For programming, my favourite is DejaVu Sans Mono. There are many fancy ones out there with hip features like ligatures but I have always found DejaVu the most pleasing to the eye.
For reading, I like Roboto for sans serif. I find it is decently condensed yet easy to read. For serif, I like a paid font called Century Supra. I have pirated this font many times. I also like the serif fonts used by imperialist news outlets a lot as well. IIRC NYT's is straight up called Imperial.
Serif: It can only be the legendary doves font, with it's square periods and offset I dots
Sans: lucida grande
Bitmap: gohu or profont
The doves font story is really cool, thanks for sharing
That is true.
Doves font needs a paid license. So if you don't pay, and use it on anything public-facing, you can be sued (I'm guessing).
I just use it to print my own books sometimes (if it suits the book)
Cool! I just hate copyright, licensing and all that.