Tell me more ×
Programmers Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for professional programmers interested in conceptual questions about software development. It's 100% free, no registration required.
up vote 7 down vote favorite
2

For instance, I have an AutoHotkey script that maps Shift+F10 to left-click + Run To Cursor. My hand is already on Shift and F9-F12 while I'm debugging, so I can run to a line of code just as easily as looking at it.

I also have a few keys set aside for searching the web for selected text:

  • Win+G = Google (add shift for surrounding by quotes, and/or add alt for "I'm feeling lucky")
  • Win+W = Wikipedia
  • Win+A = Wayback machine
  • Win+T = Thesaurus

What shortcuts do you have set up to make things quicker?

share|improve this question
Are you asking specifically for AHK scripts? (If not, the [autohotkey] tag seems out of place.) – Roger Pate Sep 21 '10 at 21:21
superuser.com/questions/214229/… – Job Dec 1 '10 at 15:17
After reading the 9 current answers... I wonder if this question isn't better served being on SuperUser as most of the answers are related to general computer use and not programming. Just a thought. – Walter Dec 1 '10 at 15:25

11 Answers

up vote 3 down vote

Firefox bookmark keyword with search parameter

I associate popular search websites with keywords, E.g. "g" for Google. When I need to search on Google for "foo", I only need 6 keystrokes including the search word (Alt+D is counted as one).

Alt+D, g, Space, foo, Enter

Can anyone beat that? :-}

other frequently used search keywords are,

  • d: dictionary.com
  • af: acronymfinder.com
  • am: amazon.com
  • eb: ebay.com
  • gq: Google Finance stock quote

There are many of them.

share|improve this answer
1  
I do the same in Chrome: i for Google Images, ew for english Wikipedia, y for Youtube. No need for a google one thanks to the Chrime address bar working as a search bar too. – Davide Gualano Sep 21 '10 at 21:36
Have a look to Fastyub plugin! It does better with thounsands of commands from Yubnub and you can highlight your text and search. That's the fastest web search available. – systempuntoout Sep 22 '10 at 8:12
1  
@Davide: You don't need to set those up. Chrome adds them automatically so you can just start typing "images" then press TAB to enter your search term. – DisgruntledGoat Sep 22 '10 at 14:20
1  
I know, but the default used by Chrome are long string, so I prefer to set them to one or two characters to same some keystrokes :) – Davide Gualano Sep 23 '10 at 10:11
@Davide - That's actually one of the things I love about Chrome. It's automatic, and you're almost always 2 keystrokes away from the site you want (it's just the first 2 characters of the url). For example, in my Chrome, y gives my YouTube, g Google, s StackOverflow, and all based on real-life usage. Much much nicer than setting it up manually, believe me. – Edan Maor Dec 1 '10 at 9:42
up vote 2 down vote

There is one that saves me tons of time every day. Launchy.

It's simply a fantastic and simplistic tool. Alt-space and maybe 3 keystrokes later, and whatever app I wanted is already opening.

You'll never use the start menu again.

share|improve this answer
Even in Vista/7, Launchy is better; it's more customizable. – Kyralessa Oct 6 '10 at 1:51
2  
I never understood this, why is five key presses simpler than moving my mouse to quickstart bar and clicking left button ? – NimChimpsky Dec 1 '10 at 14:42
1  
Because you can do it more accurately. The keys never move; the mouse does and you have to coordinate mouse to the menu. So, you can eventually hit those five keys far faster than you could ever do the same routine with a mouse. – Michael K Dec 1 '10 at 14:45
1  
More accurately ? Huh ? I can move the mouse just fine and I don't need to install more software and remember combo-moves ( Shōryū-ken ) – NimChimpsky Dec 1 '10 at 14:51
@NimChimpsky - Alt + <space> is a "combo" now? I guess my Emacs use means I'm busting out a hyper-combo finish every few minutes or so... – Inaimathi Dec 1 '10 at 20:36
up vote 2 down vote

None

I have never found many shortcut keys outside of a very few in my IDE useful. Most require awkward positions to arch your hand in to press them or lock you in to a program/OS/computer. The only reason I learn certain shortcuts is because they exist in an entire family of OS's (Eg Windows Key+R to run), are very extremely useful (Ctrl+Alt+Left in Gnome to switch workspaces), or I use the command so much that a shortcut would actually be nice.

