Hardware, Software, Learning Sources

Hardware

Keyboard

• Kinesis Advantage2, Microsoft Natural Keyboard 4000 Nulea Ergonomic Wired Keyboard + remove keys from numpad and attach macOS Magic Trackpad with velcro strips

Monitor

• ultra-wide 50" monitor (leads to eye fatigue) LG Ultra Fine Display

Computer

• High-powered Linux workstation MBP (M* chips make such a difference) + Cloud/EC2 desktop

Headphones

• Bose QC or QC Ultra (though you can replace the headphone linings if they wear out without replacing the whole headphones; also I don't use the noise-cancelling (that way no need to charge, just connect with a cord). This is important from a microphone standpoint since the microphone on these headphones is pretty bad. But an external mic works well (fyi different external mics fit different Bose models).
• Apple Wired Headphones (I just lost too many AirPods Pro in the laundry and these work fine, good microphone, able to switch between phone and laptop, etc).

Other hardware that I ended up just not using regularly

• iPad Pro with Pencil (for Procreate mostly)
• Occulus Quest 2
• Apple Watch

Desktop Software

macOS

• defaults

defaults write com.microsoft.VSCode ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
defaults write NSGlobalDomain ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false

• System Preferences
  • Keyboard
  • map Caps Lock -> Control
  • set key repeat to fastest and delay shortest

Firefox

• about:config -> browser.sessionstore.resume_from_crash = false
• Add-ons
  • Tampermonkey
  • Vimium-FF Add custom key mappings:

# Insert your preferred key mappings here.
map <c-d> scrollPageDown
map <c-u> scrollPageUp

• Multi-Account Containers for AWS
• WhatFont
• uBlock Origin
• BuiltWith
• WhatRuns
• Google Lighthouse
  • Dev Tools
• Improve sites using Inspector > Changes tab
• Print entire pages using the built in right-click, take screenshot in firefox.

Chrome

• Same tampermonkey scripts
• ARIA Devtools

Node

• https://nodejs.org/en/

Design software

• Figma
• Blender (shortcuts to not use numkey and track pad), Inkscape, Krita (simpler the better until you need extra features), After Effects, Illustrator, Photoshop, Premiere Pro

Work productivity software

• Communication: Slack, Chime, Outlook
• Notes and todos: Things (also things-patcher)
• Writing (the secret to effective meetings and use of time and thinking better): Quip
• Scripts: use expect scripts and the macOS Keychain app to automate VPN and access token initialization daily on laptop and cloud desktops.
• LLMs: Claude 3.5 v2 (Anthropic) for work (including code collaboration); GPT o3-mini and Perplexity for personal questions (Deep Research increasingly).

VS Code

• Extensions
  • Remote SSH (small note for opening in the same window)
  • Better Solarized
  • colorize
  • Live Server
  • Vim (vscodevim)
  • Import Cost
  • Prettier
• settings.json
• keybindings.json
• Amazon Q (for work)

Terminal

• .zshrc

• .config/nvim/init.vim
  

inoremap fd <Esc>
vnoremap fd <Esc>
"set timeoutlen=200
nnoremap ; :
nnoremap : ;
vnoremap ; :
vnoremap : ;
set splitbelow
set splitright
noremap <C-h> <C-w>h
noremap <C-j> <C-w>j
noremap <C-k> <C-w>k
noremap <C-l> <C-w>l

tnoremap <C-h> <C-\><C-n><C-w>h
tnoremap <C-j> <C-\><C-n><C-w>j
tnoremap <C-k> <C-\><C-n><C-w>k
tnoremap <C-l> <C-\><C-n><C-w>l

" Function to insert matching pairs and avoid adding a third character if there are already two
function! s:AutoClosePair(open, close)
    " Get the current line and column
    let l:col = col('.')
    let l:line = getline('.')

    " Define a range around the cursor to check for existing characters
    let l:range_start = max([l:col - 3, 0])
    let l:range_end = min([l:col + 2, strlen(l:line)])

    " Get the substring around the cursor
    let l:context = l:line[l:range_start:l:range_end]

    " If the context contains the closing character, do nothing
    if l:context =~ a:close
        return a:open
    else
        " Otherwise, insert the pair and move the cursor back
        return a:open . a:close . "\<Left>"
    endif
endfunction

" Map the insert mode keys to the function
inoremap <expr> " <SID>AutoClosePair('"', '"')
inoremap <expr> ' <SID>AutoClosePair("'", "'")
inoremap <expr> ( <SID>AutoClosePair('(', ')')
inoremap <expr> [ <SID>AutoClosePair('[', ']')
inoremap <expr> { <SID>AutoClosePair('{', '}')

• .secure

export CDESK_HOST='<cloud host>'
alias c='ssh $CDESK_HOST'
alias sf-c='sftp $CDESK_HOST'
...

A few resources in Different Categories

General

• https://youtube.com/
• https://hckrnews.com

Design

• https://schoolofmotion.com/
• https://learnui.design/

Web

• https://joyofreact.com/
• https://css-for-js.dev/
• https://frontendmasters.com

Algorithms

• https://neetcode.com
• https://leetcode.com
• https://www.techinterviewhandbook.org/grind75/

Architecture

• https://aws.amazon.com/builders-library/
• https://www.youtube.com/

ML, AI

• https://gist.github.com/rain-1/eebd5e5eb2784feecf450324e3341c8d
• https://www.youtube.com/

3D

• https://polygonrunway.com/
• https://cgcookie.com/p/core

Management

• https://randsinrepose.com/
• https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30497703 (New One Minute Manager is a nice intro - mentioned briefly in https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30501776)