SublimeText with orgMode

SublimeText is a pretty neat and lightweight editor, a bit like a dark, sleek Notepad++. Word on the street that a lot of start-ups use this as their preferred text editor. But the coolest thing (yes, my life is boring) is the organization plug in:

Look at it! Beautiful! Look at all the stuff I haven’t done yet too. Not so beautiful!

It’s a powerful editor, filled with nice shortcuts:
c + ctrl to generate
cs + ctrl to generate [] (checkbox summary)
d + ctrl to generate date
* word * to highlight
more infos here

Version control (using bitbucket )

The idea of version control, very simply put, is that you keep track of the changes you make in your code, so you can easily see that has been changed, revert back changes and when it comes to giving it to someone else, they can look at how the project has been progressing. You can also track issues/add more written documentation. This is awesome if you are working with other people as you can add contributors/admins to your repo.

Also please wipe that patronizing grin off your face, all you computer scientists/engineers/applied people who might be chuckling at my naivity regarding version control…

n00b guide on how to start: 1. Set up account on bitbucket
2. Download here
3. THE WORLD IS YOUR OYSTER. Sorta. I mean, your well maintained code is your oyster.

The only commands you need to know (really):
git status - shows list of things that has been changed / untracked files
git add files - adds files to be committed to the repo
git commit -m “comment about change” - gives the comment to the files you are about to upload to the repo
git push - uploads the changes to your repo
git pull - you get the (what should be the) latest version of your code, basically what is online on your repo
git checkout file - revert local changes back to whatever is on your repo

More concise details found here

Matlab

• Click over a function and press ctrl + d to open the function file. I was super happy. Shut up.
  
• If you have a clear all that executes before your break points, they get wiped off. By the way, the debugging tool in matlab is really nice. If you don’t really know how to use it, I suggest you take a look at this.
• Matlab can run out of memory, in fact, it’s really crap for anything that requires a lot of memory because it allocates everything as doubles by default. Good luck fiddling with your very sparse bazillion by bazillion matrix if you do it stupidly. So: sparse(), [spy() is a good function to take a look at how your matrix is populated], typecasting and smarter algorithms can make a huge difference, like everything in life.
• There are no sparse matrices using singles, but there’s a script that you can use here

Report writing related stuff

• Keep a folder with all the papers you reviewed, you’ll probably have to make references.
  
• Plotting stuff takes a long, long time. Always label your plots.

HAPPY RESEARCHING. KISSES.