20 years ago with Plan 9 you could have just clicked to move your cursor. Plus ça change...
Quick tip for developers who use OS X
301–310 of 406 posts
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#302Tip: Real hackers don't use a mouse. /s
Perhaps it's simply personal preference, but I do find that limiting my mouse usage has resulted in real, tangible gains. I don't know how feasible that is in GUI-first operating systems like OS X, though.
Check out Alfred 2, Shortcat, Slate (https://github.com/lunixbochs/reslate). You don't need the mouse as much as you might think.
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#303Earlier quoted context omitted.
Not to mention that the Mac community also pioneered keyboard driven launchers and Linguistic user interfaces like launchbar -> quicksilver -> Alfred. Even though I put a lot of effort into learning windows keyboard shortcuts it always frustrated me how difficult it was to use windows in situations where I didn't have a mouse, while I'd barely notice the same situation with a Mac.
OK here's one. I press command-option esc to Force Quit an app. But how do I then close the Force Quit window (which stays on top of all other windows) without the mouse? Thanks to anyone who's figured this out.
>I press command-option esc to Force Quit an app
why? command-Tab (switch between and show running apps) and command-Q (force quit)
also you can use command w to close a window if really really want to go that route
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#304Earlier quoted context omitted.
Under Linux there is a similar command: xdg-open
or gnome-open. On Windows the equivalent is start (e.g. start C:\ )
I think xdg-open defers to gnome-open/kde-open/... depending on what DE is currently running. Not sure about that. Anyway, xdg-open should be installed anywhere where any kind of DE is installed.
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#305mdfind to get Spotlight results in shell. Also, iTerm is a great Terminal replacement, if you haven't tried it.
I wanted to like iTerm, but lack of restoring sessions (pwd, history) was a deal breaker.
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#306Bash, running in your terminal, understands both the Emacs and the Vi commands. By default is Emacs, so you can C-a (control-a) for beginning of line, C-p to go back in command line history, or C-r to search it. I prefer the Vi mode, though. Add to your .bashrc set -o vi Then you can press escape to go from input mode to normal mode; there k will take you to the previous line in command line history, j to the next li…
I use these settings in my .inputrc. The get me a few more commands and even the ability to escape using jj. set completion-ignore-case On set bell-style none set editing-mode vi $if mode=vi set keymap vi-command "gg": beginning-of-history "G": end-of-history set keymap vi-insert "jj": vi-movement-mode "\C-p": history-search-backward
Very cool, does anyone know a way to set a visual indicator (diff cursor?) when in edit mode?
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#307Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wouldn't call it objective, but I've been using osx exclusively for 3 years now and shortcuts still come slower than windows, primarily because on windows I can press control and any key using just one hand by using my pinky for the control key.
I've found that lots of Windows converts haven't learned to use a thumb to hold the command key instead of a finger. Much easier to chord that way and you don't need to leave home position. It's easier for me than pinky-control since I have more dexterity in my thumbs.
I use that and remapping control to caps lock, for all my custom bindings in terminal.
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#308OSX also features a lot of neat trackpad multitouch commands that some might not be aware of (my Windows trackpad doesn't understand multitouch.)
Two fingers: up/down: scroll up/down, left/right: forward/back in some browsers (such as Chrome)
Three fingers: up/down: show/hide a list of applications/desktops; left/right: switch desktops one at a time.
Five fingers together/apart: show/hide desktop
Before I discovered these, I was confused why I would occasionally see the forward/back arrow in the browser for a short period of time, not realizing that it showed because I happened to use a couple of fingers to move the mouse cursor.
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#309Earlier quoted context omitted.
I use these settings in my .inputrc. The get me a few more commands and even the ability to escape using jj. set completion-ignore-case On set bell-style none set editing-mode vi $if mode=vi set keymap vi-command "gg": beginning-of-history "G": end-of-history set keymap vi-insert "jj": vi-movement-mode "\C-p": history-search-backward
Thanks for this. I switched my input mode to VI and was greatly missing using Ctrl-L to clear the screen when in input mode. I hadn't known about the inputrc before. Adding this line below your "\C-p" line fixed that for me: "\C-l": clear-screen
Command-K also does the trick
Re: Quick tip for developers who use OS X
#310Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. In Linux I have global keyboard shortcuts to launch specific applications and do some other stuff. I hit a key combo and a new terminal pops up, or a new tab pops up in my browser, or a new email, or the Python shell, or whatever else I want. It launches regardless of what other application I'm currently using. In OSX, last time I looked (maybe a version or two ago), there was really no builtin way to achieve the…
It won't reduce keystrokes, but if you're looking for something more powerful try Launchbar. Alternatively, Quicksilver's free, but I haven't used it in a couple years and management changed hands; so I'm not sure how good it is now.
Quicksilver nearly died, but the community resuscitated it and it is currently working better than ever (YMMV, I never used half of the crazy stuff Quicksilver can do)