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• What tools do you use to stay focused?

  - by Peter Turner

  This is related, but I'm thinking about something more like a chastity belt for keeping me from checking programmers.SE or my email every time I compile. Rather advice like "go take a walk and you'll feel more like coding", I just need something to augment my weak constitution - a net nanny for my geek fetish I guess. I'll take my answer off the air and I promise not to check programmers.SE for at least a day.

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• Questions, Knowledge Checks and Assessments

  - by ted.henson

  Questions should be used to reinforce concepts throughout the title. You have the option to include questions in the course, in assessments, in Knowledge Checks, or in any combination. Questions are required for creating knowledge checks and assessments. It is important to remember that questions that are not in assessments are not tracked. Be sure to structure your outline so that questions are added to the appropriate assignable unit. I usually recommend that questions appear directly below their relative section. This serves two purposes. First, it helps ensure that the related content and question stay relative to one another. Secondly, it ensures that when the "link to subject" option is used it will relate back to the relative content. Knowledge checks are created using the questions that have been added to the related assignable unit. Use Knowledge Checks to give users an additional opportunity to review what they have learned. Knowledge Check allows users to check their own knowledge without being tracked or scored. Many users like having this self check option, especially if they know they are going to be tested later. Each assignable unit can have its own Knowledge Check. Assessments provide a way to measure knowledge or understanding of the course material. The results of each assessment are scored and tracked. Assessments are created using the questions that have been added to the relative assignable unit(s). Each assignable unit, including the Title AU, can have multiple assessments. Consider how your knowledge paths will be structured when planning your assessments. For instance, you can create a multiple-activity knowledge path, with multiple assessments from the same title or assignable unit. Also remember, in Manager an assessment can be either a pre or post assessment. Pre-assessments allow the student to discover what is already known in a specific topic or subject and important if the personal course feature is being used. Post-assessments allow you test the student knowledge or understanding after completing the material.

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• How to bill a client for frequently-interrupted time

  - by Greg

  I find that when I'm working on hourly-billable projects (in particular, those that are research/design/architecture-oriented as opposed to straight coding) that I'm easily distracted by any number of things (email, grab a drink (loss of focus, but nature happens), link off the webpage I was reading, wandering mind (easy when the job calls for a lot of thinking), etc.) This results in very fragmented time, far too incremental IMO to accurately track with a timeclock, and some time very gray. I frequently end up billing for only some fraction of the elapsed time I spent in order to feel fair, but sometimes it takes a really long time to put in an 8-hour day. By contrast, when I've worked for salary I've not worried about whether I'm actively working at any given minute, I just get the job done, and I've never had anything but stellar reviews/feedback from past salaried employers, so I think I get the job done well. I personally believe in an 80/20 cycle: I get 80% of my work done during an inspired 20% of my time. But I have to screw around the other 80% of the time in order to get that first 20%. So the question: what billing/time-tracking policy can I adopt in order to be fair to my hourly customers without having to write off my own less-productive 80% that a salaried employer is willing to overlook in light of the complete package? Note: This question is not about how to be more productive or focused. It's about how to work around whatever salient limitations that I have in a way that's both fair to me and to my customers. Update: A little clarification (to pre-emptively stop some righteous indignation): I currently have a half dozen different project/client groups. It's not a great situation and I'm working at reducing it down to two, but that's my current reality. It's very easy to get off on a thread related to a different project than the one I'm clocking, and I'm not always conscious of it at the time. [I did not intend the question to mean that I was off playing games or making personal calls, etc., and have adjusted wording above to be clearer. Most of the time. I am only human, and sometimes the mind does force you to take a break! :-)]

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• Why do we keep using CSV?

  - by Stephen

  Why do we keep using CSV? I recently made a shift to working the health domain and despite the wonderful work in data transfer standards, all data transfer is in CSV, both for reporting to external organisations, and for data migrations when implementing new systems. Unfortunately the use of CSV is the cause of the endless repetition of the same stupid errors, with the same waste of developer time. (bad escaping, failing to handle null fields etc.) I know we can do better, and anything between JSON and XML (depending on the instance) would be fine. (Most of the time this is data going from one MS SQLserver 2005 to another!) I feel as if each time I see this happening I am literally watching one developer waste anothers time. So why do we keep shafting each other? When will we stop?

