incoherence.net

Jeff had a bit of fun redoing his computer recently, and along with me configuring Sui’s new laptop, I figured there are some randomly good, free utilities that I use that others might be interested in. Hence I’m giving mini-reviews; since I’ve used these utilities for a while, don’t be surprised if they reflect positively…

Ditto is probably the coolest program I’ve used that’s relatively unknown; it’s a Windows clipboard enhancement tool which makes you wonder why Microsoft never thought of putting this in Windows XP or even Vista. It allows you to browse through previously copied-and-pasted fragments of text, images, and files, as well as date them and search through the fragments. As a programmer, it’s very handy when used to recall snippets of code and variable names, but in general I use it to recall random strings ⁽¹⁾ and site URL’s.

And from reading the site, I guess I haven’t been keeping up to date, as they’ve added the ability to sync the clipboard across computers, and in doing so allow you to copy+paste across multiple computers and effectively share files. Pretty neat.

Resource-wise, it takes anywhere from 10-20MB of RAM running in the background, which isn’t bad for today’s applications but not great either. It does install a database to hold your clipboard fragments, but it has never crashed on me or caused any strange behavior. If you ever need to look at code for any reason, I’d say this is a great utility to try out and keep around.

1. e.g., UPS tracking numbers (↩)

I’m going to make this short and sweet so I can get back to designing v4; I just found this cool little free app that lets you specify the size and position of a Windows window. Appropriately dubbed Sizer, it allows you specify the exact pixels that you want your windows to appear. If you’re like me and have to work on today’s larger monitors (oh, the pain!) and you spend time getting your windows to just the right size and position to maximize the space that you’ve got, you’ll really appreciate something this simple yet useful.

For as long as there have been programmers seeking monetary compensation for their time and effort coercing a machine to do their bidding, has there been users who look to take the former group’s 0′s and 1′s and claim them as their own. Like conjoined twins, commercial software and piracy tend to pull each other along, not quite able to rip free from the bond that, well, makes this analogy interesting.Remember the days of Intel 386′s? I was first imposed to computing sometime during their rise to popularity, and I distinctly remember all the clever schemes sales and marketing came up with to thwart people from taking a shiny new 5 1/4″ disk and digitally replicating their $200 piece of software; or, in my case, $30 games.

Originally, I wanted to write a quick blurb about how the coming of the Internet doesn’t negate the importance of reference and learning textbooks. But then today, I had to promptly return a copy of DHTML and CSS Advanced as it merely told me 90% of what I learned via online tutorials and experimentation, and I realized that the subject matter isn’t that clear cut after all.

If you’ve never met a programmer, you might imagine that, being on the forefight of technology, he (forgive me, I only use “he” because it describes 90% of the programming population) would use a combination of online manuals/tutorials, search engines, and maybe a bit of knowledge sharing among peers to get his work done. All the code driving this site – from the backend database management to the interface and the glue that holds them together – I learned from a few select sites and the magic powers of Google. Creators and owners of these technologies have put up extensive manuals on their work for free, and anybody with a bit of free time and an inquisitive mind can be self-educated with much less effort than it used to take (e.g. via sneaking into lectures in universities you weren’t enrolled in).