Ask HN: What are your favorite developer-efficiency tips?

I can't say enough good things about a multiple clipboard manager. Not only is it useful to copy/paste multiple items in sequence, but it's a game changer to be able to quickly retrieve a code snippet, or URL, or CLI command you used recently; and/or, to trivially stash one just in case you'll want it later. (Primary downside: using a computer without multiple clipboards feels broken. What do you mean it "forgot" the thing I copied five minutes ago?)

My weapon of choice these days is LaunchBar [0]. Despite the clipboard history feature being bolted on to otherwise unrelated functionality, I love the low-friction keyboard shortcut: Cmd-\, arrow-down to the chosen item, release Cmd to automatically paste.

[0] https://obdev.at/products/launchbar/index.html

Thinking before I code. I developed RSI, typing hurts after a few hours. Now, before I code anything, I really think about what I want to type, so I only type the minimal amount needed.

What's the value add of touch typing? I tried it for a bit, but it seemed like a waste. I can consistently do ~90-100 WPM on https://www.livechat.com/typing-speed-test/#/ with very few mistakes just typing with 3 fingers on my left hand and 2 on my right. Feels like input speed is one of the least important parts of coding.

Did one test for this comment. https://imgur.com/a/GISaU6n

I developed my own gmail app script to accommodate my personal workflow, where all tasks and task-related information, including Gmail inbox, are organized and scheduled in the same hierarchy.

Here is why I think it makes me extremely efficient

1. I can group and nest together Emails, to-do’s, files and links that are related to the same goal, my lists are now much shorter and manageable and I can focus on my goals instead switching between gmail, todo’s etc..

2. Since my gmail Inbox is fully integrated with my to-do list, I don't need to manually and tediously maintain and synchronize them.

3. Scheduling a goal with sub-emails and tasks hide them and bring them back when I need them.This further reduces my clutter and makes sure I will not forget anything.

4. I can organize my plans and thoughts as I organize and drag inbox Emails, To-Do’s and Ideas into their related tasks.

5. Since every email has a natural place in my task hierarchy, I can quickly empty my Gmail Inbox and deal with email when dealing with their related tasks.

What made it stick for me was processing my gmail inbox (which I must do), inside my todo list, which quickly created a habit.

BTW I tried to market the solution and gave up, either most people think different or I am just a bad marketer.

As addition to this advice one can use history autocomplete tool like for example this one: https://github.com/dvorka/hstr - very useful!