Programming

Programming languages and software development

Scripting & Utilities

Customizing GNOME Shell Fonts in GNOME 3
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

GNOME Shell’s appearance, including the panel, notifications, and system UI, is controlled by CSS theme files. Font customization requires editing these theme files directly. System-Wide Font Changes The primary theme file for GNOME Shell is located at: /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css To modify fonts, open this file with elevated privileges: sudo nano /usr/share/gnome-shell/theme/gnome-shell.css Search for font-family declarations throughout…

Read More Customizing GNOME Shell Fonts in GNOME 3
Development Best Practices

Domain Registration Discounts & Coupons
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Domain registration pricing has commoditized significantly over the past few years. Most registrars cluster around similar price points, and permanent discounts are increasingly rare. Rather than chasing one-off coupons that expire or have restrictive terms, understanding how registrars price domains and what you actually need will serve you better. Current Market Rates As of 2026,…

Read More Domain Registration Discounts & Coupons
Testing & DevOps

Building a Secure Random Password Generator in Scala
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

When managing user accounts on a cluster or application, you’ll often need to generate temporary passwords programmatically. Here’s a practical approach using Scala’s built-in utilities. Basic implementation with scala.util.Random For non-security-critical use cases, here’s a straightforward generator: def randomString(len: Int): String = { val rand = new scala.util.Random() val chars = “0123456789ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZabcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz” (0 until len).map(_…

Read More Building a Secure Random Password Generator in Scala
Development Best Practices

Writing Effective Peer Reviews for Academic Papers
ByWeiwei Jia Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Writing effective paper reviews is essential work in academic fields like information retrieval, machine learning, systems research, and most technical disciplines. Whether you’re reviewing for a conference, journal, or internal research group, the goal is the same: provide constructive, specific feedback that helps authors improve their work and helps decision-makers assess contribution. What Makes a…

Read More Writing Effective Peer Reviews for Academic Papers
Programming Languages

Syntax Differences Between OCaml, Scala, F#, and Haskell
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

These four languages share functional programming roots but diverge significantly in syntax and design philosophy. Here’s a practical reference for anyone transitioning between them or evaluating which to use. Basic Function Definition OCaml: let add x y = x + y let rec factorial n = if n <= 1 then 1 else n *…

Read More Syntax Differences Between OCaml, Scala, F#, and Haskell
Development Best Practices

Open-Source Alternatives to WhatsApp
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

WhatsApp dominates global messaging, but several strong alternatives exist depending on your use case, privacy requirements, and regional adoption. Here’s what’s actually worth considering in 2026. Messaging Apps Built for Mobile Signal The gold standard for privacy-conscious users. Signal uses end-to-end encryption by default for all messages, calls, and group chats. Open source, no ads,…

Read More Open-Source Alternatives to WhatsApp
Scripting & Utilities

How to Enable File Uploads for WordPress Contributors
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

By default, WordPress contributors can submit and edit their own posts, but they can’t upload media files. If you want contributors to attach images or documents to their submissions, you’ll need to grant them the upload capability. Method 1: Using User Role Editor Plugin The User Role Editor plugin is the most straightforward approach for…

Read More How to Enable File Uploads for WordPress Contributors
Development Best Practices

Kindle Paperwhite vs Standard Kindle: Which Should You Buy?
ByWeiwei Jia Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

This is fundamentally a decision about display technology and your reading habits. Here’s what you need to know. Display Technology The standard Kindle uses e-ink technology with a backlit display that requires external light sources — sunlight, a lamp, or overhead lighting. It’s readable but not ideal for low-light conditions. The Paperwhite adds a front-lit…

Read More Kindle Paperwhite vs Standard Kindle: Which Should You Buy?
Development Best Practices

Converting A4 PDFs for Kindle: A Complete Guide
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

A4-sized PDFs—particularly technical papers and academic documents—render poorly on Kindle devices. The small fonts become nearly unreadable, and Amazon’s “Send to Kindle” feature often destroys formatting in the process. You need a tool designed specifically for this workflow. Why Standard Conversion Fails Amazon’s email-to-Kindle conversion assumes reflowable text content. Technical papers with multi-column layouts, equations,…

Read More Converting A4 PDFs for Kindle: A Complete Guide
Scripting & Utilities

Creating EPS Files with Gnuplot
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Gnuplot can output directly to EPS (Encapsulated PostScript) format, which is useful for including plots in LaTeX documents and other publishing workflows. Direct EPS Output The simplest approach is to set the terminal to postscript with the eps option before plotting: set terminal postscript eps enhanced mono “Helvetica” 14 set output “my-plot.eps” plot sin(x) This…

Read More Creating EPS Files with Gnuplot
Scripting & Utilities

Using Rsync with Non-Standard SSH Ports
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

