What are some of your favorite/useful/recommended application, software or tools used to program or stay productive or are just plain awesome.
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Top comments (43)
General
Slack: Work/team based communication
Discord: General chat with other colleagues and friends
Skype (I know..): Communications with 'legacy' clients
Development
IntelliJ: Java work, IntelliJ works so much better than Eclipse/NetBeans (I believe so anyway)
WebStorm: any web based work (NodeJS, React, HTML, etc).
Notepad++: General file editing on Windows
Sublime: General file editing on Mac
Other
mRemoteNG: Server management
FileZilla: (S)FTP
ShareX: Screenshot & Screen-recording (GIF & MP4) management
And probably some other stuff that I use without even realising...
Background: I am primarily a java developer.
IDE:
*Eclipse
*Android Studio
Editor:
*Notepad++ (on Windows)
*Vim (on Linux, since I have no choice)
Remote connection:
*mRemoteNG Connection manager
*Putty
*RealVNC
*Windows Remote Desktop
Debugger/Profiler
*JVisualVM
*YourKit
Email/Collaboration/IM:
*Thunderbird
*Pidgin (provided by office, have no choice)
*(We are moving to slack soon)
I use many tools to program, but primarily i use:
though often, i find myself writing tools, sometimes for fun, other times because i need a rather specific tool to do something or other. when you start getting into things as complex as virtual machines that are not even binary, you start running into needs for quite specific applications...
I found the perfect replacement for GIMP and it's Affinity; don't get me wrong, I like GIMP but it's limited in some features. Affinity is a one-payment software. Worth every penny.
Oh, first time I see geany.
Goddamnit it's not for GNU/Linux
first time hearing about Geany.
I love geany too
Terminal:
Development:
localhostdev linksWorking Remote:
Second company I've heard of using Discord for work. Do you find using voice on Discord better than Slack?
We started using Discord before Slack had voice available. I would say that the voice quality is probably comparable, but Discord offers a lot more features. It's basically the "Slack" of voice (very comparable in design and features, just centered on voice).
Hmm interesting, Slack recently baked in screen sharing and it works just fine for us, but it's great to hear Discord works really well. Cool to hear companies are using software intended for gamers.
Discord feels like a teenage version of Slack, lol.
macOS:
JetBrains Complete Suite (IntelliJ, etc.) - I love love love coding in IntelliJ and I just finally splurged on the complete the suite
Vim & MacVim - for editing everything else that JetBrains doesn't, or when I'm working over ssh
Spotify - I play this playlist nearly every day to "prime" my brain into work mode open.spotify.com/user/chaseman/pla...
Simple invaluable tools:
iTerm - Strictly better than Terminal, assigned a global shortcut
CopyClip - Keeps a running history of items copied to the clipboard. I don't use it every day, but when I do use it, it's a lifesaver
Spectacle - Makes putting windows side-by-side and maximizing windows easy.
Global New Tab Shortcut (Chrome plug-in) - assigned to Cmd+0 for super fast web access
Vimium (Chrome plug-in) - power of vim + Chrome
git-number: Allows you to use numbers in git instead of full path names. Really useful for java projects where the folders are deep.
spectacle is awesome
On Linux:
I use the following:
Ubuntu: I am a Linux guy, preferring command line stuff, and there are some very personal things about Ubuntu/Unity that I prefer, including how it implements Notify-OSD so I can use it to notify me of events I care about, and how I can use Upstart to tell if the screen is locked or not, so I can send notifications to my phone if I'm not there.
Perl: I am willing to try other languages if that's what the idea is built in, if it's easier to do a task in that language or if you just can't use anything else. I do a lot of JavaScript for that last reason, and for some things related to Google Calendars and FitBit, I found it easier to work in Python than anything else. But for most thing, I have built enough that I can tie all the things I want to do together using Perl, and my mind's pseudocode has always exported near-executable Perl.
Bash: I started out as a tcsh user, because that was what was default on the Solaris machines at the time, but having the same syntax between your shell and your shell scripts is good.
Reply: A friend used a Python REPL as his primary shell. I don't know how, and I don't really want to do that, but on occasion, being able to type some code and get your short-term answer is good.
Replyis Perl's REPL.Chrome: I use Firefox for diagnostic purposes and occasionally play with some new ones, but my daily driver is Chrome. My main thing is common bookmarks and history between all browsers, so I can look up things I saw on my phone when I get back to the office.
Session Buddy: A Chrome plugin that saves your tabs, because one too many times, a Chrome crash took my n open windows with m open tabs each down.
Dropbox: The "cool" thing I do is have my
bin,libanddevdirectories in Dropbox, so I have my same commands (mostly) on every machine which has a shell, which actually includes my Windows computers.Pushover: This ties back to Perl and Ubuntu, because Perl is how I send the notifications, and if I'm not at my desk, I use Pushover to get them to my phone.
JuiceSSH with Hacker Keyboard: Trying to do Linux stuff on a phone or tablet sucks, but having a good SSH client and a keyboard that works like a desktop keyboard, with all the special characters you need to do all your Linux stuff, like using
escto get out of write mode invim, is crucial.Twitter: For some things, it's accountability. I send FitBit stats and my daily coffee intake to Twitter. I'm the computer guy in a biology lab, and I'm a developer in a campus full of admins, so Twitter is also my Slack/IRC, where I can pick up info and ask questions about topics I need to understand but have no way to find in my normal social circles.
3-D Printed Fixes to my Desktop: Using ASCII to describe, most keyboards and trackpads are set to go like this
/but really should point like this\. I printed a few things so my trackpad and keyboard point the way that's best for my wrist, but still remember, wrist rests are bad for you; keep them arched, like a piano teacher would yell at you about.Standing Desk: I've done so just over four years. As coder/admin/helpdesk in my lab, my job is to stay here, so my daily steps is embarrassingly low, but I maintain decent leg tone by standing all day. It works for me.
curl and jq: These are new additions to my workflow. We're working with a new third-party API at work, and if I work out how the API works (and doesn't) with curl rather than Perl, that makes the commands I send to their help desk more transferable. Once I know I can do a thing, I enshrine it in my language of choice.
Spotify on Linux, plus DBus: I can pause, play and skip to the next via command-line tools, allowing me to pause when people come to bother me without having to go to the far virtual desktop. Also,
Virtual Desktops: So I can segregate my projects.
git and github: Surprisingly, mostly for side projects and things not directly connected to my work, because our workflow was built
to actively hinderbefore the widespread use of version control. But I keep side projects in it, because it's good and useful, and someday...Teensy, and...: I use an IOGear KVM to switch between my two desktop computers, Windows 10 and Linux. (I don't use the V part.) I also use a Logitech Unifying Desktop to cut down on the number of wires on my desk. But my keyboard won't talk to my KVM, so I use a Teensy microcontroller in a Staples "Easy" button to send the keystroke I need to switch to Windows, mostly for Admin functions.
Baby Mirror: The mirror-on-a-mount that parents of infants put up so they can check on their children while driving. I put it up so, when people walk into my area, I can see them.
White Board: GTD tells us to use external memory, and for me, my to-do and repeated tasks go on the board so I don't have to always keep them in mind, and back-burner items don't go down the memory hole, like the clown in Inside Out.
It is cool to see everyone's recommendations! The programming and desktop apps I use have already be mentioned. But one app I use that hasn't been mentioned is the Hemingway app. I use it when blogging. After creating a first draft I use the Hemingway website to edit my complicated sentences. I find it helps clarify my writing and thinking.
Other stuff:
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