You can't yourself a linux enthusiast if you've never run into the problem of sorting out your configuration files. All of your precious files like .bashrc, .zshrc, .vimrc, .emacs, .fonts, .Xdefaults are some of the ones that can take a lot of pain to customize from the ground up.

Like most people, I started out by always backing up my important config files. But the list soon got so huge that I started having trouble remebering which files to back up, and to do it after every change.

So, obviously, I moved on to the next obvious option, symlinks! I...

Cimulator is a tool that can help you see you program in action. That means no more mysterious floating point exceptions, no more hidden runtime errors. With Cimulator, you can actually see your program run step by step and debug the errors as they occur.

You can change the speed of the Simulation using the slider on the top left hand side, or even pause the simulation altogether using the Pause button on the top right of the screen. The reset button, just next to the Pause button can be used to stop a running simulation, and reset everything. When...

Since the title isn't very descriptive, let us look at what we are trying to achieve. Click the image below to view the animation I recorded. The two terminals are made to mirror each other, i.e. anything I type on one terminal will appear on the second one, and vice versa.

This won't make much sense, or seem of any use, until you realize that the two terminals need not be on the same computer. That is, me and my friend from across the country could do this...

For the TL;DR people, here is the verdict. Microsoft has tried (For the first time, it seems) very hard to actually make the OS more hospitable for both technical and the non-technical community. Features like PackageManagement and switchable desktops (Linux Workspace equivalent) actually have made Windows 10 a huge improvement over its predecessor.

So, like everyone else, in the past two days, my facebook feed was filled with posts about Windows 10. As a linux user, I tried for quite some time to ignore the posts, but then finally decided to upgrade my preinstalled Windows to 10.

The article is...

With the recent upgrade to Windows 10, Microsoft fixed many of the things that I despised in Windows 8. I don't usually use Windows if I can avoid it, but unfortunately, some of my work requires me to use it anyway. For those times, one of the basic needs for me is an SSH client. A LOT of the time I'm programming directly on a SSHed server machine.

Till a few days ago, this meant that I had to use PuTTY everytime I had to use SSH from Windows. If you have ever used PuTTY, you'd know that it isn't...

This tip is for those people who have been working on large python projects and the fact that python is a slow language as compared to statically compiled languages has finally caught up with them. This tip is about Cython, what it is and where can you use it for maximum effect.

What is Cython?

From the docs themselves,

Cython is an optimising static compiler for both the Python programming language and the extended Cython programming language (based on Pyrex).

The Cython language is a superset of the Python language that additionally supports calling C functions and declaring...

We all love to characterise things as "More than the sum of it's parts". We'd like to say the same about our linux operating system. My ARCH is more than the sum of it's parts! Well.. no.

A linux system is exactly the sum of it's parts. And most of those parts are connected to the base package manager, the beast that acts like a framework, holding everything together.

Have you ever wondered what makes Ubuntu Ubuntu? Or what is the difference between ARCH and GENTOO? If you guessed a package manager, you'd be right.

You probably don't believe me?...

RECAP:

First, lets recap. Vim plugins are used to add functionality to vim. That functionality can be syntax highlighting, bracket matching, mode switching, easy file searching etc. Pretty much, there's a plugin for every functionality that is not built-in to vim.

INSTALLATIONS:

The way of installation varies with the type of plugin manager you are using. Almost all plugins are either developed or backed up on github. Most plugin managers make it trivial to install plugins from github repositories.

For pathogen, clone the plugin in the bundle folder in the .vim directory in your home folder.

For Vundle,...

Every good text editor deserves to have a customizable color scheme. For vim, colorschemes are installed as any other plugin. Most colorschemes can be downloaded as a .vim file. If you are not using a plugin manager, you need to copy the .vim file to an autoload folder inside a .vim folder in your home directory.

However, if you are using a plugin manager, (as you should), then depending on the plugin manager, the colorscheme may be installed like a plugin. Personally, I suggest you install a colorscheme-pack. Since it makes it trivially easy to switch to any colorscheme...

What I've written in this post is my opinion, and should not be taken as fact. There may be features I don't know about, and my preference order may not be same as yours.

Here is a quick overview of the plugin managers that I've used, ending with explanations on how to use my personal favorite, Vim-Plug. You may skip the comparision section if you just want to be started quickly.

3. PATHOGEN

No discussion of package managers is complete without mentioning pathogen. Pathogen is one of the oldest Package Manager for vim. It simply allows you to...