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Computer Science Links

Generic

Do what?

These are the 'generic' CS links. They probably should be sorted out nicely into more useful subcategories. Maybe I'll do that someday.

Jump point

OK, so I'm going to sorta categorize it. Someday I'll split the big categories into pages of their own.

Hardware, n: The part of the computer you can hit with a baseball bat

Hardware is the basis of everything we do with computers. If the hardware sucks, is broken, or is just plain wacky, there's nothing that'll fix it except fixing it. However, hardware can be physically damaged, so it gives you an easy avenue to take out your frustrations on it.

  • Tom's Hardware Guide is a constantly-updated guide to PC-market hardware. An indispensable resource if you do anything with your PC hardware-wise.

Software, n: The part of the computer you can only scream at

Of course, hardware sitting in the closet isn't much use. And hardware sitting on the table, all hooked together, with the power on, still doesn't do much. You need software to actually DO stuff with the hardware. The lowest level of software on a computer is the Operating System, which I have an entire page of links dedicated to listing. Here, we'll just list a bunch of other software-type stuff. This really needs to be organized and sorted better, but...

  • MRTG is a SNMP-based traffic monitoring program, though you can hack it around to do just about any sort of SNMP monitoring.
  • Postfix (formerly VMailer) is a high-performance MTA that can replace sendmail. It's what I use for my MTA.
  • As long as we're talking email, I use Mutt as my MUA. Very powerful, very versatile, very efficient, very flexible. Very nice.
  • Matt Dillon's website isn't really about software necessarily, but he has some chunks of software he's written there. Some other random information, too. Not a huge site, but good browsing.

How do I...

Hey, life's about learning. Only way to do something you don't know how to do is to learn how to do it. That's what tutorials are all about. So, here's a few that'll bore you to tears unless you want or need to learn about their subject matter.

  • This SQL tutorial is surprisingly comprehensive. An excellent one-stop-shop for learning the basics.
  • CVS is a revision control system, which is very useful for anything you're working on that you need to track changes to. I use it to maintain a number of things, including my webpage. I've found both fairly simple and fairly comprehensive tutorials for it.

Programmer, n: A device for turning caffeine into code

Whee, programming. Some people look on it as the most fun you can have with your clothes on, other people see it as one of those weird things that nobody who's really human actually understands. But it's the ultimate expression of power, in computing terms; it's how, in the final analysis, you make the computer do what you want it to. It's where all software comes from, after all. Doing it yourself is just a more directed form of paying someone else to do it.

This section really needs to be expanded. Of course, that requires the elusive Spare Time.

  • If you're interested in Artificial Intelligence, this site has a list of various resources related to AI.
  • The Literate Programming FAQ is a useful thing for programmers to at least look at, even if they don't intend to follow all its strictures.

Links from the wrong side of the tracks

And finally the generic stuff, that doesn't fit well anywhere else. These poor links need a home. To get that, of course, they need enough peers to make a section all their own.

  • rootshell.com is one of the industry standby's for security people. It contains an archive of security weaknesses and example exploits, which is useful for checking that your systems are up-to-date.
  • Speaking of security, here's a bunch of security resources from UGU (the Unix Guru Universe).