Hate it or love it, every programmer has their own setup for coding, writing, and life in general. I’m the type of person who tries to optimize every part of tasks or things that I keep having to do. This guide is partially going to be a guide for how to get my setup transferred to another computer, as I’ve been running on this machine for quite a while and have accumulated a whole bunch of goodies that I may not remember.

Mac Apps

1. iTerm
   • Settings on github.
   • Install settings:

     1.   git clone https://github.com/krishnakumar-kapil/vim.git ~/kapil_dotfiles/
          mkdir ~/prog_settings
          mv ~/kapil_dotfiles/prog_settings/com.googlecode.iterm2.plist ~/prog_settings
        

     2. Go to iTerm and in General > Preferences, there should be a load preferences from pane where set ~/prog_settings/ as the loading folder.

1. Terminal Boosters
   1. tmux
      • Install:

         brew install tmux
         cp ~/kapil_dotfiles/.tmux.conf ~/
        

      • The ultimate screen and window management tool for terminals.
      • Very useful when ssh’ing into servers and leaving programs running or needing to leave work to do something else.
      • Window and pane management makes coding much easier as everything can be done through the keyboard without much effort.
      • One annoyance is the poor c/p ability in panes directly from the terminal.
   2. homebrew
      • Install /usr/bin/ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"
   3. Silver Surfer
      • Use the terminal to search within subdirectories whilst ignoring files in gitignore.
      • Simple usage with ag <search_term>.
      • Install: brew install the_silver_surfer.
   4. Rupa z
      • Jump to frequently used directories extremely easily.
      • Install: 1.

          mkdir -p ~/packages
          git clone git@github.com:rupa/z.git ~/packages/
        

        1. Add/append . ~/packages/z/z.sh to .zshrc.
   5. prezto
      • Better zsh configuration.
      • Install:

        1.   zsh
             git clone --recursive git@github.com:krishnakumar-kapil/prezto.git "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprezto"
           

        2. Add source "${ZDOTDIR:-$HOME}/.zprezto/init.zsh" to .zshrc
        3. Set zsh as default shell chsh -s /bin/zsh
   6. git lg
      • Much better git logs with better branching.
      • Add following to ~/.gitconfig

          [alias]
              lg = log --color --graph --pretty=format:'%Cred%h%Creset -%C(yellow)%d%Creset %s %Cgreen(%cr) %C(bold blue)<%an>%Creset' --abbrev-commit
        

   7. Git Global Config
      • git config --global user.name "Kapil Krishnakumar"
      • git config --global user.email "krishnakumar.kapil@utexas.edu"
   8. ssh-agent’s / ssh keys generation
      • generate new ssh key
        • ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "krishnakumar.kapil@utexas.edu"
        • When prompted for file location, just press enter. We want default file location
        • either create passphrase or not
      • add to github
        • $pbcopy < ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub>
        • Follow instructions in link
      • Check ssh connection to github using ssh -T git@github.com
   9. virtualenvwrapper and autoenv
      • TODO: Finish this section up
      • setup python3 by default
   10. fzf
       • Better reverse search in terminal as it gives you more options
       • Shows you full command line options instead of native Ctrl-R
   11. use brew python for the love of all that is holy
2. BetterTouchTool
   • Best shortcut mapper for mac.
   • Extremely beneficial for adding shortcuts and other commands to trackpad or mouse gestures as well.
   • Config at vim repo/prog_settings/Kapil’sTrack.bttpreset
   • The best use of this with KarabinerElements is for remapping caps-lock as a combined escape key in terminal in vim and as a hyper key in general. This combination has reduced my hand movement so much when coding.
3. GeekTool
   • Tool for displaying various things on desktop screen.
   • Current setup inspired my momentum’s backgrounds.
   • TODO: export settings
4. KarabinerElements
   • Keyboard re-mapper for the main functionality keys like command, shift, and caps-lock.
   • I use a different version to get caps-lock as a hyper key with cmd+shift+ctrl+alt, that I use in combination with BTTR to get the best experience whilst coding.
   • Used link to improve current setup
   • Make sure to set System Preferences->Keyboard->Modifier Keys you’ve disabled Caps Lock (set it to No Action).
   • Install Settings after downloading dmg and cloning repo:

