Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows
hanselman.com
hanselman.com
So, I'll recommend this addin, that fixes it pretty nicely:
http://kynosarges.org/CommentReflower.html
Though, you know... I've recommended this to numerous people over the years. And all of them have gone and ignored me. So perhaps I'm just unusual, and people like the raggedy look. Still, Comment Reflower gets my vote.
However, I'm also a GhostDoc fan: http://submain.com/products/ghostdoc.aspx So I appreciate some people consider me to be inherently evil/lazy.
a) Don't write them in the first place. b) Don't keep them up to date (as to3m mentioned, it is utterly ridiculous when you need to update a comment and then need to reflow every following sentence. Many developers will simply not do it).
Additionally another counterpoint seems to be "my comments are short anyways", which would make me question why comment in the first place? In most cases where I've seen short comments, they were completely unnecessary redundant restating of exactly what the code already tells you.
The comments that really add real value don't try to pseudo-code the code, but instead tell you the why of the code. It is extremely hard to describe why in 80 characters or less.
Before I used Comment Reflower, I used one of the example VBA macros that comes with Visual Studio. It was rather slow, and somewhat buggy (you're much, much better of with Comment Reflower) but it would - usually - word wrap your comments without making too much of a mess. But I noticed my comments improving in quality pretty much the moment I started using it, because finally I could say as much as needed to be said without it being a bother to keep things nicely formatted, or having to even think about the effort of keeping it up to date later.
Manual word wrapping reminds me of the days before copy and paste and undo, which (due to my age) thankfully didn't last all that long for me. I personally do not want ever to go back to that time, though I suppose for some the idea might seem attractively quaint ;)
file > settings > general > (uncheck "wrap when typing reaches margin")
To get the most out of Paint.NET check out their plugins (http://forums.getpaint.net/index.php?/forum/7-plugins-publis...). It seems like there is a plugin for anything you can think of.
It doesn't look horrible like GIMP. Please donate if you can, even $5 helps!
As I currently dont have it installed I thought I would do so having been reminded by this. Highlighted paint.net and right clicked. Of course chrome wanted to go to paint.net, rather than search for it. Far enough, but absent mindedly I clicked in "go to", and my AV software went mental. The site paint.net seems to be highly dodgy.
So, yes, great bit of software, people should use and support it. Just be careful about where you go to get it. As should be obvious by this thread people need http://www.getpaint.net/
With SourceTree, people completely new to Git and version control can get things done.
uTorrent got iffy once it was bought out. IIRC, you want version 0.6 This was very small, fast and unmolested.
VLC. For years used to be absolutely fantastic. When it came out, a god send. I'd tell anyone listening to use it. Sadly, recently its caused me loads of sync problems, and various other minor niggles. As a result, I have had to reverted to CCCP. When VLC works for me, it is the best, but when it doesn't, CCCP fills the gap. In fairness, maybe a recent VLC update will cure my problems. Dunno.
Foobar2000 needs a mention, especially with Winamp going. My PC is connected to my amp directly via USB, and FLAC files sound incredibly good. (These days, hifi wise, MP3 is, to me, awful. They kinda sound dead. You lose so much detail and depth. But that's a whole new discussion) You can also get a great little app for Android that you can remote control foobar2000 with over your lan.
* The name, while not as cool as these examples -- cmdr, cmd.io, cmd.ly, cmdhub -- is much more hip than ConEmu.
* Design snob approved website, complete with almost Apple marketing levels of condescension: you won't see those other projects talking about "amazing software" or how you can "carry it with you ... anywhere you go".
In all seriousness though, if I hadn't seen cmder mentioned on HN I probably wouldn't have heard of the interesting stuff it is based on, so I give them some credit. (Though I looked at some source code, and cringed a little bit on how these things work: injecting foreign code into the existing cmd.exe process... Yikes.)
It is instant file name search. I guess recent Windows could have improved file name searching, but it has classically been pretty bad.
Absolute rubbish.
I could never understand why MS didnt just purchase Everything and embed it within Windows. I've not tried win 8.1 search, but Everything is far faster/lighter/better than WinXP+7+8 search.
My only feature request for Everything is the ability to search inside Outlook msgs and Office docs.
