AutoPairs Rocks
In the unsung-software department, check out AutoPairs by
Jim Walker. It is a freeware application that watches as you type and
automatically provides matching paris of parenthesis, quotes, and other
sets of markup and punctuation marks.
On Mac OS X, it runs as an application. The Mac OS 9 version is an
extension. I like the app approach, as I can launch it when working on
a blog note (like this one) or doing a little programming. Then, quit
the app and its gone. At first I thought I'd find it annoying, and I
was skeptical that it would really save that much time or typing. But
it turns out that is not really the point. Sure, it saves a keystroke
or two, but it really pays off in saving some brain cycles. You no
longer have to worry about closing your marks. I can't count how many
statements I've screwed up because I forgot to properly close the
markup, or how many times I've left a hanging open paren in an email.
Whenever I've typed an open paren or brace, I always have this nagging
little voice in my head "don't forget to close! don't forget to close!"
Now, nevermore. Thanks, Jim.
8:02:50 AM 
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