If you haven’t done so already, you may want to start by reading the Preface to the Computing Series: Software as a Force Multiplier, Sections 1-3.
“Everything” you need for ultra-fast desktop search
1. Everything(tm) is an ultra-fast desktop search utility that can scan through hundreds of thousands of files in milliseconds using a pre-built and real-time updated index.
“Everything” brings order to information growing at scale (documents, photographs, source code, spreadsheets, etc.), and tames the problem of proliferating folder trees.
 Everything is a fast desktop search utility that can index 1 million files in less than 1 minute, and generate search queries in milliseconds. We’ve all been in the scenario of searching through electronic documents for a document you know you prepared three, maybe four weeks prior… maybe it was longer… and now you can’t remember where you saved it… or in what format: was it a quickly written text file, a word document, a few paragraphs within One Note, on a desktop post-it note, or did you email yourself from your phone?… After trying different Windows searches in various recently used folders and looking through Word, Excel, and PDF files, and trying to remember possible filenames to search for, at some point you prepare mentally for the moment when you will give up the search and attempt to redo the missing work, salvaging as much of it as you can remember.
The general problem of wasted effort locating information we know we have, occurs more often than we’d like to admit. With “Everything“, it can be better.
Continue reading this article…
If you haven’t done so already, you may want to start by reading the Preface to the Computing Series: Software as a Force Multiplier, Sections 1-3.
1. Notepad++: a programmable, extensible, feature-rich text editor
NotePad++ (NPP) is an open-source programmer’s text editor with outstanding built-in features that can be further enhanced with powerful plugins and extensively customized with your own configurations. NPPs features include syntax highlighting for a large collection of programming languages, code folding, recordable macros, cloned views, selectable shortcuts, tabbed documents, and a host of other capabilities.
But it is the plugins and customization that NPP an invaluable power-tool, capable of far more than text editing. NPP can serve as an automation engine, a complex calculator (for example between hex, binary, and decimal), or a light-weight IDE for any toolchain you wish. It is the second application (after Total Commander) which I install on a Windows computer.
This article describes a few of the dozens of capabilities. It also shares a pre-configured Notepad++ package that I use (20.0MB compressed, 50.0MB uncompressed, download here), which contains the configurations and capabilities I use. The file is portable and self-contained: just unpack NPP to your drive (in a separate folder to your current running instance) and run notepad++.exe from there.
 Notepad++, by Don Ho, multi-view with syntax highlghting
By Assad Ebrahim, on July 7th, 2019 (12,010 views) |
Topic: Software Engineering, SWEng--Toolbox
If you haven’t done so already, you may want to start by reading the Preface to the Computing Series: Software as a Force Multiplier, Sections 1-3.
1. Total Commander: a programmable, extensible, feature-rich two-panel orthodox file manager
Total Commander (TC) is more than just a two-panel orthodox file manager for Windows. It is a swiss army knife of computing utilities and is the first piece of software that I install on any Windows computer on which I’m working. Total Commander, used well, is a force multiplier.
Tenets of the TC approach:
- Two-panes is the natural way to think about most file and directory operations (source panel, destination panel).
- Keys beats mouse for speed and accuracy. Make the keyboard use easy. List of keyboard shortcuts and description of features
- A computing platform should be fully extensibility. Adding your own tools should be easy.
- Portability secures your investment: grab your totalcmd folder, copy to a new computer, and everything should work seamlessly.
I’ve been using TC continuously since 2001. Over the years, I’ve put together a Total Commander Expansion Pack (lite and full) for the TC platform that conforms to the tenets and further extends TC platform’s capabilities with tools I have found valuable. Both are pre-configured downloads to allow unpack and start using with minimum fuss (I use them when switching computers). Feel free to download and give them a try. Feedback or questions welcomed in the comments.
 Total Commander Expansion Pack Winter 2024 – Toolbar View with Integrated Applications, Download from link. Continue reading this article…
*New!* (29 Aug 2020) – Turtle Logo v1.8 (portable) is available! Developer kit with source code included. Suitable from ages 3 years to adult. (970 lines of Forth code).
1. Inspiring the next generation of technology builders.
A challenge facing parents and teachers is how to help children develop ‘builder’ relationships with technology rather than being limited to the passive consumption of content created by others. The consensus on what’s important for older kids and adults is clear: coding. This enables children to participate in the creation of their own technological “micro-worlds” — environments rich in educational potential.[14]
This autumn, spurred by having our own young children (one aged 4 years, the other 16 months), we began an experiment, the result of which is a Turtle Logo program for Windows computers (freely downloadable) that is simple enough to be accessible for children from 3 years and older, while providing an extensible platform that can grow with the child.
