Fill a pot with 4 cups/1 litre of water per 100 grams serving of pasta, cover it, and set it to Boil over high heat.

When the water comes to a boil, remove the cover and add 1 tablespoon of coarse sea salt (a little less if it's fine-grained) per litre of water.
In terms of saltiness, it should resemble sea water.

This will season your pasta — and it's the only chance in your cooking process to do so.

When the water comes back to a rolling boil, add the pasta and give it a good stir with a wooden spoon or tongs to separate the pieces.

Stir the pasta occasionally as it cooks, this will keep the pieces from sticking to each other or to the pot.

A minute before the estimated pasta cooking time is up, remove a piece of the pasta to check for doneness.
You want an al dente, or chewy "to the tooth" texture -- not soft, limp pasta.
Bite the pasta to check.

Test again every 30 seconds or so, and as soon as the broken piece is a uniform, translucent yellow, drain the pasta.

Toss the pasta in your sauce and serve.