Software I'm trying out: DarkRoom and RSIGuard

DarkRoom - Old-school text editor that blacks out your monitor(s) and presents you with a retro green-on-black editor. It's just you and the text. Clone of a Mac program called WriteRoom.

RSIGuard - Break timer + mouse auto-clicker. You can get freeware that does the same thing, but this is the smartest implementation I've seen. The break timer attempts to wait for a pause in your activity - it has some complex algorithm to determine a break frequency that minimizes interruptions of flow. And the mouse auto-clicker (which clicks every time you stop the mouse) seems to have fewer inadvertent clicks compared to other programs I've tried. $50 - I'll probably buy this one.

The Art of Mingling

Jeanne Martinet's book The Art of Mingling has practical and humorous advice for what to do at those office parties, wine-and-cheeses, and other social events that call upon mingling skills. I haven't read the book yet, but four of her radio interviews are online and give the general idea. An NPR article has a good summary.

MS Ergo 4000 Keyboard - love it

I'm really enjoying this Microsoft Natural Ergonomic 4000 keyboard. Here's what I've mapped the keys to:

3-pedal footswitch for programming and browsing

The quest for better ergonomics continues. I am trying out these Kinesis Savant Elite footpedals. I've assigned them to Shift, Right Click, and Left Click. After a couple of days, I quite like them - my wrists and forearms seem to fatigue less quickly. (Unfortunately, Shift-Click (pedal 1 + pedal 3) opens a link in a new window rather than a new tab in Firefox, but you can fix this by editing a js file in browser.jar.)

StickyKeys, for eliminating chording

Ergonomics tip: Turn on StickyKeys so you don't have to hold down Ctrl, Shift, or Alt. For example, with StickyKeys on, you can press Ctrl then C – you don't need to hold down Ctrl while pressing C. Thus, you can eliminate chording (holding down several keys), repeated use of which can lead to various ailments (such as the dreaded Emacs Pinky).

To turn on Sticky Keys in Windows

• Press Shift 5 times. The StickyKeys window will appear.
• Press Settings.
• Select Use StickyKeys.
• Press Settings.
• Clear Turn StickyKeys off if two keys are pressed at once.
• Press OK. Press OK.

On the Mac:

• Go to System Preferences > Universal Access > Keyboard

For Linux and other operating systems, see Sticky Modifiers Implementations.

Firefox extensions I'm trying out; and a new trackball

Firefox extensions I'm trying out:

• Cooliris Previews - Hover over a link and it shows you a preview of the page. Also you can right-click a word and it can show you results from TheFreeDictionary, Google Images, and Wikipedia.
• Firefox Showcase - Sidebar that shows you thumbnails of all open tabs (á la Powerpoint). If you've got a lot of tabs open, it's often easier to scan the thumbnails than the tab names.
• FlashGot + FlashGet - Evidently, download managers speed up downloads by breaking them up into smaller chunks and downloading them simultaneously. Or something like that.
• GooglePreview - Puts thumbnails beside Google search results.

(Other extensions I have installed: del.icio.us, Firebug, StumbleUpon, Tab Mix Plus, and Web Developer).

On a different note, I'm giving the inexpensive Logitech TrackMan Wheel a spin:

I've tried a few different ergonomic input devices: a Kinesis keyboard (a keeper, though no silver bullet), an Evoluent Vertical Mouse 2 (gives me forearm pain), a pricey Kensington Expert Mouse (gives me other sorts of aches). The humble Logitech TrackMan Wheel feels very natural and comfortable. But it's only been one day.

Better Names for Martin Fowler's "Refactoring Smells"

Martin Fowler's Refactoring (1999) is a landmark book for software engineering. It is a catalog of techniques for cleaning up code. Unfortunately, this remarkable book is tarnished by some frivolous names chosen for its list of "refactoring smells" (anti-patterns). Unlike the memorable pattern names from that other luminous book Design Patterns (1995) – Singleton, Observer, Visitor, etc. – the anti-pattern names in Refactoring sometimes degenerate into the ludicrous: Feature Envy, Inappropriate Intimacy, Primitive Obsession, Speculative Generality, ...

The worst part is that these names give little clue as to what they mean.

I would like to propose alternative names for some of Fowler's "refactoring smells". Many of the names are fine as is, but a number of them benefit from sober clarity of expression:

Old Name	New Name
Alternative Classes with Different Interfaces	Heterogeneous Interfaces
Comments
Data Class
Data Clumps
Divergent Change	Schizophrenic Class
Duplicated Code
Feature Envy	Satellite Method
Inappropriate Intimacy	Internal Access
Incomplete Library Class
Large Class
Lazy Class	Small Class
Long Method
Long Parameter List
Message Chains	Temporary Variables
Middle Man	Overdelegation
Parallel Inheritance Hierarchies
Primitive Obsession	Procedural Code
Refused Bequest	Weak Inheritance
Shotgun Surgery	?
Speculative Generality	Overdesign
Switch Statements
Temporary Field

I would also like to improve on "Shotgun Surgery" (in which a modification involves touching code in several places), but I cannot think of an apt name. Any suggestions?

Time-Shifted Feeds

For the past week, I have been using FeedChopper to create "time-shifted RSS feeds" for some popular Top 10 lists that have been making headlines (for example, Inserit's Top 100 Links for Web Designers and UrbanFont's images of their Top 100 Free Fonts). These feeds are "time-shifted" because they begin on the day you add them to your feedreader, and give you a new item each day. It's a great way to absorb information.

Here are ten time-shifted feeds. You can easily create your own.

• Top 100 Free Fonts (UrbanFont, randomized) (101)


• Top 100 Links for Web Designers (Inserit, randomized) (102)


• 52 Proven Stress Reducers (Texas Woman's University) (53)


• Dive Into Accessibility: 30 days to a more accessible web site (33)


• 15 tips to choose a good text type (Typies) (16)


• Quotations from the World of Programming (softwarequotes.com) (235)


• 24 ways 2005: Best CSS techniques of 2005 (24)


• 24 ways 2006: Best CSS techniques of 2006 (24)


• Tips from The Pragmatic Programmer (Thomas and Hunt) (70)


• 50 ways to become a better designer, from Computer Arts (51)