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• How do you KISS ?

  - by Conor

  The KISS principal is a highly quoted design mantra. The aim of this principle is to stamp out unnecessary complexity on a project. This is a good thing, saving time, energy and money. It can lead to a relatively stress free implementation and a simple, elegant, maintainable end product. A lot of discussion on KISS provides mechanisms to simplify requirements, design and implementation. Things that spring to mind include: avoid scope creep; simple obvious design and code; minimal run-time dependencies; refactoring to maintain simplicity; etc. However there are a lot of implicit things that we do to KISS. Examples: small team sizes; minimal management layers; tidy desk; mastery of a single IDE; clear concise error messages; scripts to automate/encapsulate tasks; etc The purpose of this question is to derive a checklist of KISS items. I'm especially interested in non-obvious items.

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• How to Attach Sticky-Note Reminders to Windows and Applications

  - by Erez Zukerman

  Some applications come with a boatload of keyboard shortcuts; these can make you very fast, but can be difficult to remember, especially if you customized some of them. What if you could have your own little cheat sheet that would pop up next to the application every time your ran it? Read on to see how you can make one. We’re going to be using an excellent (and free) application called Stickies. If you don’t have it yet, go to the Stickies homepage, download it, and install it. Latest Features How-To Geek ETC How to Get Amazing Color from Photos in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Learn To Adjust Contrast Like a Pro in Photoshop, GIMP, and Paint.NET Have You Ever Wondered How Your Operating System Got Its Name? Should You Delete Windows 7 Service Pack Backup Files to Save Space? What Can Super Mario Teach Us About Graphics Technology? Windows 7 Service Pack 1 is Released: But Should You Install It? Get the MakeUseOf eBook Guide to Hacker Proofing Your PC Sync Your Windows Computer with Your Ubuntu One Account [Desktop Client] Awesome 10 Meter Curved Touchscreen at the University of Groningen [Video] TV Antenna Helper Makes HDTV Antenna Calibration a Snap Turn a Green Laser into a Microscope Projector [Science] The Open Road Awaits [Wallpaper]

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• Technology/Programming mailing lists How do you manage?

  - by AdityaGameProgrammer

  Email Alerts, Blog /Forum updates, discussion subscriptions general programming/technology update emails that we often subscribe to.Do you actually read them ? or go direct to the source when you find time. Often we might the mail of programmers filled with loads of unread subscription mail from technology they previously were following or worked on or things they wish to follow .Some or a majority of these mail just keep on piling up . I personally have few updates that i wish i read but constantly avoid and keep of for latter and finally delete them in effort keep the in box clean. Few questions come to mind regarding this Do you keep such mail in separate accounts? Do you read all the mail you have subscribed to? Do you ever unsubscribe to any such email if you aren't reading them? How much do you really value these email. Lastly do you keep your in box clean ? wish to deal with this in a better way.

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• How to concentrate on one project at a time. Divide and Conquer doesn't work for me [closed]

  - by refhat

  Possible Duplicate: Tips for staying focused and motivated on a project I have serious issues on concentrating on one project at a time. I cant even follow the Divide and Conquer Approach. Once I start a project, I try to get the things done as neatly as possible but very soon I end up messing so many components of it. I try to do divide and conquer, but my approach doesn't work smoothly, and then I then wonder here and there in other projects. Sometimes I try spending so many hours for some trivial issues, which in-fact are not even issues. How do I avoid this jargon and be a smooth developer and have a nice workflow around my projects. I tend to loose my concentration on the current project and wonder in another project.

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• What technologies are used for Game development now days?