       cp ~/kapil_dotfiles/prog_settings/karabiner.json ~/.config/karabiner/
     

5. Chunkwm
   • Tiling auto window management. Using this, I can have automatic windows resizing to half the window size in a particular space.
   • As I tend to have my work windows in different spaces instead of all in a single space, this becomes really useful when I have multiple windows concurrently in the same space.
   • Install:

       brew install chunkwm
       brew install khd
       cp ~/kapil_dotfiles/.chunkwmrc ~/
     

   • Settings:
     • Cmd + Option + space for switching between normal mode and the auto tiling mode.
6. Bartender 3
7. iStat Menus
8. Caffeine
9. Magnet
   • App Store
   • Window manager
10. Send to Kindle
11. Mindnode 3
    • App Store
    • Mindmapping tools
12. Backup and Sync
    • get the whole laptop on google drive.
13. Chrome Extensions
    • 1Password
      • Install both mac app and chrome extension
    • uBlock Origin

Productivity

1. Todoist

Vim

To just copy/install my vim setup:

git clone https://github.com/krishnakumar-kapil/vim.git ~/kapil_dotfiles/
mv ~/.vimrc ~/.old_vimrc
mv ~/kapil_dotfiles/.vimrc ~
vim +PluginInstall +qall

Ensure vim version > 8.

Why Vim?

Yes, I’m one of the people who use Vim and will advocate it for every coder I meet. I started using Vim around two and a half years ago after I realized that my coding speed was quite slow relative to some of my friends who used vim. Their hands would literally fly across the keyboard whilst generating lines upon lines of code in extremely short amounts of time. At the time, I was using the popular Sublime Text, but I was looking for something more powerful.

Vim’s editing capabilities allow me to get the power of a normal typing processor like Word or Sublime but also get incredibly optimized movement power. The primary reason for it is Normal Mode’s forward word and backward capabilities that make it incredibly quick to move through long lines of code. The f/t keys are also really useful for jumping to the next character in that line. So, jumping to the next bracket or deleting until the next bracket is incredibly simple.

Vim’s other big benefit is being present on every Unix machine. This means that the editor you are most comfortable with is on every server and is accessible via ssh. In combination with Tmux, this ensures that I have everything I need when coding in a single window.

The downside is that to get comfortable with most of the keybindings, it just takes a decent amount of time. Vimtutor, the default tutorial with vim run by just using :vimtutor, was how I got proficient with many of the keybindings. Other friends who used vim were also useful to my journey as I learned more keybindings and got more useful plugins from them.

Plugins

My setup in vim originally came from vim-as-an-ide. I’ve since then modified it quite a bit with my own list of plugins and other tools.

1. Vundle

The core of the setup uses the plugin manager Vundle.

git clone https://github.com/VundleVim/Vundle.vim.git ~/.vim/bundle/Vundle.vim

Adding more plugins is super easy with additions of the form Plugin '<plugin-git-username>/<plugin-name>' as seen below:

Plugin 'altercation/vim-colors-solarized'

After a plugin has been added to the .vimrc, run vim and then :PluginInstall.

2. Colorscheme Setup (Solarized)

• Add Plugin 'altercation/vim-colors-solarized in the plugin section.
• Settings:

  set background=dark
  colorscheme solarized
  

3. Vim Airline

• Add Plugin 'bling/vim-airline' in the plugin section.
• Add Plugin 'vim-airline/vim-airline-themes' in the plugin section.
• Settings:

  let g:airline_theme='badwolf'
  set laststatus=2
  let g:airline_powerline_fonts = 1
  let g:airline_detect_paste=1
  let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1
  hi clear SignColumn
  let g:airline#extensions#hunks#non_zero_only = 1
  

• Used for creating the really nice status bar at the bottom of vim.