SSH Tunnel Manager (open source). I don't really like managing tunnels via cmd so here's a GUI to do just that. https://code.google.com/p/ssh-tunnel-manager/
CryptSync (open source). This keeps a folder in sync with another one but encrypts the content of the destination folder. It's extremely useful to use with Dropbox where I keep everything encrypted. http://stefanstools.sourceforge.net/CryptSync.html
Greenshot (open source). I use this to get screenshots of a particular area of the screen like I would do on OSX with CTRL+SHIFT+4. http://getgreenshot.org/
Prepos App. A generic preprocessor for everything web (js, css, etc). http://alphapixels.com/prepros/
SPlayer (open source). I have no idea with I enjoy this video player more than VLC but I do. http://www.splayer.org/index.en.html
VistaSwitcher. It's an ALT+TAB replacement. http://www.ntwind.com/software/vistaswitcher.html
Also Github for windows or just Git bash covers the need for Gow
Jabbr is ok, but I havent been able to give up mIRC
Also he left off a good tabbed ssh/putty
Great list, learned lots of new things thanks!
For micro-edit sessions, Notepad2 is unbeatable.
That might explain the difference in opinion perhaps.
One thing I would like (and might change myself if I ever get around to setting up my own build of it) is for it to remember its last position. At the moment you can save the location but it is annoying and should be automatic (IMHO).
Edit: I'd add SpaceSniffer to this list.
* 7+ Taskbar Tweaker ( http://rammichael.com/7-taskbar-tweaker ): allows you to configure various aspects of the Windows taskbar, for example reorder and regroup the programs in the taskbar.
* Network Activity Indicator (http://www.itsamples.com/network-activity-indicator.html ): displays the old 'two monitors' icon in Windows 7 that flashed blue to show network activity. (Well, this don’t belong to the OP list because the only purpouse is to clutter the systray, but I like it.)
Going through the list of suggestions there was one particular item that stopped me to think. Living close to the arctic circle where sun never rises with the winter solstice approaching, trying F.lux (http://justgetflux.com/) felt at first a bit depressing with the app interpreting it's night even though it was noon. But then again, I guess most things have a tendency to feel depressing at this time of year.
[1] Linux: try your package manager or <https://github.com/jonls/redshift/>
[2] OS X fork <https://github.com/geofft/redshift>
I'd add though: ninite, notepad++, foobar, windows snipping tool and maybe cdxpburner.
NB both CDXPBurner and Imgburner come with Opencandy adware in some versions and are sneaky about it.
I use it every day!
For a couple of years, I spent a fair amount of my time doing some fairly heavy text manipulation in TextPad. At this later time, Notepad++ had some other features I was interested in that the somewhat languishing TextPad was not adding, but its inconsistencies in the points I'm recalling were eventually a gamestopper for me.
TextPad is paid, and they borked their initial version 5 releases in some significant fashions, but it was very good and consistent at swallowing and processing large swaths of text on moderate resources. Good for e.g. beating mammoth print-to-file-d TPS reports into something useable in downstream steps.
P.S. TextPad also implemented "persist indent upon wordwrap" in an effective fashion I've not found elsewhere.
I don't mean to sound particularly like I'm pushing TextPad. And I was particularly unhappy with some of what happened with their v 5 release. But the features/behaviour I've described I found very useful and somewhat unique to it.
I haven't been an environment where I've need of heavy use of it in some time, so I can't really speak to its current state, anyway. But I wish that combination of features and performance was more prevalent in the marketplace (free or paid).
- TreeSize ( and/or SequoiaView ) -- see where the big files/directories are on your harddrives
- Piriform CrapCleaner -- deletes unwanted/unneeded files after booting; configure all of it, then add folders and log files manually (find good candidates with Treesize ;) I like all Piriform tools, they're small, quick and slick. I wish they made more things.
- any SysInternals stuff you have a use for (Autoruns is a must have)
- DirectoryOpus -- the best file manager I know
- FreeFileSync -- backup/synchronize directories (locally, that is). Can also monitor directories for changed stuff (also for Mac and Linux)
Another cool one that needs a new maintainer is SelfImage: it can make a disc image of a running Windows system and even connect to a Linux network block device.
If you need a trustworthy source, here is a video from Peter Björk ( http://blogs.vmware.com/thinapp/author/peter_bjork ) showing how to troubleshoot a ThinApp package: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sLxeoB7Bho
http://www.catonmat.net/blog/must-have-windows-programs/
Must Have Windows Programs
I'm not sure if it was a bug in that particular version or with the setup being used, but once I uninstalled TerraCopy the errors ceased.
Win7 + copying is decent enough for most non-lan purposes though.
Speaking on copying failing - I stopped using TotalCommander for that reason. It just says disk full (not true) out of the blue. Messaged the author & got some bullshit response.