  - by Monika Michael

  Whenever I ask a question about game development in an online forum I always get suggestions like learning line drawing algorithms, bit level image manipulation and video decompression etc. However looking at games like God of War 3, I find it hard to believe that these games could be developed using such low level techniques. The sheer awesomeness of such games defy any comprehensible(for me) programming methodology. Besides the gaming hardware is really a monster now days. So it stands to reason that the developers would work at a higher level of abstraction. What is the latest development methodology in the gaming industry? How is it that a team of 30-35 developers (of which most is management and marketing fluff) able to make such mind boggling games? If the question seems too general could you explain the architecture of God of War 3? Or how you would go about producing a clone? That I think should be objectively answerable.

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• Getting overwhelmed after starting a new project

  - by Kian Mayne

  I started a project (a Windows based timetable program that helps you stay organised with your subjects and assignments). The problem is that I'm not sure how I should manage this project and what order to build things. I.e. Should I build all the different interface elements then write the code or should I make an interface, code it, make another interface then code that? So my question is; how do I split up this longish project into small, ordered pieces to complete; and how should I order this?

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• How to read Scala code with lots of implicits?

  - by Petr Pudlák

  Consider the following code fragment (adapted from http://stackoverflow.com/a/12265946/1333025): // Using scalaz 6 import scalaz._, Scalaz._ object Example extends App { case class Container(i: Int) def compute(s: String): State[Container, Int] = state { case Container(i) => (Container(i + 1), s.toInt + i) } val d = List("1", "2", "3") type ContainerState[X] = State[Container, X] println( d.traverse[ContainerState, Int](compute) ! Container(0) ) } I understand what it does on high level. But I wanted to trace what exactly happens during the call to d.traverse at the end. Clearly, List doesn't have traverse, so it must be implicitly converted to another type that does. Even though I spent a considerable amount of time trying to find out, I wasn't very successful. First I found that there is a method in scalaz.Traversable traverse[F[_], A, B] (f: (A) => F[B], t: T[A])(implicit arg0: Applicative[F]): F[T[B]] but clearly this is not it (although it's most likely that "my" traverse is implemented using this one). After a lot of searching, I grepped scalaz source codes and I found scalaz.MA's method traverse[F[_], B] (f: (A) => F[B])(implicit a: Applicative[F], t: Traverse[M]): F[M[B]] which seems to be very close. Still I'm missing to what List is converted in my example and if it uses MA.traverse or something else. The question is: What procedure should I follow to find out what exactly is called at d.traverse? Having even such a simple code that is so hard analyze seems to me like a big problem. Am I missing something very simple? How should I proceed when I want to understand such code that uses a lot of imported implicits? Is there some way to ask the compiler what implicits it used? Or is there something like Hoogle for Scala so that I can search for a method just by its name?

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• T-SQL Tuesday 24: Ode to Composable Code

  - by merrillaldrich

  I love the T-SQL Tuesday tradition, started by Adam Machanic and hosted this month by Brad Shulz . I am a little pressed for time this month, so today’s post is a short ode to how I love saving time with Composable Code in SQL. Composability is one of the very best features of SQL, but sometimes gets picked on due to both real and imaginary performance worries. I like to pick composable solutions when I can, while keeping the perf issues in mind, because they are just so handy and eliminate so much...(read more)

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• International multi-OS keyboard layout for both coding and surfing?

  - by rassie

  So yes, the problem has been raised in parts multiple times already. Still I'm looking for a keyboard layout that has the following features: Easy on fingers (Dvorak-like layouts welcome) Easy for coding Includes german characters (typing ä with AltGr-p is not ok). Works well with web-browsing (Ctrl-t and Ctrl-w on one hand, left one very much preferred, since that's where my ex-CapsLock, now Ctrl lies) Works well with default Emacs bindings Works on both Windows and Linux (at least easily installable) I've looked at Dvorak and Neo, they both have a "shortcut problem", i.e. web-browsing and most frequent Emacs combinations use both parts of the keyboard. Using right Ctrl is usually not an option, since it'll give me RSI much faster than keeping QWERTY/Z. Funnily enough, mirroring the default Neo layout would probably be enough for me. So, any ideas?

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• Programming by dictation?