4. Nerdtree

• One of the best file bars in vim. It opens up a tab on the side that shows the files in the directory.
• Add Plugin 'scrooloose/nerdtree' in plugin section.
• Settings:

    nmap <silent> <leader>t :NERDTreeTabsToggle<CR>
    let g:nerdtree_tabs_open_on_console_startup = 0
    let NERDTreeIgnore = ['\.pyc$', 'build', 'venv', 'egg', 'egg-info/', 'docs', '\.javac']
    autocmd bufenter * if (winnr("$") == 1 && exists("b:NERDTree") && b:NERDTree.isTabTree()) | q | endif
  

• Have nerdtree bar open up with \t and not open up on startup of vim.
• ignore files.
• close vim if nerdtree is the only window open.

5. Nerdcommentor

• Used for commenting in vim
• I use the setting \c<space> to toggle comment multiple lines.
• Add Plugin 'scrooloose/nerdcommenter'
• Settings:

    let g:NERDSpaceDelims = 1
    let g:NERDCompactSexyComs = 1
    let g:NERDCommentEmptyLines = 1
    let g:NERDTrimTrailingWhitespace = 1
  

6. Tags

Plugin 'xolox/vim-easytags'
Plugin 'xolox/vim-misc'
Plugin 'majutsushi/tagbar'

• I use tags as a way to quickly jump through code sections. I use exhuberant ctags to get this setup.
• To Install:

    wget http://prdownloads.sourceforge.net/ctags/ctags-5.8.tar.gz
    tar -xzf ctags-5.8.tar.gz
    rm ctags-5.8.tar.gz
    cd ctags-5.8
    ./configure
    make
  

• Tagbar is the way I open up the function headers in vim quickly
• Settings:

    " ----- xolox/vim-easytags settings -----
    " Where to look for tags files
    set tags=./tags;,~/.vimtags
    " Sensible defaults
    let g:easytags_events = ['BufReadPost', 'BufWritePost']
    let g:easytags_async = 1
    let g:easytags_dynamic_files = 2
    let g:easytags_resolve_links = 1
    let g:easytags_suppress_ctags_warning = 1
  
    " ----- majutsushi/tagbar settings -----
    " Open/close tagbar with \b
    nmap <silent> <leader>f :TagbarToggle<CR>
    " Uncomment to open tagbar automatically whenever possible
    " autocmd BufEnter * nested :call tagbar#autoopen(0)
    let g:tagbar_autofocus = 1
  

7. Searching In Files

Plugin 'kien/ctrlp.vim'
Plugin 'dyng/ctrlsf.vim'

• I use ctrlp to search for file names within a project. The settings command ignores gitignored files, which become extremely handy when dealing with build files.
• Settings:

    let g:ctrlp_user_command = ['.git/', 'git --git-dir=%s/.git ls-files -oc --exclude-standard']
    nmap     <C-F>f <Plug>CtrlSFPrompt
    vmap     <C-F>f <Plug>CtrlSFVwordPath
    vmap     <C-F>F <Plug>CtrlSFVwordExec
    nmap     <C-F>n <Plug>CtrlSFCwordPath
    nmap     <C-F>p <Plug>CtrlSFPwordPath
    nnoremap <C-F>o :CtrlSFOpen<CR>
    nnoremap <C-F>t :CtrlSFToggle<CR>
    inoremap <C-F>t <Esc>:CtrlSFToggle<CR>
  

• Use Ctrl-F f for searching across directory similar to sublime’s ctrl shift f functionality.