I was disappointed to uninstall it because it worked well for normal copying on the same pc and the UI is very informative, but the bog-standard windows copying functionality can handle as much stuff as you can throw at it which is the whole point of a copy tool in the first place.
It's not. If a single file fails on Win7 it cancels the whole operation (how is that possible on an OS released in 2009?! Fixed in Win8 though, that will never be used in corporations though), it fails if the path becomes longer than 255 characters etc.
Robocopy works but I'd much rather use rsync which is not available on Windows unless you use hacked up versions with cygwin.
A good reliable copying tool is sorely missing. Sure, there's all sorts of alternatives but I'm not willing to use it unless it's open source. The other comment on this thread talking about FastCopy got me curious, I'll have to try that (it's open source!).
I use standard Cygwin and rsync and ssh when I have to use Windows and use them to backup Windows to a Linux box and it works great.
No it doesn't? It pauses it & gives you an option to retry / cancel. So if another app is using the file you can close it & continue.
(this is the only tool I miss when working on Linux)
It's hard to find benchmarks, but things seem to point in the direction of fastcopy still being faster.
See e.g. http://www.sepago.de/e/helge/2011/05/17/fastcopy-free-file-c... (robocopy comparison at the end)
Would be great to see benchmarks of course! :)
fastcopy - 152 sec (average of 3 fastest runs out of 4)
robocopy - 65 sec
Few items for ubuntu/crunchbang: virtualbox - docker -krusader/rsync/filezilla - file mgmt - autokey - python automation -gimp 2.8.10 - 2.10 will bring gpu/multicore support - bittorent sync (been meaning to try owncloud) kate text editor - terminator/finalterm - advanced terminal clementine - firefox - lucifox/ghostery/abe/sqlite manager etc - pdfmod
I often copy code from my IDE to my blog or other Markdown formatters. I always have to add four spaces or convert tabs to spaces so that it gets formatted as code block. This extremely fast and simply site just brings a simple and easy solution to my problem.
http://carpeaqua.com/2013/10/27/my-ultimate-developer-and-po...
Seriously, that's all you need.
Does the HN crowd have an opinion on this? Did you find the note a bit weird ?
In this particular case, it appeared the offender simply didn't understand proper "nettiquette" and once pointed out, promptly removed the content (although he appears to still have a whole bunch of OTHER people's stuff copied up there, so who knows?).
Clover: Chrome-like tabs for your file explorer. No more having dozens of file windows up. Just one. http://ejie.me
Also, I have to disagree with the author about recommending µTorrent. It's become more and more adware ridden with each new update. Deluge is pretty good though.
thx!
I have "big" packages such as NLTK. Do you recommend to leave the Visual Studio open for a while?
I heard from a friend at the time that Tixati was another decent BT client.
And for Python development, a Vagrant installation works wonders, as does PyCharm, which I was telling to shut up and take my money after 3 minutes.
http://carpeaqua.com/2013/10/27/my-ultimate-developer-and-po...
My Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for OS X (2013 Edition)
> The idea for this list was shamelessly ripped off from Windows developer Scott Hanselman whose list has long been an enjoyable read when he updates it.
In case it's unclear from the description, NimbleText is a simple code generator. It's saved me a ton of time and keystrokes. Well worth the $20.
I couldn't even read this part without laughing, all I hear is: "I'm too lazy to spend a few hours learning the free, extremely powerful tools available to me, so I'll use this weaker substitute instead. And it's only 20 bucks!"
I overcame my eye rolling, and checked out the tool. It looks fine, but it seems like just a GUI over regex, right? Am I missing anything?
del *.*
del *.*
Although I feel competent with moderately complex regexps, I'm not sure I'd want to use them instead of globs while slinging my valuable files at the command line.
Which I think goes back to the ancestor point -- is it crazy to use a GUI to make regexps for you? Although I too can get snooty about that, I think it's smart for someone who doesn't use regexps frequently in their work -- but on the rare occasions they need to, they need to get it right.
Though the point about Regex's being distinct from wildcards just reinforces the idea that regex's are not an obvious concept.
Point taken. I've always associated his blog as a resource for programmers, but a tool like this is perfect for non-programmer power users.
Based purely on this one single comment (which isn't much to go on to be fair) I wouldn't be giving someone like you too much broad authority on a project because you lack wise judgement skills in my opinion.
Since you mention laughing at people, you may not be aware of it, or care, but people ("idiot" managers and "idiot" users) might very well laugh at you behind their backs as well. If you lack perspective, the ability to consider issues from the point of view of different stakeholders, you're going to see a lot of idiots around you.