When you need to rsync against hosts behind NAT gateways or port-forwarded SSH services, the standard port 22 won’t work. The solution is the -e flag, which lets you specify a custom SSH command with your desired port. Basic usage Use -e to pass custom SSH arguments: rsync -avxP –delete -e “ssh -p 13022” username@example.com:/remote/path/…

Read More Using Rsync with Non-Standard SSH Ports
Languages & Frameworks

Setting Up Python in Your Dreamhost Account
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Running your own Python installation on Dreamhost (or similar shared hosting) gives you control over the version, packages, and dependencies without relying on system-wide Python. This is especially useful when you need specific Python versions or packages the hosting provider doesn’t support. Why Use a Custom Python Installation Shared hosting environments typically ship with outdated…

Read More Setting Up Python in Your Dreamhost Account
Linux System Configuration

Changing GNOME 3 Window Title Font and Size
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

GNOME 3 removed the GUI option for customizing window title fonts that existed in earlier versions. The setting is still configurable, but you’ll need to access it through command-line tools or configuration editors. Using gsettings (Command Line) The simplest approach is gsettings, which directly modifies the configuration: gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.preferences titlebar-font ‘Sans Bold 10’ To…

Read More Changing GNOME 3 Window Title Font and Size
Scripting & Utilities

How to Revert a Single File to a Previous Commit
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

You’ve accidentally broken a file and need to restore it from an earlier commit without touching anything else in your repository. Here’s how. Restore a file to a specific commit To restore my_file.name to its state at a specific commit: git checkout commit_sha1 my_file.name Replace commit_sha1 with the actual commit hash. You can find it…

Read More How to Revert a Single File to a Previous Commit
System Administration & Cloud

Managing LVM Storage with libvirt
ByQ A Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

By default, libvirt stores VM images as files in /var/lib/libvirt/images/. While functional, this approach limits flexibility. LVM (Logical Volume Management) provides better control over disk space, snapshots, and performance tuning. Using LVM volumes as libvirt storage pools lets you manage VM storage like block devices rather than files, giving you faster provisioning, atomic snapshots, and…

Read More Managing LVM Storage with libvirt
Web Development

Managing Multiple Git Server Keys
ByQ A Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

When you work with multiple git servers or need different credentials for different hosts, SSH’s config file lets you specify which key to use for each server. This is cleaner than managing aliases or environment variables. Setting Up ~/.ssh/config Create or edit ~/.ssh/config and add entries for each server: Host git.example.org Port 22111 IdentityFile ~/.ssh/id_rsa.git.example.org…

Read More Managing Multiple Git Server Keys
Development Best Practices

Check Your Site for Broken Links
ByEric Ma Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Over time, internal and external links on your site inevitably break — pages get deleted, domains expire, content moves. Finding and fixing these broken links improves user experience and helps with SEO, since search engines penalize sites with dead links. Automated Checking Tools Several web-based tools can scan your site and report broken links: https://www.brokenlinkcheck.com/…

Read More Check Your Site for Broken Links
Scripting & Utilities

OCaml Package Management Tools
ByQ A Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Managing OCaml packages effectively depends on your workflow and environment. The current standard is OPAM (OCaml Package Manager), which handles dependency resolution, version switching, and sandboxed environments. OPAM: The Standard Choice OPAM is the de facto package manager for OCaml and is maintained by the OCaml community. Install it using your system package manager or…

Read More OCaml Package Management Tools
Development Best Practices

Systems Conferences
ByQ A Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

Which ones are good systems conferences? Top ones by ACM and USENIX: OSDI: https://www.usenix.org/conferences/byname/179 SOSP: http://sosp.org/ Other SIGOPS Events: http://www.sigops.org/conf-sponsored.html EuroSys: http://www.eurosys.org/ SoCC: http://www.socc2013.org/ (SoCC 2013) ASPLOS: http://www.sigplan.org/Conferences/ASPLOS/Main VEE: http://www.sigplan.org/vee.htm USENIX ATC: https://www.usenix.org/conferences/byname/131 NSDI: https://www.usenix.org/conferences/byname/178 IEEE Conferences: ICDCS: http://www.temple.edu/cis/icdcs2013/ (2013) IPDPS: http://www.ipdps.org/ Other related ones and workshops: HPCA: Search HPCA ConferenceSC: http://www.supercomp.org/IEEE CLUSTER: http://www.clustercomp.org/ HotCloud:…

Read More Systems Conferences
Development Best Practices

How to Get the Size of Integers in OCaml
ByQ A Mar 24, 2018Apr 12, 2026

OCaml’s int type size depends on your platform’s architecture. On 64-bit systems, int is 63 bits; on 32-bit systems, it’s 31 bits. This catches many people off guard when they test bitwise operations. Here’s why: OCaml uses one bit as a tag to distinguish integers from pointers at runtime (the least significant bit). So on…

Read More How to Get the Size of Integers in OCaml