6 posts tagged with "productivity"

After developing the muscle memory for navigating text with the H, J, K and L keys while developing with VIM or VS Code with the VIM plugin, I now find it very distracting to have to move my hand to use the arrow keys for moving around text or even to just select an option from a drop-down in other applications. It just feels jarring when working.

What I want is an operating system-wide solution that affords me the ability to use H, J, K, L instead of needing to use the cursor/arrow keys; the keys are typically positioned such that they are just too difficult to access without moving the right hand.

Why do we have pull requests?​

As software developers, we enjoy that feeling of being immersed in the flow, that wonderful state of being where hours whizz by in an instant, and our mental model stands clear; where we can be hyper-productive as long as we can keep the outside world at bay and remain in blissful uninterrupted solitude.

However, building modern software is also a complex team sport where collaboration and continuous feedback loops with fellow developers are key to personal development and high-quality code.

Code reviews are the most obvious contact point with other developers and a foundational process in working towards becoming a part of, remaining in or working towards building a high-performing team that creates code that is stable and fun to work with.

Before you write GIT on your CV for your next job interview, make sure you know how to use GIT professionally; read on.

If you are here you know that GIT is likely the most popular version control system used in the known universe. If you are a developer looking to get paid GIT is one of your most important tools for doing a professional job.

Any developer can write code. Professional developers know how to organise code changes so that they can be easily reviewed, patched and reasoned about. GIT like other version control systems is the tool that helps us to work professionally.

Unfortunately, there is a disconnect between using GIT and using GIT Professionally.

Using MFA enabled AWS accounts & CLI​

TD;LR​

Simplify your life when using MFA-enabled accounts with AWS profiles by installing this command-line tool.

Install awsmfa from npm or fork the project on GitHub.

Managing MFA credentials​

Enforcing multi-factor authentication (MFA) on AWS accounts is a security best practice that can provide some usability hurdles for engineers that rely on the SDK and AWS command line tools to get work done.

The typical workflow for working with MFA-enabled accounts is to request a temporary session using the AWS STS service. The STS service will then return a session token which includes temporary credentials as well as a session token. Depending on the use case these data can then be used either in a profile definition, environment variables or as arguments to call AWS Apis that require MFA.

Vim Essentials =+-​

In my opinion, the best way to fast-tracking your VIM skill set is to understand some principle concepts.

Watch on YouTube​

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• 2:04 - How to get started with VIM.
• 2:44 - Insert Mode. (make vim act like nano)
• 3:40 - Getting back to normal
• 4:09 - Console Mode
• 5:00 - Quitting VIM
• 6:10 - Quickly change the text inside quotes
• 7:15 - Saving your changes.

Introduction​

The motivation to write this article is to encourage you to add an efficiency skill to your skill set that will benefit you throughout your entire career as a developer. Let’s set a scene to get started.

Imagine a pleasant Sunday afternoon at home and you are trying to help someone in your family be more efficient by encouraging them to learn how to “copy & paste” with the keyboard.

Your protégé reciprocates with: “I don’t want to remember that “ctrl + v” pastes text, it makes no sense to press V for pasting, it’s too hard for my fingers, and why would I want to bother remembering that? Look, it’s easier to simply copy and paste from the menu with the mouse.”

Knowing what you know about working on computers; what’s going through your head as you hear that?

Right, I think the same thing when developers list their reasons for not wanting to learn VIM commands in their favourite IDE.