Introduction
This is a [link-first guide](Getting Good at Getting Started) which walks through MacOS machine setup.
MacOS
I try to keep things as default as possible, but here are a few settings I prefer changing and where to find them.
Disable foreign-language hover on keydown
ApplePressAndHoldEnabled is a macOS setting that when set to true (which is by default) it will show a little UI pop-up element when typing that lets you select accents and diacritical marks for certain characters. For example, holding down a will let you select an umlaut or an accent, etc. What it won't do is repeat the character a which is desirable for a programmer.
To disable this behaviour you can do the following,
defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool false
See man defaults for more. I'm not sure when it takes effect, surely on machine restart, but maybe it only requires an app restart. Lastly, to read the value you can type the following.
defaults read -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled
A response of 0 if false and 1 is true. If you try and read before you write it won't work.
$ defaults read -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled
The domain/default pair of (kCFPreferencesAnyApplication, ApplePressAndHoldEnabled) does not exist
Fast keyboard
System Settings > Keyboard > Key repeat rate > maximum speed System Settings > Keyboard > Delay until repeat > minimal delay
Replace Caps Lock with Ctrl
System Settings > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts > Modifier Keys > Caps Lock key > change to Ctrl key
Dock hiding
System Setting > Desktop & Dock > Automatically hide and show the Dock > true
Show sound in menu bar
System Settings > Control Centre > Control Center Modules > Sound > Always Show in the Menu Bar
Disable automatically adjusting brightness
System Settings > Displays > Automatically adjust brightness > false
Zsh
# ~/.zshrc
alias ..='cd ..'
alias g='git'
alias imps='iex -S mix phx.server'
alias l='ls -G'
alias ls='ls -G'
alias ll='ls -al'
alias nr='npm run'
alias v='vim'
In addition to aliases, you will likely want to setup completions (zsh#completions (via compinit)). This will occur after we install Homebrew in the next section.
Brew
Install brew
brew is "the missing package manager for MacOS".
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
Configure zsh completions
https://docs.brew.sh/Shell-Completion#configuring-completions-in-zsh
After installing brew you should have the following.
# ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
To enable the completions add the following.
# ~/.zshrc
autoload -Uz compinit
compinit
iTerm
brew install iterm2
Open new windows and panes in current directory
Settings > Profiles > General > Working Directory > Reuse previous session's directory
No per-pane title bar and no pane dimming
Settings > Appearance > Panes > Show per-pane title bar with split panes > false
Settings > Appearance > Dimming > Dim inactive split panes > false
Show tab bar even if one tab
I do this because I will often open and close tabs and don't like the jerk of the tab bar showing up and changing what is visible.
Settings > Appearance > Tabs > Show tab bar even when there is only one tab > true
Font
After I setup #Starship I will change the font and font-size to 14.
Settings > Profiles > Text > Font > Font Size > 14
Git
The stock version of git on MacOS is likely going to be out of date, so I recommend using brew instead, which symlink's automatically.
brew install git
git config --global user.name [name]
git config --global user.email [email]
# ~/.gitconfig
[alias]
ap = add -p
br = branch
bra = branch --all
c = commit
cane = commit --amend --no-edit
cm = commit --message
co = checkout
l = log --oneline -n5
ll = log --oneline -n10
lol = log --oneline
lolg = log --oneline --graph
s = status --short
st = status
Or, you can set the manually,
git config --global alias.ap "add -p"
# ...
I have a note on Git Aliases if you'd like to explore the topic further.
asdf
https://asdf-vm.com/guide/getting-started.html#_3-install-asdf
brew install asdf
# ~/.zshrc
. /usr/local/opt/asdf/libexec/asdf.sh
asdf plugin add [erlang elixir nodejs]
There's substantial overlap between what asdf and brew can do. In the past I've leaned heavily towards asdf, but have lately been swinging back towards using brew for tools and asdf for languages. One edge case at the moment is postgres. Not sure how I want it installed.
Fira Code Nerd Font
You need to install a "Nerd Font" in order for the default starship behavior to display correctly. You will also probably want to update any editors that display a terminal.
https://www.programmingfonts.org/#firacode
brew install font-fira-code-nerd-font
In iTerm2, if you choose to install it, go to Preferences > Profiles > Text > Font, "FireCode Nerd Font Mono" should "just show up", and when selected, the icons should "just work".
In VSCode, if you choose to install it, go to User Settings > Editor: Font Family. It can be prepended with "FiraCode Nerd Font Mono, ..." and it should "just work". You should see icons in the integrated terminal, etc. Terminal inherits from this, but you can also set the terminal font independently in "Terminal > Integrated: Font Family".
Starship
Install Starship.
brew install starship
https://starship.rs/guide/#step-2-set-up-your-shell-to-use-starship
Setup your shell.
# ~/.zshrc
eval "$(starship init zsh)"
Docker
https://docs.docker.com/desktop/mac/install/
https://github.com/jesseduffield/lazydocker
brew install --cask docker
brew install lazydocker
VSCode
brew install --cask zed
gh: The Github CLI
Install the Github CLI
brew install gh
You will want gh to clone repos, including the upcoming #Vim setup.
Before install, set up your preferred browser, and any other utilities you need to be logged in to Github on your default browser. You want to be logged in to Github and authorize the new client. (By default gh uploads a new SSH key.)
brew install firefox
Opening Firefox for the first time prompts me to make it the default browser. This will "magically" have the browser-based gh auth flow open in Firefox.
gh auth login
Vim
I keep my ~/.vim/ folder source controlled at aegatlin/dotvim. For more information, see my note on the Vim Builtin Package Manager.
cd ~
gh repo clone dotvim .vim
Conclusion
There is more setup to do from here, but this is a good starting point, and a good place to end this guide.