miniforge, no need to deal with conda environments anymore. https://github.com/conda-forge/miniforge
Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
101–110 of 574 posts
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#102Dune (https://dune.build/) is the preeminent build tool for OCaml development. I don't love its input syntax (s-expressions), and I sometimes miss the ability to write high-level functions to reduce boilerplate (especially for unit tests), but it always gets the dependencies right, and it's fast. This is in stark contrast to some of my experiences with various other build systems, and I am super happy that the default option for OCaml build systems is so good.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#103gron https://github.com/tomnomnom/gron
It takes JSON input and produces flat, key-value output based on the path to the value. Usage with grep was obviously the original intention, but I've used it to help me better understand a given JSON's structure, too, which I then usually reflect back into a program that's consuming that JSON.
It also supports "ungron" too, so, for example, `gron some.json | grep -v "thing I don't want" | gron -u > filtered.json" makes for quick filtering of a JSON. I find it more user friendly than jq's language.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#104Ultrafast, super lite file search on Windows, Voidtools "Everything": https://www.voidtools.com/support/everything/ I haven't touched the Windows Search utility since I found it.
Everything paired with AstroGrep (or your favorite grep program) is the ultimate pair for searching on Windows. We pretty much force new devs to install these otherwise we watch them struggle for way too long.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#105PHP Propel 2.0 It’s a small ORM with nice features and it saved me a ton of time. Just generate the classes from the database. Very fast to iterate from. https://propelorm.org/
Probably showing my age here, but their database:reverse feature just blew my mind.
The problem with most ORMs is that language object models are way more expressive than SQL (due to having multiple subclasses of the same superclass / interface, or even multiple inheritance, and none of those mapping to SQL foreign keys).
Targeting the less expressive data model should automatically avoid most ORM footguns. I wonder how it works in practice.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#106The combination of TypeScript, VSCode and GitHub Copilot is just a joy to work with.
The are valid criticisms of Coplilot around copyright but I'm not using it to generate whole algorithms. It just knows your code and what you are trying to do.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#107Of all the software I can think of quickly, the one I think may have saved the most time in my life is Google Maps.
How come it saves 100 hours for you? In the old days we had paper maps and I checked routes before I left: not doing that anymore has cost me time rather than saved me time. Many a time Google maps has sent me to the wrong place. Once to the middle of a mustard field in France which was a destination it changed to mid-route to a house called La Mutardier. 5 hours wrong lost there. Less than useless on a motorbike due…
Searching the map for your target given only incomplete information is much faster. It also scopes the map to your screen size, paper does not do this, you save time finding the right resolution.
It sounds like the real problem you are experiencing is that you stopped checking your route. If you treat it like a paper map on crack then it’s a great tool. And, to be fair, it does sound like you run into more frustrating ‘wtf!’ problems than others.
Credentials: I used a paper map as a pizza boy.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#108Docker. Shipping every single script along with all dependencies saved me from hundreds of hours of fixing stuff after updates. And I don't mean production stuff, just helper scripts and programs that I'd normally use a few times a year and which don't need the latest security (let alone feature) updates.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#109Instant Data Scraper [1] [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/instant-data-scrap...
I wish there was some sort of 'export to selenium' function to this.
Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)
#110Greenshot - free, lightweight and just the right set of features for marking up screenshots and making new UI mockups based on existing screenshots of apps. I've tried a lot of other alternatives but they were either too complicated to use or lack a key feature.
Do you find greenshot better than say ShareX ?
IMO yes. ShareX had too many options, and too many layers to navigate to get something done.