I'm a YARA fan. If you are not familiar with it, YARA is a wonderfully simple, yet complex tool for finding things, especial "things" in files. If you have used grep or regex, then YARA is both of those on a lot of steroids but just as simple (if not simpler) to master and use. Don't take my word for it, read on at http://yara.readthedocs.io/en/v3.7.0/. .
As security guy, I use this to interrogate files, understand patterns in large masses of data and basically organize analysis into easily digestible chunks. Pretty much universally employ it in one fashion or another in processes. Overall, is a easy way to capture thought and express research, especially those reliant on patterns (which is everything).