The long-term goal is to enable children to express their creativity, artistry, and natural ‘builder’ impulses using coding, computer graphics, and robotics as readily as the previous generation could using paints, brushes, and building blocks.
 Turtle Logo – Inspiring the next generation of technology builders. Continue reading this article…
THIS PAGE HAS MOVED!
The essay has been incorporated into the Software list. You can find it here!
By Assad Ebrahim, on September 7th, 2010 (11,845 views) |
Topic: SWEng--Toolbox
(Technology Infrastructure Series)
In case you’re taking seriously guarantees about uptime, reliability, or backups advertised by website hosting companies, you should know that most guarantees of service are an idealized concept, especially if you use a low-cost web hosting service. Now, this doesn’t mean you should avoid low-cost web hosts. What you should do is give a little thought to the “what if’s” that may arise, and what you can do before they arise to minimize the pain when they do.
In this article, I’ll go through a few situations you might want to consider, and some options you can use to reduce your risk.
Continue reading this article…
If you haven’t done so already, you may want to start by reading the Preface to the Computing Series: Software as a Force Multiplier, Sections 1-3.
Introducing the LaTeX typsetting platform
If symbols, formulas, and equations comprise a large portion of your professional communication, then you will gain significantly by becoming proficient with the LaTeX (pronounced “lay-tech”) document preparation platform. With the right tools and a little practice, the relative ease of creating beautiful mathematical documents with LaTeX will likely mean that you leave Office in favor of LaTeX for your technical writing.
This article introduces the LaTeX platform (short for Lamport-TeX, after the mathematician Leslie Lamport), illustrates its capabilities, and highlights the key differences between using LaTeX or WYSIWYG “what you see is what you get” word processing systems such as Office.
For those that like to know the human side of the tools they use, we provide a brief history of the legendary TeX (pronounced “tech”) platform, which underpins all variations of which LaTeX is one, looks at the philosophy motivating the development of TeX, and something about its legendary creator Donald Knuth.
 Don Knuth, Leslie Lamport, and an illustration of of why writing mathematics in LaTeX is easier than in Word.
Continue reading this article…
By Assad Ebrahim, on May 20th, 2010 (14,386 views) |
Topic: Maths--Tools, SWEng--Toolbox
(Mathematical Toolset Series: TeX & LaTeX, Part 3 of 3)
If you write frequently, it is likely that you have certain stock or administrative material that is included in each of your documents. You also likely spend a substantial portion of your overall effort re-writing, editing, or re-arranging material. In this situation, one of the best ways of preserving your time and your sanity is to adopt a modular approach to document development.
In this final article of the three part series on LaTeX / TeX, I will discuss a modular approach to document preparation using TeX. I’ll also provide modular templates that should make your use of TeX more efficient.
By Assad Ebrahim, on May 18th, 2010 (22,962 views) |
Topic: Maths--Tools, SWEng--Toolbox
Writing Beautiful Mathematics: Getting Started with LaTeX on Windows
If you haven’t done so already, you may want to start by reading the Preface to the Computing Series: Software as a Force Multiplier, Sections 1-3.
2nd ed. Revised with new templates Sep 21, 2019, 1st ed. May 18, 2010.
Getting Started with LaTex
LaTeX (open source, free) is an essential tool to write beautifully formatted mathematics efficiently. If you have extensive mathematical symbology and have been using MS Word for this, you are using the wrong tool for the job (see Figure below). Setting up LaTeX should take no more than an hour, after which you can produce publication-ready mathematical documents quickly and reliably. This article walks you through setting up a working platform for Windows, and provides the LaTeX templates you’ll need to produce your first examples. Also shared is the source code and compilation instructions for an example paper, which you can download and modify for your own use, containing several advanced stylistic elements (endnotes, figures with captions, URLs, code listings, and epigraphs).
 An example of mathematics written in LaTeX, from Finite Summation of Integer Powers (Part 3), A. Ebrahim, C. Ouellette, 2010. Continue reading this article…
…for Embedded and Low-Level Systems Development
C provides the convenience of learning one language while retaining the ability to target a variety of platforms including modern operating systems (Linux, Windows, Mac), real-time operating systems, systems-on-a-chip, and a host of microcontrollers for embedded development. And if you have to “mov” the bits around yourself (device drivers, DMA controllers), you can do that too. This is a significant efficiency over assembly languages which are essentially chip-specific control codes and therefore require understanding the architecture of the target chip.
Continue reading this article…
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