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Cover image for 6 Awesome Ways To Present Your Code 🔥
Niharika Singh ⛓
Niharika Singh ⛓

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6 Awesome Ways To Present Your Code 🔥

At some point, every developer has to present code snippets. This could be for a presentation, or a tweet, or a blog, or just to go through a snippet later in time.

Let's dive into the tools you can use to present your code awesomely.🔥


1. carbon.now.sh

Create and share beautiful images of your source code.
Start typing or drop a file into the text area to get started.

You can also connect GitHub with carbon.

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2. codeimg.io

This is my personal favourite. ❤️️

The best part about codeimg is that they have already existing Social Media Templates. So you don't have to worry about canvas sizing.

Feature wise, you get more options in codeimg as compared with carbon.now.sh.

Here's a Twitter template created with codeimg.io

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3. Pastie

If you like minimalism and simply want to share code as a link instead of a screenshot, Pastie is for you.

This is perfect to share code among friends/colleagues. The link generated with Pastie is valid for 24 hours.

CAUTION: Pastie uses HTTP and not HTTPS. This means that it lacks encryption and is not secure.

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4. Rust playground

If you are a Rust person, this one is for you.

Play around with browser interface to the Rust compiler to experiment with the language. It also has the capability to share snippet link just like Pastie.

5. Silicon

This is carbon.now.sh implemented in Rust language.

Problems with carbon.now.sh that are overcome by Silicon:

  • Cannot work without Internet & browser.
  • Doesn't work well with shell. (Although there is carbon-now-cli, its experience is not very good, especially when the network is not so good.)

Usage:

$ silicon main.rs -o main.png 

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6. Polacode

If you love VS Code, this one is for you! Polacode is a VS Code extension that takes beautiful screenshots of your code right from VSCode.

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The best part about these 6 tools is that they are all free to use!

Cheers.✌️

Top comments (55)

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mhomol profile image
Mike Homol

Thank you for sharing! I think I only knew about Polacode so these are some welcome additions!

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

The more, the better! 😉

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mhomol profile image
Mike Homol

indeed lol

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marcoslooten profile image
Marco Slooten

Very cool!

I've recently launched Snippet Shot (snippetshot.com) which is very similar to the above tools (but simpler). Despite doing (some) research, there's still a few on the list I didn't know about (like codeimg)! Thanks for that :)

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qainsights profile image
NaveenKumar Namachivayam ⚡

Snippet shot is cool. Why it is showing to buy the Font? :)

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marcoslooten profile image
Marco Slooten • Edited

Thank you for the kind words. Regarding the link: Some people are interested in the font (it’s a very good one), so there’s an (affiliate) link in case someone wants to actually buy it. I get a small percentage of that (if someone uses that link) and my hope is that it will cover hosting costs in case Snippet Shot gets more popular.

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qainsights profile image
NaveenKumar Namachivayam ⚡

Got it. Thanks :) Probably you need to add that note. It is confusing whether I need to buy the font first before download the snippet :)

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marcoslooten profile image
Marco Slooten

That's good feedback – did not consider that it might be confusing. I will think about improving that part.

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

That’s so cool! Snippetshot looks awesome

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scroung720 profile image
scroung720

The Polacode extension is super cool and useful. Thanks for sharing.

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thank you! I am glad you found it helpful.

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iaziz786 profile image
Mohammad Aziz

In the Polacode gif, I see the keyboards which is getting typed is showing. I have been searching for something like that, Do you have any idea how it is happening?

By the way, good post to add in the reading list 👏

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

You can check out their GH repo to find out how they do it.

Thank you :)

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digitalcolony profile image
Michael Allen Smith • Edited

For those on Windows having issues with Polacode, checkout CodeSnap. It works fine with the latest version of VS Code.

github.com/kufii/CodeSnap

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thanks for sharing!

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pengeszikra profile image
Peter Vivo

thanks Polacode don't worked me, but CodeSnap fine

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desbest profile image
Adisa Nicholson • Edited

I don't think it's a good idea for services to display screenshots of code. People want to be able to copy and paste.

I used to use Github Gists for storing snippets of code, then I switched to Gitlab Snippets.

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borche profile image
Andreas Börjesson

Why would you use these instead of taking a screenshot of your code in the editor and share it?

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Well, for many reasons. Taking screenshot of the code is not very readable. Usually font size of an editor is small. These tools help you customise the appearance of the code making them look cleaner. You might need screenshots in different sizes depending on the social media you use. Simply taking a screenshot doesn't really have much utility.

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borche profile image
Andreas Börjesson

Ok, I disagree. Ctrl+scroll wheel (or plus sign) in the editor for a temporary boost in font size and then screenshot and then roll it back. If you also have a appealing color scheme for your code, it already looks good. Done in 5 sec. Been doing it this way forever for sharing code in chats/email. Maybe these tools are better for sharing on social media?

Thanks for the article, I didn't know about these tools. :-)

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yvettelau profile image
YvetteLau

Very cool!

I want to translate it into Chinese to help more developers, Can I get your authorization?
I will give credit at the top of the article.

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thank you. Of course! Looking forward to it.

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andrewbaisden profile image
Andrew Baisden

Cool I already knew about carbon.now.sh the others are new to me.

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hussein_ouda profile image
Hussein Ouda • Edited

A wonderful topic that deserves to be archived and published
Niharika persisted

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thank you very much! :)

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Haha finally the burning question has been answered!

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fahad07_khan profile image
Fahad Khan

very informative article and I used to take screenshots of my code while sharing with someone but now I have a new path to represent my code in a beautiful way. Thanks

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

That's great! Thanks!

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ruanbm profile image
RuanBM

Very cool. !!

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thanks!

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peck_arthur profile image
Arthur Peck

Nice post! Is Polacode broken with other users too in VScode? Im not able to save when pressing the shutter button :(

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thank you!

Well, it seems to be working just fine for me. Maybe you need to update VS Code?

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scroung720 profile image
scroung720

I am trying to use it. It seems that is not working for me. I have VS Code running on windows.

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Ah! Another one had a similar problem. I tried it on my laptop, and it worked fine. (MacOS)

Maybe you can report an issue on their GH.

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rahmanfadhil profile image
Rahman Fadhil

Awesome 🤩, I always use carbon.now.sh, but I never thought there's an alternative 😂

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niharrs profile image
Niharika Singh ⛓

Thanks!

There's an alternative to everything. It's always beneficial to explore them! :D