If you consider it wise judgment to pay money to spend a few hours to learn a less flexible, leakier abstraction rather than just spending the few hours, and gaining a lifetime skill, learning the high powered, free tool available, that is where we differ.
I don't laugh at people who don't know something, quite the contrary, there is little I love more than helping someone grow in knowledge. I laugh at a worldview that celebrates ignorance as if it were a virtue.
I have no doubt people laugh at me too, probably because I believe anyone can be better than they are, anyone can improve. I have high expectations for myself and those around me. And that, for a person who chooses a worldview that celebrates ignorance, can only be met with derisive laughter and ad hominem attacks.
A bit beyond the scope of this particular discussion, what does offend me is when people (not you perhaps) are constantly learning these life long skills on the client's dime. Some things it is fair/correct/righteous to learn and bill as part of a project, but when it isn't, I'll take the $20 approach every time.
It offends me when technical people are dishonest and insist that the "technically correct and proper" way is the path that must be taken, not the approach that should be taken. Or, they don't even inform the client of the option and just secretly make the decision to take the more expensive route. Again, not saying this is you, but it sure as hell happens.
By the way, who here is celebrating ignorance? Scott Hanselman?
I agree, stealing from a client, that's still stealing. When I learn new tools/skills, I learn them on my own time unless there is an explicit understanding, $20 or not. I consider such things a "sharpen your saws" sort of activity, and that is best done in isolation from the crunch of deadlines anyway.
As to Scott's writings, yes, that is what I was referring to. I get a distinct vibe from some of his writings that goes like: "we are mediocre, and that's okay, let's laugh it off!" Which is odd, considering some of his other writings which strongly imply that is not really what he thinks. Perhaps he just has sharp sense of self-deprecating humor. Perhaps he is just trying to be relatable to a community not known for exploration. Either way, I feel like it confuses his message. Mountains out of molehills, perhaps, but lately I have been trying to read text more carefully, looking for worldviews, which has added a new layer of depth to even development blogs.
Given Scott has been involved in such things as Tekpub (excellent tutorials site, now bought by Pluralsight) and lots of developer outreach, I don't think this is the right thing to read into his writing.
>Perhaps he is just trying to be relatable to a community not known for exploration
What?
>lately I have been trying to read text more carefully, looking for worldviews, which has added a new layer of depth to even development blogs.
I suspect you (and I) introduce our own biases when trying to gain extra context - remember text loses a lot of meaning we'd otherwise get through vocal tones and body language. Maybe try the Hanselminutes podcast?
Kudos to you for that attitude, and I wish it was more widespread. Too many developers lose that attitude develop a sense of entitlement not very far into their career.
> As to Scott's writings, yes, that is what I was referring to. I get a distinct vibe from some of his writings that goes like: "we are mediocre, and that's okay, let's laugh it off!"
I'd attribute that moreso to self-deprecating humor. You may also notice Jeff Atwood of StackOverflow fame is very modest abut his capabilities, despite affecting the technical world far more than 90% of the self-impressed people you may encounter online.
However, I'd also wager that "Windows guys" don't take themselves nearly as serious as "Unix guys", at least in part because Unix guys tend to in fact be smarter, because you have to be. I mean that as a genuine compliment. But I will follow up with an "insult" - I've met a lot of too smart people (in both camps I suppose) who let their brilliance and devotion to technical correctness and purity blind out any consideration of both economics and plain common sense, which is fine if you're running your own startup I suppose, but when you're playing with other people's money it's a different story.
You can embed javascript in the NimbleText substitution pattern, which lets you go beyond just matching and replacement.
I have similar trouble with odd terminal commands and flags. I am not afraid of them, but it simply not part of my mental make-up to remember them all. The ones I use frequently - no problem. Those I use only occasionally - Google. :-)
Let's face it - regex IS HARD if you are not a regex "power user" or if you are the sort, like myself, whose mental map is not optimized for such things.
A question for those who spend more time doing front-end web development: What do all of these much-touted Firefox development plugins like Firebug do that Chrome developer tools doesn't do?
Another one missing is vim / gvim.
Firefox
Notepad2
7zip
Faststone Image Viewer
Foobar2000
Mame
ExactAudioCopy
FLAC
LAME
Jhead(Previously I used XVI32 (http://www.chmaas.handshake.de/delphi/freeware/xvi32/xvi32.h...) and frhed (http://frhed.sourceforge.net/en/), which are both usable. They both have somewhat non-standard UI though.
Speak for yourself. I don't collect utilities.