Ask HN: What's the best piece of software you use every day?
After "What's the worst piece of software you use every day?" I am now very curious what the best software is we can learn from.
53 comments
git
It lets you keep track of your file history in one place. You can share that history with others in many ways. Use it as a collaborative tool. It allows everyone to work independently and combine their code on their own terms. It’s really hard to mess it up and put it in a bad state, almost everything can be undone without consequences. You can set up central repos on shared drives or servers, or choose to forgo central repos all together. It works fine using simple paradigms but can scale to be as sophisticated as you need. It’s easy to set up and doesn’t get in the way of your other work.
It lets you keep track of your file history in one place. You can share that history with others in many ways. Use it as a collaborative tool. It allows everyone to work independently and combine their code on their own terms. It’s really hard to mess it up and put it in a bad state, almost everything can be undone without consequences. You can set up central repos on shared drives or servers, or choose to forgo central repos all together. It works fine using simple paradigms but can scale to be as sophisticated as you need. It’s easy to set up and doesn’t get in the way of your other work.
Funny how git was also mentioned a lot in the "worst piece of software" thread.
Vim/vi. Was forced to use the bare bones because of some company’s machine config and yes we debug in production lmao. I slowly discover that I don’t need fancy configs.
How do you get line numbers in Vi? I tried once but `:set number` put them inside the file!
to get line numbers:
:set nu
to remove line numbers:
:set nonu
the line numbers aren't added to the file. they're just shown on the vi editor.
and if you like vim & git i highly recommend: vim-gitgutter
:set nu
to remove line numbers:
:set nonu
the line numbers aren't added to the file. they're just shown on the vi editor.
and if you like vim & git i highly recommend: vim-gitgutter
I am pretty sure you have to add it to the configuration file for line numbers to display each time you open a new file.
So the "rc" in vimrc means "run commands". And while the term gets abused, by and large what's in vimrc can just be run directly by yourself in vim without a file. All the config file really does is run a list of commands on startup.
rupa/z
Being able to type something like "z ab g f" to reach a fairly deeply nested directory is almost akin to magic. I absolutely hate cd'ing everywhere, and often I'm cd'ing between the same couple of directories for a number of projects, so I feel like it helps retain my sanity. I've also written scripts to take advantage of it, such as a cp clone that doesn't require an immediate target. So I can cp a file (or number of files, or a directory), z-jump to a different directory and paste it there instead of laboriously typing out all the directory paths. I love it.
Being able to type something like "z ab g f" to reach a fairly deeply nested directory is almost akin to magic. I absolutely hate cd'ing everywhere, and often I'm cd'ing between the same couple of directories for a number of projects, so I feel like it helps retain my sanity. I've also written scripts to take advantage of it, such as a cp clone that doesn't require an immediate target. So I can cp a file (or number of files, or a directory), z-jump to a different directory and paste it there instead of laboriously typing out all the directory paths. I love it.
Just wanted to say thanks for this rec. Tried it this morning and I'm smitten. Adding this to my (tiny) set of non-standard tools, alongside ripgrep, fzf and fd-find.
For work and productivity: emacs and org mode.
For personal life: Marvin for reading (infinite auto scroll, custom fonts are awesome), Insight Timer as a simple meditation timer.
For personal life: Marvin for reading (infinite auto scroll, custom fonts are awesome), Insight Timer as a simple meditation timer.
Emacs is probably the only piece of software I've used nearly daily (regardless of OS) for the past 20 years, and org-mode for the past 10 or so. Really good pieces of software.
Rstudio. It was clearly made by people who come from a data analysis and statistical programming background, rather than traditional programming. Having started with R in college, I just took it for granted that every IDE would be as straightforward and easy to use as Rstudio, getting out of the way and allowing the user to get shit done. I sadly learned otherwise! In particular, there is no environment of equivalently high quality in the Python for data analysis ecosystem. Nothing even comes close.
Elasticsearch. When using it as a text search engine. Love it.
What do you like about it specifically?
I'm a huge fan of qutebrowser.
It feels years ahead of any other competition in just about every sense.
Runner-up: IntelliJ. I haven't written a line of Java in several years, but I still use it.
Probably goes without saying, but I don't know how I would survive without GNU/POSIX. Many blessings to all involved.
It feels years ahead of any other competition in just about every sense.
Runner-up: IntelliJ. I haven't written a line of Java in several years, but I still use it.
Probably goes without saying, but I don't know how I would survive without GNU/POSIX. Many blessings to all involved.
Yay! :)
I'm not an engineer anymore so this is going to be pretty unexciting: Google Docs (and Sheets). Or really any product that offers the same rock solid realtime collaborative experience.
I'm not always excited to open them up. Docs and Sheets don't seem to be seeing much visible improvement over the last few years. But in my org they're the way we build consensus, make decisions, track, document, discuss, and more. It's easy for me to complain about them, but they are both so effective and valuable (to me).
As an engineer I probably would have said JetBrains IDEs. I find myself spending less time thinking about tooling, syntax, the standard library, finding/moving/renaming things, and more time thinking about what I'm building.
I'm not always excited to open them up. Docs and Sheets don't seem to be seeing much visible improvement over the last few years. But in my org they're the way we build consensus, make decisions, track, document, discuss, and more. It's easy for me to complain about them, but they are both so effective and valuable (to me).
As an engineer I probably would have said JetBrains IDEs. I find myself spending less time thinking about tooling, syntax, the standard library, finding/moving/renaming things, and more time thinking about what I'm building.
Probably Emacs. Also I like OpenBSD.
IrfanView - by far the fastest, most convenient and powerful image viewer.
WinAMP 2.95 - simple and effective music player
TotalCommander - brings file management on the next level, very smooth and robust.
