I pay for JetBrains, Creative cloud, chatGpt, figma, and mid journey. I also pay for quick books. Are there any must have dev productivity tools you can recommend?
I received a Kinesis keyboard in the mail today - maybe not what OP had in mind but my hand issues were to the point of contemplating leaving computer work. Not sure how much it’ll change with the new keyboard - but my response is ergonomics.
The tough part with Kinesis is not being able to demo the products in person. Ironically I live in seattle which is where they are located but their sales team didn’t really help me out in this regard.
Price was one factor but I actually decided For a USB model since I switch between work stations somewhat often and pairing Bluetooth between different computers can sometimes be a pain. just figured the advantage2 was “the simplest thing that works”.
Edit:
The appealing thing to me about the 360 is the vertical/tent adjustments it seems to have.
I have an Advantage 2 (an older model - not quiet and with 2MB v-drive) but it's damaged. I was not able to repair it unfortunately. I was super happy with it. I've ordered the 360 model (also without bluetooth) now and will receive it on Monday. The reason why I chose the 360 is usb-c, - otherwise I would have ordered the advantage 2 (quiet) as well as it seems easier to have one piece of hardware. Also I actually would have like to have a dedicated function key row - especially a dedicated escape key. Let's see.
I revert back to my Magic Mouse because I love the touch gestures, but most can be recreated with vertical mouse. I use the Logitech one, it's nice, but the 1 or 2 finger gestures on the Magic Mouse are too nice and can't be replicated on any other mouse, I always revert back to it. I actually rotate the Magic Mouse, Magic Trackpad and Logitech mx vertical, usually last a few weeks or a month before switching to another.
I have a trackpad on the left and a trackball on the right. I’m right handed, so I use the mouse for most, but when I need a gesture, the trackpad is there.
You have a fair point, guess people just feel really strongly about Kinesis? i like how the Kinesis keyboard can toggle between QWERTY and Dvorak on the click of a button. I’m not opposed to a different layout but have a feeling that dev/vim keystrokes wouldn’t change a whole lot. Command/control/tab/backspace for example
I don’t think my hand pain is rsi nor is a common one. The pinky tendons on my palms are enflamed and developed a hard lump. Recently saw a doctor and they didn’t have an easy diagnosis and said to only worry about it if I am inhibited - so figured a new keyboard was a small price to pay for hand health. And there’s a 60 day return policy.
Many of productivity tools I use are free (and not always related to dev, but as a side effect, increase my development productivity as well):
* a big monitor (switching from 13" to 27" definitely had an impact)
* https://www.raycast.com/ has the biggest impact to my productivity. So much good stuff there! Just one example is resizing windows with keyboard. Good old https://www.alfredapp.com/ is another option;
I really want to like Raycast, since its plugin ecosystem is better integrated than Alfred's, but every time I try it, I keep stumbling against its multi-step wizard-style interface, when what I want is a GUI CLI.
I want to type a bunch of words (with autocomplete), and hit Return when done, and Alfred makes me hit "Return" (or something else) in the middle of some sequences, hides results until I do, and is generally slower to use than Alfred.
Off topic and late: Hi Vlad, just wanted to say I ran into your website and desktop wallpapers some years ago, and I just love them, I keep using them as wallpapers on my various machines and telling people about them. Just wanted to say thank you for your work on them.
I payed for Typora (a Markdown editor). The price is very reasonable and fair and the product and support is very good. This is the only tool I ever payed for. I do support OSs initiatives through donations.
Support != paying FOR.
I agree with using FOSS only.
I'll tell you why: I really like the fact that anyone in the world with a PC and Internet access can be a world class developer. From Nigeria to Philippines to the remotest island in the world.
i3, fzf, nvim, Python.
I would PiHole Youtube if I had the time.
i pay a yearly sub for jetbrains (very good), but i would pay more for a modern version of visual c++ 6.0 - so fast, so simple to use, even back when. visual studio (although impressive) is just too fat for me and, along with jb a bit too slow.
Don't know what OS you're on, but these days whilst it does less the Mac OS (ARM-native) Visual Studio is massively more performant than the Windows version and largely good-enough for coding (not so much for layouts). I often switch to it when Rider (which I pay for) starts to struggle.
For what it’s worth, instead of googling random code structures or coking up with small functions, I just use chatgpt since I can prompt it for exactly what I want.
I copy it, try it, and just refine it if needed. Sometimes it’s not 100% there, but I just tell it ‘method x doesn’t exist, is there an alternative’ and it just spits out another way or method. It’s been great.
I moved from a WYSIWYG editor to Markdown files for the website I run. Sublime Text + Merge are a brilliant combo for editing text and reviewing changes before committing.
The best part is how fast Sublime feels on a 12" Macbook from 2017. This thing just flies.
Jesus, what are you doing that you're spending $1000/mo on servers? I have a $20 server running fifteen production apps, what are you running, Netflix?
Wallaby.js is a no-brainer tool for writing frontend unit tests. I see a lot of people at work struggle with unit testing. For the productivity boost it gives, it's easily worth the cost.
