Make your life easier — use keyboard shortcuts and the command palette

https://giphy.com/gifs/workingtitlefilms-simon-pegg-edgar-wright-nick-frost-f3jDkAT0yhwaG9Xnzb

To my surprise, since I don’t think I do, I’ve been asked a few times how I code so fast. To be helpful, I’ve pointed to keyboard shortcuts as the reason. It’s more efficient to use them and I’m shocked by how many people don’t.

Nowadays, to make things even easier, most IDEs have command palettes built in. These are great to quickly execute actions and learn shortcuts along the way. I’ve recommended both many times to friends for Github, RStudio, VS Code, Twitter, and Youtube. Here’s a short list of ones you should start using today:

• Command palette on GitHub (cmd/ctrl + k)

Tweet from @github

• Command palette on RStudio (cmd/ctrl + shift + P)

RStudio v1.4 Preview: Command Palette

• Command palette on VS Code (cmd/ctrl + shift + P)

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/userinterface#_command-palette

• Keyboard shortcuts for Youtube

Keyboard shortcuts for YouTube

• Keyboard shortcuts for Twitter

How to Tweet - what is a Tweet, keyboard shortcuts, and sources

It’s generally great to know your tools so you can more seamlessly execute on the work. Your IDE is one of your most important tools if you’re a programmer. It’s worth investing the time learning it.

Additional resources

• https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/tips-and-tricks
• https://www.dataquest.io/blog/rstudio-tips-tricks-shortcuts/