Scott Hanselman: Developer Productivity Tools Video Part 1

About Scott

Scott Hanselman is a former professor, former Chief Architect in finance, now speaker, consultant, father, diabetic, and Microsoft employee. He is a failed stand-up comic, a cornrower, and a book author.

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July 12, 2006 9:34

Scott,

Great video... really enjoyed watching it. But I was almost shocked to see your desktop after the comments about saving time by not typing "otepad2"... so many icons! Check out my article on reducing some of that clutter: http://www.avesh.com/blog/DesktopZenReducingVisualClutterOnYourDesktop.aspx

Looking forward to the other videos.

-AJ

July 12, 2006 9:57

AJ,

Glad you liked it. As for my desktop, soon I'll post the anti-post to your very good post. I'll explain my perspective on visual clutter and how it relates directly to productivity. :)

Scott Hanselman

July 12, 2006 16:00

Does visual clutter and productivity carry over to the real world desktop? :)

As for desktops, I keep mine completely clear. Removing every icon. From Internet Explorer, My Computer, Recycle Bin, etc. Same goes for my real desk, it's uncluttered. Just habit.

But as for the virtual desktop, I'm a keyboard junkie. I don't need icons on the desktop to start stuff. I use a combination of Total Commander, Google Desktop (using the Applicatin launcher feature) and WinKey to start things. And lately I've added UltraMon and its hotkeys options to move around this new world (at least to me) of dual monitors.

But hey, we're all different. ;)

Diego Barros

July 12, 2006 17:27

AJ: Scott covers that very topic of the # of icons in his desktop in a later section of the video. It may be section 2 but I can't swear to that. I've watched them all so many times this last week while producing them I forget what's in each. :) Jim

Jim Minatel

July 12, 2006 20:21

Scott,

Thanks for all your work on this blog. I really enjoy reading it and learning new tips, tricks and perspective on technologies...

I think I caught you misusing a utility you shared...

In the first segment of that video, you showed how to use "pushd" and "popd". However, I don't think you are FULLY utilizing it's productivity. You suggested that you use "pushd ." to save the current directory to the stack, then change to a new directory, and use "popd" to get back. However, it can be used EVEN BETTER than that! pushd always pushes the current directory. So, instead, use it like this "pushd \directory\i\want". that will push the current folder to the stack and change to the "directory\i\want". then use popd to get back...

-Kelly

Kelly

July 12, 2006 20:36

Scott, thanks for the plugs on the other videos. It was fun putting them together.

Jim Wooley

July 14, 2006 21:27

Another interesting (to me, anyway) feature of pushd is that it will display the list of directories on the stack when called with no args:

[Fri 07/14/2006 10:55:07.62]
C:\temp\ThatDemo
$ pushd z:

[Fri 07/14/2006 11:24:40.82]
Z:\home\runtime\is
+$ pushd c:\temp

[Fri 07/14/2006 11:24:44.94]
C:\temp
++$ pushd x:

[Fri 07/14/2006 11:24:52.67]
X:\
+++$ pushd
C:\temp
Z:\home\runtime\is
C:\temp\ThatDemo

it comes in handy when you can't remember how many popd's it will take to get back to where you want to go.

Mark Ingalls

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