Computer Tips - Programming, Cybersecurity and Tech Tutorials

The 2026 AI Cheat Sheet: Best Tool for Every Task Updated June 2026 The 2026 AI Cheat Sheet Best Tool for Every Task Dozens of Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems exist. Using the wrong one costs time and money. Here is exactly which tool to reach for and why, with every model type explained. com.puter.tips  |  www.devharsh.me  |  12 min read Four Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, four different jobs — Claude Sonnet, Meta AI, ChatGPT, and Midjourney on the same desk tells the whole story. The most common mistake people make in 2026 is treating AI as a single tool. Using ChatGPT to generate an image when Midjourney exists. Using Claude to find live news when Perplexity is built for exactly that. Or assuming that because one AI impressed you, it can do everything. It cannot. Every AI product you see is powered by a specific type of model with a specific architecture optimized for a specific output. This...

If you are arriving in the USA or have been here a while, you have probably noticed that Americans do a surprising number of things differently from the rest of the world. Some of these differences are minor, and some of them will trip you up in real life. This visual guide covers 15 of the most notable differences across sports, measurements, language, social systems, and everyday formats. All facts verified. Also read: Do this immediately after arriving in USA - a practical checklist for newcomers on getting set up from day one. Cultural Differences Explained USA VS World When America does it differently. And it usually does. 3 Not on Metric 75 Left-drive Nations 15 Differences here 195 Countries worldwide Sports USA calls it Soccer 11 players, round ball VS World calls it Football The planet's sport Trivia: Soccer is a British shortening of Association Football. England d...

This is a free reference guide for academic job seekers in computer science and computer information systems. It collects more than 60 common faculty interview questions, with synthesized sample answers and strategic frameworks for responding. It covers the kinds of questions candidates face across the process, from research and teaching statements to service, fit, and the on-campus visit, with guidance on how to structure strong answers. The goal is a single, practical resource to prepare with. It is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20585412

CyberQuest Summer Camp 2026 is a completely open-access curriculum for a five-day high school cybersecurity camp. It includes a 124-page PDF textbook, interactive HTML slide decks for all five days, Python notebooks, and integrations with free tools. The topics span networking, threat modeling, cryptography, web security, ethical hacking, AI security, and a Capture the Flag exercise. The material is mapped to widely used frameworks including CompTIA Security+, CEH, and NIST. Everything is free to use and adapt for teachers, camp organizers, and self-learners. It is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20635564

LSTM-Demo is a compact, runnable example that trains a bidirectional Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) network with TensorFlow and Keras on the classic Sonar dataset. The Sonar dataset is a well-known binary classification benchmark: each sample has 60 numeric features from sonar returns, and the task is to tell metal cylinders (mines) from rocks. It is small enough to train quickly while still showing a full pipeline. A bidirectional LSTM reads the input sequence in both directions, which can help the model use context from the whole sequence. The demo is intended as a teaching example you can run, read, and modify. It is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20672929

This is a free, open online textbook on generative AI, large language models, and building applications with Amazon Bedrock, adapted and expanded from the AWS Machine Learning University generative AI curriculum. It opens with an AI Literacy Primer and then covers three full modules: Fundamentals of Generative AI, Responsible Generative AI, and Building Applications with Foundation Models. The applied module includes hands-on Amazon Bedrock lab notebooks. The aim is a practical, self-contained path from core concepts to building and evaluating real foundation-model applications, with attention to responsible use. It is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20652883

Links-Extractor is a small Python utility that takes a single URL and pulls out every hyperlink on the page, separating them into internal links (pointing to the same domain) and external links (pointing elsewhere). Splitting links this way is useful for SEO audits, for finding broken or outbound links, for mapping the structure of a site, and as a starting point for a larger crawler. You give it a URL and get back two clean lists you can save or process further. The project is open source and meant to be easy to read and adapt. It is archived on Zenodo with a citable DOI. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20672987

tex2pdf is a free, static web app that compiles LaTeX and shows the result as a PDF entirely inside your browser. There is no account, no install, no server, and nothing is uploaded. You drop in a .tex file and get a PDF back. It works by running busytex, a WebAssembly build of TeX Live, in a Web Worker. Your files are written into an in-memory filesystem, compiled locally, and the resulting PDF is rendered with PDF.js. Because everything runs client side, your document never leaves your machine. You can upload a single .tex file, several files together (figures, .bib, .cls), or a .zip of a whole project. It auto-detects the main file, runs BibTeX when a .bib is present, and offers two engines: XeLaTeX (the default, most reliable in the browser) and pdfLaTeX. A live timer and progress bar show loading and compilation. The site also bundles small client-side tools that load only when opened: a code beautifier and syntax highlighter, a file and PDF comparison (diff) tool, and a local...

