zsh-syntax-highlighting is another gem for ZSH.

As you type, you'll be able to tell from the colors that, for example, something isn't quite right.

If you type head followed by a space, ZSH will display this word in green: this command exists and is valid. If you type heat there, the word will appear in red: this command does not exist.

It sounds simple, but it's so practical.

ZSH is a powerful alternative to Linux Bash offering a lot of features like auto-completion (I like this so much), plugins and even themes.

The idea here is to empower your Linux console, both the command line like, f.i. new aliases out-of-the-box and make the look and feel even better.

I've chosen Oh My ZSH since years, let's see how to install it followed by a discovering some features.

It's only been ten days or so since I learned the trick, even though it was well documented: managing service startups and, above all, blocking one if the other isn't ready (official documentation).

Imagine a two services applications like Joomla (see my Create your Joomla website using Docker), WordPress, LimeSurvey, Laravel and many, many more use cases: you've an application and that application requires a database.

Before switching to WSL2 and the Linux console, I wrote VBS scripts from time to time. It looks like VBA but for the DOS console.

A VBS script for DOS is a text file written in the Visual Basic Scripting Edition (VBScript) programming language that can be executed directly from the DOS command prompt. It allows you to automate tasks and perform repetitive operations on your computer.

It's just like Linux Bash scripts but for the DOS.

Do you think it would be possible to offer an auto-update function in such scripts? The answer is yes.

Using SSH instead of HTTPS to connect to Github is more secure. Indeed, SSH relies on public-key cryptography. This makes unauthorized access much harder compared to a password, which can be stolen through phishing or brute-force attacks. Also, HTTPS transmits your username and password (encrypted) over the network, which can be intercepted in a Man-in-the-Middle (MITM) attack. SSH doesn't transmit passwords after the initial setup.

Let's see how to add a SSH key and, from now, being able to work with Github like using the git@ protocol with git clone.

Several years ago, I had to intervene on an MS Access database that had been created by a person of good will but with little affinity for computers and optimization.

The result: a cumbersome and exasperatingly slow database.

In this article, resurrected from my personal archive, I'm going to present the different stages I went through.

Years ago, I've created a .vbs script that will scan a MS Access database, loop for each table and, for each of them, will get the list of fields.

For each fields, a lot of information will be retrieved like, not exhaustive, his name, size, type, ... and also the shortest and longest value size (for text and memo fields). For instance, if a text field is found, the script will retrieve his size (f.i. 255 chars max) and will examine all records in the table for retrieving, for that field, the smallest size (f.i. 10) and the greatest one (f.i. 50). So, if the max size is 50 and the size has been set to 255, perhaps the MS Access developer can safely modify the max size from 255 to 50.

Very recently I discovered usernamehw.errorlens and it's a shame I hadn't seen it before.

Error Lens is an addon for VSCode which will show errors, notices, warnings, etc. in the editor, which are generally only accessible in the Problems area of VSCode.

Did you know where is that area? In the status bar of the main VSCode window. Did you see it? Hardly anyone sees it, and yet it should be!

We can see here I've 54 problems, ouch.

Tabnine is a MUST HAVE extension. He will predict your next keystroke and sometimes it's just WOW; HOW IS IT POSSIBLE?.

Imagine you've a private string $firstName property in PHP. By starting to type private function set, Tabnine will understand you're probably creating a setter and will then suggest setFirstName(string $firstname).

<?php

class Customer
{
    private string $firstName;

    private function set // <=== Tabnine will predict and propose setFirstName(string $firstname)
}

A recent post on the Joomla French forum was asking for being able to delete tables present in the Joomla database; the ones using a given prefix like old_ or something like that.

Indeed, from time to time, it can be useful to take a look on the list of tables in your database and perhaps, you'll find tables prefixed with f.i. old_ or an old tool you've used years ago (using the correct prefix but with a component you've removed since like joomla_oldcomp).

Years ago, I've written such PHP utility, let's see how to use it.