8. Language Specific Plugins

• vim-go
  • The ultimate plugin for dev with golang.
  • Amazing options for going to function, variable, and struct definitions.
  • Plugin 'fatih/vim-go'
  • Good syntax highlighting
  • gofmt is a lifesaver since golang breaks on certain build errors like unused libraries, etc.
• jedi-vim
  • Similar to vim-go but for python development.
  • Isn’t as good as vim-go because of the core differences of the language, but is able to replicate most of the features comfortably.
  • Plugin ‘davidhalter/jedi-vim’
• csv-vim
  • Not necessary, but makes viewing csv files in vim possible and easy than using bulky excel.

9. Typing/Writing Features

• Plugin 'Raimondi/delimitMate'
  • Used for auto-completing brackets and quotes.
  • Settings:

      let delimitMate_expand_cr = 1
      augroup mydelimitMate
        au!
        au FileType markdown let b:delimitMate_nesting_quotes = ["`"]
        au FileType tex let b:delimitMate_quotes = ""
        au FileType tex let b:delimitMate_matchpairs = "(:),[:],{:},`:'"
        au FileType python let b:delimitMate_nesting_quotes = ['"', "'"]
      augroup END
    

• Plugin 'reedes/vim-pencil'
  • Used when I’m writing markdown documents or other documents where I don’t want vim’s janky multi-line movement. SoftPencil allows the ability to use hjkl movement on single line comments, which ends up being very useful since I tend to write paragraphs in a single line for notes or for longer documents.
• Plugin 'junegunn/goyo.vim'
  • Distraction free writing tool that hides a lot of the status information and allows pure focus for writing. Allows extremely clean typing mode.
  • I use this in conjunction with Limelight, which highlights the current writing paragraph for even more focus.

    Plugin 'plasticboy/vim-markdown'
    Plugin 'dkarter/bullets.vim'
    

  • Both are used to make bullets and markdown in general a pleasure to use.
  • Settings:

      let g:vim_markdown_folding_style_pythonic = 1
      let g:vim_markdown_math = 1
      let g:vim_markdown_folding_disabled = 1
      set conceallevel=2
      " Bullets.vim
      let g:bullets_enabled_file_types = [
          \ 'markdown',
          \ 'text',
          \ 'gitcommit',
          \ 'scratch'
          \]
    

10. Git

Plugin 'airblade/vim-gitgutter'
Plugin 'tpope/vim-fugitive'

• Gitgutter:
  • Shows which line were modified in the sidebar of vim. Super useful to figure out which lines you have modified maybe by accident in your code, or to provide more context when coding in multiple areas in a file.
• fugitive:
  • git wrapper around vim that I don’t use that much as I prefer using the command line to get access to my git stuff.

11. Syntax

• syntastic
  • Plugin 'vim-syntastic/syntastic'
  • Settings:

      let g:syntastic_error_symbol = '✘'
      let g:syntastic_warning_symbol = "▲"
      let g:syntastic_always_populate_loc_list = 0
      let g:syntastic_auto_loc_list = 0
      let g:syntastic_check_on_open = 1
      let g:syntastic_check_on_wq = 0
      augroup mySyntastic
    au!
    au FileType tex let b:syntastic_mode = "passive"
      augroup END
      let g:syntax_matlab_mlint_exec="/Applications/MATLAB_R2016b.app/bin/maci64/mlint"
    

  • One of the best syntax checkers for multiple languages out there. It’s quite useful for most languages, but I tend to keep the auto loading the location list off as it got quite annoying with my habit to constantly save files after making any changes.
• vim-cpp-enhanced-highlight

Misc Plugins

• Plugin 'christoomey/vim-tmux-navigator'
  • A must plugin that I use for moving between vim splits and tmux panes in the same window. Works quite well with my current setup.
• Plugin 'vim-scripts/a.vim'
  • Used for switching between alternate files in c or c++. Like if you have foo.h and foo.c then you can switch between them using :A.
• Spell Checking

    autocmd FileType latex,tex,md,markdown setlocal spell
    autocmd BufRead,BufNewFile *.md setlocal spell
  

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