Technical-eBooks A free, curated collection of programming eBooks Technical-eBooks is a free, openly shared collection of technical eBooks for learning new technologies. It is one of the most popular repositories in the Computer Tips organization, and it gathers programming and computer-science PDFs in one place so you can browse and download what you need. What it is The repository collects materials for learning new technologies, with individual books ranging from about 1 MB to 25 MB. Everything is shared under the GPL-3.0 license. How to browse and download Browse the catalog on the project page: com-puter-tips.github.io/Technical-eBooks Or open the repository directly and download any file: github.com/com-puter-tips/Technical-eBooks To grab everything at once, clone the repo (note it is large because it contains many PDFs): git clone https://github.com/com-puter-tips/Technical-eBooks.git Links Repository: github.com/com-puter-tips/Technical-eBooks Browsable index: c...

VaultBox Forward-secure, replicated, rateless storage & transmission (C++) Secure Buffer Falcon Encoding Integrity Checker Verifier Key Evolution VaultBox is a header-only C++ library for forward-secure, replicated, randomized, and rate-less storage and transmission of data. It builds on the Crypto++ library and is designed for highly adversarial channels where an attacker may eavesdrop on or delete messages. Compiling g++ -I/usr/local/include -L/usr/local/lib test.cpp lib.cpp -lcryptopp Three levels of protection At rest: the VaultBox buffer is secured with Authenticated Encryption. In transit: data is protected with Falcon (fountain/rate-less) encoding. Hardware (optional): secure chips such as TPM/TEE and secure memory such as ECC-RAM or persistent memory can add an extra layer (hardware API support is not implemented in the library itself). The secure data structure The core is a fixed-size secure buffer (DS) of size T = k x n, holding k replicas of n messages....

SEO-Analysis Keyword + domain insights, driven by a spreadsheet Test.xlsx → Python script → Insights in Excel SEO-Analysis is a small open-source Python script that gathers SEO insights for a set of domains and keywords. It is spreadsheet-driven, so you do not have to touch the code: you list what you want to check in an Excel file, run the script, and it writes the insights back into the spreadsheet. How to use it Open Test.xlsx . Add your keywords and domains, one pair per row. You can repeat the same domain on multiple rows with a different keyword each time. Save Test.xlsx . Run the Python script. The script fills the spreadsheet with the insights for each keyword and domain. Pair it with Links-Extractor For SEO work it pairs well with Links-Extractor , which pulls all the internal and external links from a URL. Links Source: github.com/com-puter-tips/SEO-Analysis License: GPL-3.0

MP3-Stereo-Analyzer Make sure both earbuds play the full audio Analyze --fix --compare MP3-Stereo-Analyzer is a Python tool that checks whether your MP3 files are correctly formatted to play in both earbuds. It is published on PyPI and catches a frustrating, common problem: a track where one earbud plays only the music and the other only the vocals, or where the channels are phase-inverted and cancel out. Installation pip install mp3-stereo-analyzer It needs FFmpeg for audio decoding: brew install ffmpeg # macOS Usage # Analyze a single file mp3-stereo-analyzer your_file.mp3 # Analyze every MP3 in a folder mp3-stereo-analyzer *.mp3 # Detect AND fix files that play different audio in each ear mp3-stereo-analyzer --fix your_file.mp3 # Compare versions and pick the best one mp3-stereo-analyzer --compare old.mp3 new.mp3 What it checks The analyzer reports the format (channels, sample rate, bit depth, bitrate) and runs five tests: Channel count: the file actually con...

Perf_Plotter Log with C#, plot with R Shiny Your App → C# logger → CSV → R Shiny → Plots Perf_Plotter is an open-source tool for benchmarking and visualizing the runtime performance of your application. It has two parts that work together: a logging component written in C# and a plotting utility written in R. How it works The workflow is simple: a Windows Forms application (C#) launches your program and records its performance metrics into a CSV file. You then upload that CSV into an R Shiny web app, which reads the data and plots it so you can see how your application behaved over the run. What is in the project The repository (and the Perf_Plotter.zip bundle) contains two folders and one file: perfloggengui - the C# solution that generates the logs from your application. Uploads - sample log files so you can try the plotter immediately. app.R - the Shiny app you run in R to read a CSV and plot it. Using it Open the perfloggengui C# solution,...

Cybersecurity: Theory, Practice & Ethics A free, open, executable textbook — 20 chapters Ethical Hacking Network Defense Forensics Malware Analysis Cryptography ICS Security Cybersecurity: Theory, Practice, and Ethics is a free, open, executable textbook for university-level cybersecurity education. It is published as a Jupyter Book, so the examples are runnable cells rather than printed code, and it is openly archived with a citable DOI on Zenodo. You can read it online at book.com.puter.tips . What is inside The book spans 20 chapters covering the foundations of cybersecurity, ethical hacking, network defense, digital forensics, incident response, malware analysis, privacy law, governance, and industrial control system (ICS) security. Each chapter includes learning objectives, worked code examples, 10 review questions, and a lab assignment. Courses it supports Introduction to IT Security Ethical Hacking Computer and Network Security Fundamentals of Cryptography ...