You already mentioned JetBrains, but more specifically I happily pay for Resharper for C# and C++, it’s such a productivity boost if you’re using Visual Studio.
I used to do this, but more recently have found that VS includes most of the same functionality and ReSharper and VS end up fighting with each other to do the same thing for you, which gets annoying.
I never tried Rider. Would you recommend it over VS + Resharper? Or do you then need both Rider and VS, to still have access to VS design mode or other visual studio features?
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[ 5.2 ms ] story [ 133 ms ] threadPrice was one factor but I actually decided For a USB model since I switch between work stations somewhat often and pairing Bluetooth between different computers can sometimes be a pain. just figured the advantage2 was “the simplest thing that works”.
Edit: The appealing thing to me about the 360 is the vertical/tent adjustments it seems to have.
But having a single unit is nice as well
Has been working great for years.
Trackman wheel > m570 > Kensington expert.
I’ve tried vertical ones, but it’s just not the same.
I've been using dvorak for over 20 years and never had pain.
I don’t think my hand pain is rsi nor is a common one. The pinky tendons on my palms are enflamed and developed a hard lump. Recently saw a doctor and they didn’t have an easy diagnosis and said to only worry about it if I am inhibited - so figured a new keyboard was a small price to pay for hand health. And there’s a 60 day return policy.
I’ve had it for 10 years now. I’ve been looking at the 360 lately, but just because Im curious. The one I have still works great.
They are usually not expensive, and I learned git with GUIs.
* a big monitor (switching from 13" to 27" definitely had an impact)
* https://www.raycast.com/ has the biggest impact to my productivity. So much good stuff there! Just one example is resizing windows with keyboard. Good old https://www.alfredapp.com/ is another option;
* https://devdocs.io/ to look up docs;
* https://www.tldraw.com/ for temporary sketches, wireframes, etc.
* while I'm here: in my experience, one-time purchase from https://serif.com/ is a great alternative to Creative Cloud.
I want to type a bunch of words (with autocomplete), and hit Return when done, and Alfred makes me hit "Return" (or something else) in the middle of some sequences, hides results until I do, and is generally slower to use than Alfred.
I also pay for BrowserStack, Browserless and ChatGPT
ohmyzsh: https://opencollective.com/ohmyzsh
nvim: https://neovim.io/ supports donations via bitcoin, Open Collective, and GitHub Sponsors.
fzf: https://github.com/junegunn/fzf supports donation via GitHub Sponsors, PayPal, and buy me a coffee.
i3, fzf, nvim, Python. I would PiHole Youtube if I had the time.
Obsidian https://obsidian.md/
to that list.
* https://bear.app/ for notes
* Skitch for screenshots and markup
* Dash for easy docs
* Easy CSV Editor (https://vdt-labs.com/easy-csv-editor/) for just editing a CSV file without loading a whole spreadsheet app.
* VSCode, Sublime, zsh, iTerm, Proxmox
The built in Apple-made Notes.app is inferior in almost all aspects but there is a web interface I can use when I'm on Linux or Windows.
I use obsidian now, and I really like it.
Any beginner books on JS, Python, Lua etc - for neighbour kids.
The hardest math book which is still understandable - anti-age therapy for brain, works only if to keep solving the tasks from time to time.
* ChatGPT
The other tools I use (VSCode, ...) are free
I'm transitioning from Sublime to VSCode but I'll probably pay for future versions of Sublime because I really like it.
I will probably pay for ChatGPT. I don't think it's super useful yet but if it saves me just a few minutes a month that's worth $10 to me easy.
I copy it, try it, and just refine it if needed. Sometimes it’s not 100% there, but I just tell it ‘method x doesn’t exist, is there an alternative’ and it just spits out another way or method. It’s been great.
Best git client i’ve tried, even though i hate it’s tabbing system.
RemedyBG: https://remedybg.itch.io/remedybg
Excellent debugger for Windows.
Sublime Text: To this day I have not found any text editor that works better than this. 100% worth the money
The only git clients that allows that i know of are
- Magit
- Git CLI
- VS Code
The best part is how fast Sublime feels on a 12" Macbook from 2017. This thing just flies.
Myriad of servers/cloud services - > 999$/mo
SetApp (Multiple apps in one) -> 9.99$/mo
Using these apps:
- RapidAPI (API Testing)
- Forklift (Multi-tab explorer)
- Dropshare (Screen recording)
- Mate Translate (Translation tool)
- CodeRunner (Code playground)
- SQLPro Studio (Database manager)
- Hype (HTML5 animations editor)
- Prizmo (OCR scanner)
- Ulysses (Writing)
- MindNode (Brainstorming/mindmaps)
- HazeOver (Focused windows)
- Renamer (Batch renamer)
- Boom3D (Volume controller/EQ)
- Canary Mail (E-mail client)
- Coherence X (Create isolated Chrome apps)
Been using SetApp for years, since paying the yearly upgrade for the apps would cost much more in total.
Vitamin R is a great hack for the ADHD brain.
Rider is great though!