nanodano's blog

PyCharm Tips

Submitted by nanodano on Sun, 11/27/2016 - 21:38

Creating Systemd Service Files

Submitted by nanodano on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 23:29

systemd is used in many mainstream Linux distributions like Arch Linux, CentOS, Debian/Ubuntu, RedHat/Fedora, openSuse, Slackware, CoreOS and more. It provides an easy way to manage and control services and a simple method of creating your own services. This will cover the process of creating and managing your own custom service.

You should copy your .service file to /etc/systemd/system. Do not symlink it. One, you can't run systemctl enable because you it will not follow a symlink. Two, it potentially opens up a security risk (e.g. a shell). For example, you run your service as a low privilege user but you are symlinking the .service file. Someone finds a flaw in your service where they are able to overwrite or modify files. They can turn that in to code execution by modifying the .service file that your low privilege user has access to and changing the command that is run (ExecStart). When the service is restarted the attackers command is run. This is also why you should not run the service as root.

Note that you can also put the files in /usr/lib/systemd/system/ but that should be reserved for system level packages. Anything in /etc/systemd/system will override it and that is where user changes should go.

Setting up Tor Proxy and Hidden Services in Linux

Submitted by nanodano on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 12:15

Learn how to set up Tor proxy and hidden services in Linux.

Making Tor Requests with command-line cURL

Submitted by nanodano on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 11:50

Learn how to make requests on Tor using cURL on the command line.

Making Tor HTTP Requests with Go

Submitted by nanodano on Fri, 09/16/2016 - 11:42

Learn how to make a request using the Tor proxy with the Go programming language.

Detective Dana

Submitted by nanodano on Thu, 08/11/2016 - 00:33

A fictional short story about a law enforcement computer forensic analyst and the most surprising case she ever worked.

Working with Spreadsheets in Python

Submitted by nanodano on Sat, 07/16/2016 - 14:36

Learn how to read and write CSV spreadsheets as well as Microsoft XLSX format using openpyxl. XLSX format lets you resize columns, add images, and use formulas to perform calculations.

How to Make Your Programming Resume Stand Out

Submitted by nanodano on Wed, 05/18/2016 - 19:10

As someone who has interviewed programmers and seen many resumes, I can share what I think makes people stand out from the crowd of resumes. I want to emphasize these are not requirements, only things that would grab my attention that most applicants did not have. This is based on my personal experiences. If you had just one of these things you stood out a little bit. If you had all of the you stood out a lot. Some of them may sound like common sense and be obvious, but even so, most people do not have or do these things.

Juggling Projects

Submitted by nanodano on Fri, 05/13/2016 - 02:43

Recently, I wrote about something I see often which is "I know how to program, but I don't know what to program". One frequent comment was, "I'm the opposite. I have too many ideas!" Well, I'm the same way. I have a jillion ideas and a bazillion browser tabs open at any given time. I recognized this as a problem long ago. Some kind of techno-ADD. Over time, I've developed a way to deal with it. Here's my method. How do you tackle it?

"I know how to program, but I don't know what to program"

Submitted by nanodano on Tue, 05/10/2016 - 21:28

There is a recurring theme I see with novice developers. They've put in their time to learn the basics of a programming language or two and they feel pretty comfortable doing programming exercises, but they don't know how to apply what they've learned. It usually comes in a phrase similar to "I know how to program, but I don't know what to program." The responses are typically "do programming challenges", "contribute to an open source project", or "make a game."