and messageboxes isn't the best way
Help me! I'm turning into a grapefruit! Buzzwords!