  - by Andrew M

  ie. you speak out the code, and someone else across the room types it in Anyone tried this? Obviously the person taking the dictation would need to be a coder too, so you didn't have to explain everything and go into tedious detail (not 'open bracket, new line...' but more like 'create a new class called myParser that takes three arguments, first one is...'). I thought of it because sometimes I'm too easily distracted at my computer. Surrounded by buttons, instant gratification a click away, the world at my fingertips. To get stuff done, I want to get away, write my code on paper. But that would mean losing access to necessary resources, and necessitate tedious typing-up later on. The solution? Dictate. Pros: no chance to check reddit, stackexchange, gmail, etc. code while you pace the room, lie down, play billiards, whatever train your brain to think more abstractedly (have to visualize things if you can't just see the screen) skip the tedious details (closing brackets etc.) the typist gets to shadow a more experienced programmer and learn how they work the typist can provide assistance/suggestions external pressure of typist expecting instructions, urging you to stay focussed Cons might be too hard might not work any better rather inefficient use of assisting programmer need to find/pay someone to do this

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• Programmers and tech email: Do you actually read all of them?

  - by AdityaGameProgrammer

  Email Alerts, Blog /Forum updates, discussion subscriptions general programming/technology update emails that we often subscribe to.Do you actually read them ? or go direct to the source when you find time. often we might the mail of programmers filled with loads of unread subscription mail from technology they previously were following or worked on or things they wish to follow .some or a majority of these mail just keep on piling up . i personally have few updates that i wish i read but constantly avoid and keep of for latter and finally delete them in effort keep the in box clean. few questions come to mind regarding this Do you keep such mail in separate accounts? Do you read all the mail you have subscribed to? Do you ever unsubscribe to any such email if you aren't reading them? How much do you really value these email. Lastly do you keep your in box clean ? wish to deal with this in a better way.

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• C IDE for Mac needed

  - by StasM

  I'm looking for heavy-duty C/C++ IDE for Mac that would satisfy the following criteria: Work with big projects (~5000 files, some of them 100K big) efficiently. Have good navigation both file-based and symbol-based - i.e. "go to file", "go to function" etc. with autocompletion support. Support for "go to declaration/definition" for symbols - functions, structures, etc. Auto-adding new files in folders already in the project. Support for code completion for values, function names, etc. At least rudimentary CPP macro understanding - i.e. #define foo bar then foo() should take me either to #define or to actual bar. I understand full CPP parsing may be hard, but I hope for at least the obvious cases. Support for displaying parameter names/types by function name, preferably - integrated with the previous item, for functions defined in the project. Support for libc would be nice too :) (optional) Cross-project search support (I can manage with grep -r if everything else works) (optional) SVN support, at least to some extent (update, commit, mark updated) Is there such editor around? Free would be nice, but I'm ready to part with some money if it's good enough. I'm using TextMate now but I'm not satisfied with it. Tried Xcode but it seems to not be able to handle a large project - it just crashed...

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• Do higher resolution laptop displays matter for programmers?

  - by Jason Baker

  I'm buying a new laptop that I'll be using mainly for programming. A couple of options that really intrigue me are the Asus Zenbook UX31A and the new Retina Macbook Pro. It's obvious that the high-resolution displays on these laptops is useful for entertainment, photo-editing, and other things. My question is this: Do these displays provide any benefit for programmers? Do these displays make code any easier to read? Are they any easier on the eyes after a whole day of staring at the screen?

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• How to use multiple monitors effectivelly

  - by maaartinus

  I'm currently using a single monitor, since I see no value in something like this mentioned in this answer. It may be a good exercise for my neck, but besides of this I see no use therein at all. This amounts to 5760x1200 pixels, which is nearly 7M pixels, just fantastic, except for me not being a cyklop-han. The ratio of 24:5 is IMHO too bad for this to be usable. I don't even think that two 16:10 monitors side by side is a good idea. I never tried so I may be completely wrong, but I suppose that the 4:3 ratio would be much better for this. Or even 1:1, but no such thing is available (with some exceptions, either very expensive or very low resolution). Does anybody use two monitors arranged vertically (resulting in 16:20)? or two pivoted monitors side by side (resulting in 20:16)? or another such variant?