All of these are from 10-15 years in the past, unfortunately
WinAMP 2.95 - simple and effective music player
TotalCommander - brings file management on the next level, very smooth and robust.
All of these are from 10-15 years in the past, unfortunately
iMessage and FaceTime.
Simple, works, keep me connected with people who are relevant.
Simple, works, keep me connected with people who are relevant.
Recently - linear app.
Long term - Vi/vim as many have mentioned already. Well, more specifically it's bindings in vscode, but still. It's just so powerful :)
Long term - Vi/vim as many have mentioned already. Well, more specifically it's bindings in vscode, but still. It's just so powerful :)
VSCode - Opens quickly, no freezes, regular updates, huge ecosystem
I am also pretty satisfied with YouTube (premium, so no ads): high quality videos that load fast, clean UI, very good recommendations, huge community.
I would also like to say Twitch, but their platform is a lot more buggy than YouTube, quality not that great and it's harder to find good content/streamers.
I am also pretty satisfied with YouTube (premium, so no ads): high quality videos that load fast, clean UI, very good recommendations, huge community.
I would also like to say Twitch, but their platform is a lot more buggy than YouTube, quality not that great and it's harder to find good content/streamers.
YouTube, supports delivering 8k video on a massive scale and a recommendation engine that is probably too good.
emacs although that's probably not a surprising answer. Something a little less known I found recently was 'Kitty Terminal', which is very snappy gpu based emulator, makes more of a difference than I thought it would. Also ripgrep and fish shell, and i3.
Emacs
Houdini. It has so many uses: procedural generation of 3D geometry, as a learning tool for understanding matrix transformations, as an FX and simulation tool. It's the most powerful piece of software I've ever used. It feels like it's from the future.
I like Blender a lot. Especially since v2.8.
How you can rearrange the interface. The shortcuts. How fast it is.
How you can rearrange the interface. The shortcuts. How fast it is.
Apollo for Reddit on iOS. It checks boxes for
- good feature set - active development - native UI elements
- good feature set - active development - native UI elements
Telegram - It's fast, syncs perfectly across all platforms and the UX is perhaps the most intuitive I've ever seen in a messaging app. Great search features, an API for analytics/bots, large file sharing limits...
emacs -- Well, heck its emacs!
git -- Change history is your friend, and you get out what you put in (hashes verify data against corruption)
tinc -- There Is No Cabal: Mesh VPN lets you build a VPN across diverse environments including different clouds.
git -- Change history is your friend, and you get out what you put in (hashes verify data against corruption)
tinc -- There Is No Cabal: Mesh VPN lets you build a VPN across diverse environments including different clouds.
Amazon's Alexa on my Echo. I use it everyday as soon as I wake up and when I go to sleep and through out the the day. It's quirky but for the most part it works. Pretty amazing...
IntelliJ / Android Studio / other JetBrains IDEs. Maybe a little too resource intensive, but the UX and context-sensitive intellisense is light-years ahead of the competition.
MS Teams. It has really helped my team as we work from home. It is a lot easier to stay in contact and conduct group meetings.
PyCharm / IntelliJ - I used to be a die hard vim user but these products just blew my mind. Worth every penny and then some!
* ublock origin
* chromium devtools
* vs code
* bitvise ssh for Windows
* Sumatra PDF reader for Windows
* moon+ reader for android (epub reader)
* F-stop Gallery for Android (Picture library management)
* chromium devtools
* vs code
* bitvise ssh for Windows
* Sumatra PDF reader for Windows
* moon+ reader for android (epub reader)
* F-stop Gallery for Android (Picture library management)
I just thought of another one: XScreensaver.
PostgreSQL (it just keeps blowing my mind).
Firefox.
Firefox.
sublime text
Zsh
Virtualbox
All-in-one Messenger
eReader Prestigio (Android)
All-in-one Messenger
eReader Prestigio (Android)
Chrome, VSCODE.
Daum Potplayer
Ios
Autohotkey
For me personally:
Pop!_OS
Alpine Linux
Firefox
Alacritty
Vim
Pop!_OS
Alpine Linux
Firefox
Alacritty
Vim
How do you find pop os compared to Ubuntu?
For my use case, far superior.
It has basically all of the benefits of Ubuntu, with few of the drawbacks.
The biggest benefits for me personally:
1. I have a laptop with optimus graphics. Pop played nicely out of the box.
2. Uses flatpak instead of snap. I prefer native to flatpak, but flatpak to snap.
3. Has very little bloat in a default install.
4. System76 has been consistently moving in the right direction UI wise.
It has basically all of the benefits of Ubuntu, with few of the drawbacks.
The biggest benefits for me personally:
1. I have a laptop with optimus graphics. Pop played nicely out of the box.
2. Uses flatpak instead of snap. I prefer native to flatpak, but flatpak to snap.
3. Has very little bloat in a default install.
4. System76 has been consistently moving in the right direction UI wise.
My brain
K-Meleon browser
MiXplorer
Block This
K-Meleon browser
MiXplorer
Block This
My web browser
vscode
sublime
photoshop
krita
sublime
photoshop
krita
I'm conflicted about Photoshop. It is, at its core, an absolutely fantastic piece of software, but as time goes on it slowly accrues this accretion disc of bullshit: dialogs implemented with web-views, video tooltips, mandatory sign-in, Adobe service tie-ins, and shortly before I stopped using it, I started seeing honest-to-god popup ads inside the UI.
MacOS. Everything “just works” (iCloud, FaceTime, unlock with Apple Watch, multiple wide screen monitors) and I can still drop into a terminal whenever necessary to run something I wouldn’t run in a container.