chiku Polynomial function approximation in Python — one API, seven methods Taylor Fourier Pade Chebyshev Remez ANN LR chiku is an open-source Python library for efficient polynomial function approximation. It takes an arbitrary continuous function and returns the coefficients of a polynomial that approximates it, using a unified API across seven different methods. It is available on PyPI and is particularly useful for evaluating non-linear functions (such as sigmoid or tanh) under Fully Homomorphic Encryption, where only additions and multiplications are available and functions must be replaced by polynomials. Installation pip install chiku To enable the optional TensorFlow-based ANN approximator (TensorFlow currently needs Python 3.11): pip install chiku[ann] What it does Complex non-linear functions can be approximated by polynomials so they can be computed in restricted settings such as encrypted (FHE) domains. Deterministic methods like Taylor, Pade, Chebyshev, Remez, and...

Before you push a release to the Python Package Index, it pays to build and test it locally so you catch problems before your users do. This guide walks through the full workflow: setting up an isolated environment, installing your package in editable mode, running the test suite, building the distribution, validating the metadata, uploading with Twine, and tagging the release in Git. (If you are starting from scratch and need to structure the package itself first, see How To Create A Python Package .) Build, Test & Publish a PyPI Package venv create + activate → Install deps + pip -e . → Test pytest -v → Build python -m build → Check twine check → Upload twine upload → Tag git tag + push Test locally and validate metadata before you ever upload to PyPI. 1. Set up an isolated environment Install the Python version you need. If your package depends on TensorFlow, use Python 3.11, since the newest releases are not always supported right away. O...

When you want to share your research with the world for free, the trick is matching each type of output to the platform built for it. Posting a dataset to a preprint server, or a manuscript to a code host, only makes your work harder to find and cite. Here is a simple map: one well-established, free, public platform for each kind of academic content. Free Platforms for Public Academic Content One go-to tool for each type of research output arXiv Preprints — un-reviewed manuscripts Zenodo Datasets — raw research data ResearchGate Academic papers — author PDFs PubPub Open journals — academic HTML & rich text Figshare Supplementary media — figures & charts GitHub Research software — code & scripts OSF Study protocols — pre-registrations Protocols.io Lab methodologies — step-by-step recipes Wikiversity Open courseware — lecture notes & slides DSpace Institutional output — theses & dissertations Eve...

Terminal — start Metabase $ java -jar metabase.jar INFO metabase.core Starting Metabase ... INFO metabase.core Metabase Initialization COMPLETE Serving on http://localhost:3000 Metabase is an open-source business intelligence tool, and the quickest way to run it on your own machine is the self-contained JAR. No installer, no Docker, just Java and a single file. This tutorial covers downloading the JAR, running it, and the common issues you may hit on the first launch. Step 1: Install Java The Metabase JAR needs a Java runtime. A current build requires Java 21 or higher (older Metabase versions ran on Java 8 or 11). It works with both OpenJDK and Oracle JDK. Check what you have: java -version If Java is missing or too old, install a JDK. On macOS with Homebrew: brew install openjdk@21 On Debian or Ubuntu, sudo apt install openjdk-21-jre works. Always confirm the required version on the official download page, since it changes between Metabase releases. Step 2: Download the JAR...

Terminal — flatten a LaTeX PDF $ gs -dNOPAUSE -sDEVICE=pdfwrite \\ -sOUTPUTFILE=NEW_FILE.pdf -dBATCH in.pdf Processing pages 1 through 3. Page 1 ... Page 2 ... Page 3 NEW_FILE.pdf active links removed A PDF produced from LaTeX often carries "active" content: clickable hyperlinks, internal cross-reference links, bookmarks, and sometimes form fields or embedded JavaScript. When you need a flat, static PDF for printing, archiving, or submitting to a system that rejects interactive elements, the simplest reliable tool is Ghostscript. This tutorial shows how to strip that active content by re-distilling the file through Ghostscript's pdfwrite device. Step 1: Install Ghostscript On macOS, install it with Homebrew: brew install ghostscript On Debian or Ubuntu use sudo apt install ghostscript ; on most Linux distributions Ghostscript is packaged as ghostscript and provides the gs command. Step 2: Re-distill the PDF Run the source PDF back through Ghostscript...

Terminal — memory-usage on FreeBSD $ clang++ memory-usage.cpp -o memory-usage $ ./memory-usage 839 Process ID: 839 Physical memory used: 2228.00 KB Virtual memory used: 12844.00 KB Here is a C++ program to print the physical and virtual memory used by a process on FreeBSD. It uses the kernel's sysctl interface to read process information, so it does not depend on parsing the output of any command line tool. What this program does It includes the necessary headers for system calls and I/O operations. It uses std::atoi() for argument parsing and <iomanip> for formatting output. The main function handles command line arguments: If an argument is provided, it is converted to an integer with std::atoi() . If the converted PID is invalid (0 or negative), an error message is displayed. If no argument is provided, it uses getpid() to get the current process ID. It sets up the Management Information Base (MIB) for the sysctl call to retrieve process ...