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• How do you avoid jumping to a solution when under pressure? [closed]

  - by GlenPeterson

  When under a particularly strict programming deadline (like an hour), if I panic at all, my tendency is to jump into coding without a real plan and hope I figure it out as I go along. Given enough time, this can work, but in an interview it's been pretty unsuccessful, if not downright counter-productive. I'm not always comfortable sitting there thinking while the clock ticks away. Is there a checklist or are there techniques to recognize when you understand the problem well enough to start coding? Maybe don't touch the keyboard for the first 5-10 minutes of the problem? At what point do you give up and code a brute-force solution with the hope of reasoning out a better solution later? A related follow-up question might be, "How do you ensure that you are solving the right problem?" Or "When is it most productive to think and design more vs. code some experiments to and figure out the design later?" EDIT: One close vote already, but I'm not sure why. I wrote this in the first person, but I doubt I'm the only programmer to ever choke in an interview. Here is a list of techniques for taking a math test and another for taking an oral exam. Maybe I'm not expressing myself well, but I'm asking if there is a similar list of techniques for handling a programming problem under pressure?

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• Is there a LibreOffice equivalent to microsofts office themes?

  - by Dr. Mike

  I've used MS office for many years now. Especially powerpoint. One of the strengths is that it defines and separates the concepts of template and theme. A theme can be saved and contains fonts, colours, and a set of images that can be reused every time you create a new presentation. This ensures that everyone in your organization uses exactly the same colours and fonts all the time. Now I know that you can download templates for LibreOffice, but I have not seen anything similar to the theme concept. The file extensions used in MS office are the following for the two concepts mentioned: Example Powerpoint template file name: mytemplate.potx Example Powerpoint theme file name: mytheme.thmx Now back to my question: Do these concepts and their separation exist in LibreOffice or OpenOffice? If so, how do I create them?

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• Beginner Guide to User Styles for Firefox

  - by Asian Angel

  While the default styles for most websites are nice there may be times when you would love to tweak how things look. See how easy it can be to change how websites look with the Stylish Extension for Firefox. Note: Scripts from Userstyles.org can also be added to Greasemonkey if you have it installed. Getting Started After installing the extension you will be presented with a first run page. You may want to keep it open so that you can browse directly to the Userstyles.org website using the link in the upper left corner. In the lower right corner you will have a new Status Bar Icon. If you have used Greasemonkey before this icon works a little differently. It will be faded out due to no user style scripts being active at the moment. You can use either a left or right click to access the Context Menu. The user style script management section is also added into your Add-ons Management Window instead of being separate. When you reach the user style scripts homepage you can choose to either learn more about the extension & scripts or… Start hunting for lots of user style script goodness. There will be three convenient categories to get you jump-started if you wish. You could also conduct a search if you have something specific in mind. Here is some information directly from the website provided for your benefit. Notice the reference to using these scripts with Greasemonkey… This section shows you how the scripts have been categorized and can give you a better idea of how to search for something more specific. Finding & Installing Scripts For our example we decided to look at the Updated Styles Section”first. Based on the page number listing at the bottom there are a lot of scripts available to look through. Time to refine our search a little bit… Using the drop-down menu we selected site styles and entered Yahoo in the search blank. Needless to say 5 pages was a lot easier to look through than 828. We decided to install the Yahoo! Result Number Script. When you do find a script (or scripts) that you like simply click on the Install with Stylish Button. A small window will pop up giving you the opportunity to preview, proceed with the installation, edit the code, or cancel the process. Note: In our example the Preview Function did not work but it may be something particular to the script or our browser’s settings. If you decide to do some quick editing the window shown above will switch over to this one. To return to the previous window and install the user style script click on the Switch to Install Button. After installing the user style the green section in the script’s webpage will actually change to this message… Opening up the Add-ons Manager Window shows our new script ready to go. The script worked perfectly when we conducted a search at Yahoo…the Status Bar Icon also changed from faded out to full color (another indicator that everything is running nicely). Conclusion If you prefer a custom look for your favorite websites then you can have a lot of fun experimenting with different user style scripts. Note: See our article here for specialized How-To Geek User Style Scripts that can be added to your browser. Links Download the Stylish Extension (Mozilla Add-ons) Visit the Userstyles.org Website Install the Yahoo! Result Number User Style Similar Articles Productive Geek Tips Spice Up that Boring about:blank Page in FirefoxExpand the Add Bookmark Dialog in Firefox by DefaultEnjoy How-To Geek User Style Script GoodnessAuto-Hide Your Cluttered Firefox Status Bar ItemsBeginner Geek: Delete User Accounts in Windows 7 TouchFreeze Alternative in AutoHotkey The Icy Undertow Desktop Windows Home Server – Backup to LAN The Clear & Clean Desktop Use This Bookmarklet to Easily Get Albums Use AutoHotkey to Assign a Hotkey to a Specific Window Latest Software Reviews Tinyhacker Random Tips VMware Workstation 7 Acronis Online Backup DVDFab 6 Revo Uninstaller Pro Bypass Waiting Time On Customer Service Calls With Lucyphone MELTUP – "The Beginning Of US Currency Crisis And Hyperinflation" Enable or Disable the Task Manager Using TaskMgrED Explorer++ is a Worthy Windows Explorer Alternative Error Goblin Explains Windows Error Codes Twelve must-have Google Chrome plugins