Otherwise, I don't bother. Clicking works just as well.

share|improve this answer
1  
I learn many of the shortcuts for tasks that I'll do frequently to speed up. However, you're correct in saying that many are awkward. I remap them. – Michael K Dec 1 '10 at 14:48
Downvoter: Explanation? – TheLQ Dec 1 '10 at 21:23
up vote 1 down vote

Control-T to drop down a terminal window

Via Visor. As someone who uses a terminal a lot while programming for quick tasks, this guy is essential.

share|improve this answer
I've installed Visor a couple of weeks ago after have read an answer (maybe from you). I really like it. – systempuntoout Sep 22 '10 at 8:16
up vote 1 down vote

I really like Windows 7's pinning to the taskbar, along with the shortcut keys tied to the taskbar (Win+1 for the first, Win+2 for the second, etc.) This way when I come into work every day and hit Win+1,2,3,4 and have all the main apps I need for the day open (Browser,Shell,IM, and Email)

You can also set up multiple home pages in Chrome, so whenever I open up my browser I have all my project management, bug tracking, and dev sites opened by default.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

The following are some from my ahk script:

  • Win+C: open command line, if the current windows is explorer, the path in the address bar will be used as the command line start directory

  • Win+B: open bash, if the current windows is explorer, same above ...

  • Win+V: VS 2008

  • Win+arrow, Win+shift+arrow, Win+alt+arrow: move, adjust the current window size/location by the near by windows and screen border.

  • Win+Ctrl+arrow: dock the current window to the half of the current screen

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Most of the shortcuts mentioned here use KB , but its fun to try mouse gestures (certainly not on a dev machine you get bored later) ! I remember i had mouse gestures installed in my old laptop in a linux machine ! had most shortcuts just by drawing on my monitor ! i mean it s sort of also a show off thing :P

just draw a circle - > restart g -> google etc ..

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Saving my most frequently used websites to my bookmarks bar and deleting the title text, so only the favicon remains. Three rows of UI in Chrome: tabs, address bar, bookmarks bar with one-click access to about 30 websites. Should work for almost any browser.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

First I Got an IntelliMouse optical, the only important point is that it have 2 side buttons.

I set the Left Side Button to Ctrl-C and the Right Side Button To Ctrl-V.

So when my hand is on the mouse, I could copy and paste without using the keyboard.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Firefox Speed Dial addon numerical hotkeys for websites. I ctrl + N 90% of my site switching.

share|improve this answer
up vote 0 down vote

Lets see...

  • C-t C-p brings up a run prompt
  • C-t M-r reloads .stumpwmrc
  • C-t C-M-r launches RDesktop targeting one of the office servers
  • C-t C-e launches Emacs
    • Inside of Emacs
    • C-x C-r resizes Emacs frames
    • C-> (that is, Ctrl + Shift + .) updates current file's tag table
    • C-. visits current file's tag table (for use with find-tag)
    • C-x t launches a new eshell through multishell
    • C-' comment-or-uncomment-region
    • C-s/C-r isearch-regex (forward and backward respectively)
  • C-t C-b launches Conkeror (my browser of choice)
    • Inside Conkeror
    • Typing go [search term] searches google
    • same as above for wiki (wikipedia), you (YouTube), plt (the Racket docs) and stock (for Stock Xchange). Given how often I use it lately, I should probably also add hack for Hackage (though I'd probably implement that one in terms of a google search of the hackage domain).
    • mail brings up my company webmail

So yeah. Lots. The above is just the custom stuff; I obviously also use some of the default shortcuts for StumpWM, Emacs and Conkeror.

share|improve this answer

Your Answer

 
discard

By posting your answer, you agree to the privacy policy and terms of service.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.