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• How important is to sacriface your free time for accomplishing goals? [closed]

  - by Darf Zon

  I was reading a book about XP programming and about agile teams. While I was reading, I saw this scenario. I've never worked with a development team (just in school). So I would like what do you opine on this situation: Your boss has asked you to deliver software in a time that can only be possible to meet the project team asking if you want to work overtime without pay. All team members have young children. Discuss whether it should accept this request from your boss or should persuade the team to give their time to the organization rather than their families. What could be significant factors in the decision? As a programmer, you are offered an upgrade as project manager, but his feeling is that you can have a more effective contribution in a technical role in one administrative. Write when you should accept that promotion. Somethimes, I sacrifice my free time for accomplishing hits at work, so it's very important to me to know your opinion base of your experience.

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• What are the warning signs of impending doom to watch out for on a project?

  - by ConroyP

  Having worked on a failed project is one of the few things that most programmers have in common, regardless of language used, industry or experience. These projects can be great learning experiences, soul-crushing disasters (or both!), and can occur for a multitude of reasons: upper management change of heart under-skilled / under-resourced team emergence of superior competitor during dev cycle over/under management Once you've worked on a couple of such projects, is it possible to recognise at an early stage exactly when a project is doomed to fail? For me, a big sign is having a hard & fast external deadline combined with feature creep. I've seen projects which were well planned out and proceeding right on schedule go horribly off the rails once the late feature requests started to roll in and get added to the final "deliverable". The proposers of these requests earned the nickname of Columbo, due to rarely leaving the room without asking for "just one more thing". What are the warning signs you look out for that set off the alarm bells of impending doom in your head?

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• Correct definition of the term "Yak Shaving"

  - by StevenWilkins

  The wiktionary has two different definitions: Any apparently useless activity which, by allowing you to overcome intermediate difficulties, allows you to solve a larger problem. The actually useless activity you do that appears important when you are consciously or unconsciously procrastinating about a larger problem. This post defines it as: yak shaving is what you are doing when you're doing some stupid, fiddly little task that bears no obvious relationship to what you're supposed to be working on, but yet a chain of twelve causal relations links what you're doing to the original meta-task. I personally prefer the final definition because it contains the word "fiddly" which I think perfectly describes a typical yak shaving task. What is the best definition you've come across or can provide?

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• Possible to use screen lock as timeout? [duplicate]

  - by Alex

  This question already has an answer here: Any app that tells me to take regular breaks from working? 3 answers What I'd like to do is lock the screen and have it wait a set amount of time (eg 20 mins) before it lets me log back in - so I make myself to have a break from the computer. Is it possible to do this? Thanks EDIT: Thanks for the suggestions - but I don't actually want something to remind me to take scheduled breaks. More something I can click when I realise I'm getting distracted and it'll immediately lock the screen for a fixed amount of time. Or even just lock screen if I can find a way to stop it letting me log in for 20 mins or so.

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