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Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

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Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#281

Post by keymone »

perceptronas wrote: post #269

- Windows. By not having to configure drivers and other compatibility problems which I have on Linux it definitely saved me 100 hours. - Listary (windows) Not sure if its 100 hours, but I love its search in any context of explorer. Default explorer search is terrible IMO. For example when you open file - you can use search there instead of navigating by hand.

Maybe it’s gotten better, but that same reason made me switch from windows to macos(with some Linux in between, which was not great indeed). That plus not having to reboot every time you sneeze.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#282

Post by nickTheOne »

dorkwood wrote: post #62

Everything[0] by Voidtools as a Windows search replacement. It makes search practically instant. Now that Windows search often fails to turn up even my most used files (what happened to Windows search? Was it intentionally nerfed?), Everything has become a necessity for me. [0]: https://www.voidtools.com/

And you can throw Wox on top to get something similar to macOS' Spotlight that uses Everything for search and uses python or c# plugins to do everything else from calculator to PirateBay browser for some reason. Original Wox release: https://github.com/Wox-launcher/Wox Fork that more likely to work with latest Windows 10 since original is seems to be abandoned: https://github.com/jjw24/Wox

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#284

Post by rajlego »

ynac wrote: post #11

I spent roughly three months late last year working on my workflow. Figuring out what I was good at, not so good at, and what I'd forever found impossible to do without fear of punishment or shame. Slowly, I learned how I worked best and leveraged these lessons in design of the new work flow. Of course, the solution was far simpler than before. The lessons were often exactly what was exhaustively explained in books a…

How does your zettlekasten system work?

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#285

Post by superasn »

I would definitely say PHPStorm. The amount of productivity gains are tremendous.

A lot of good editors have the issue that they are quite rigid when it comes to operating between multiple languages. So while your editor may shine at JavaScript, it won't understand vuejs templates or when you put Javascript code inside a php file.

This is where PhpStorm really shines. It can even complete your SQL statements inside php strings or go to a .vue file from a Html tag. I've never seen this type of understanding from an editor ever.

P.S. My only issue with it is that writing plugins for it is kinda hard. Since it is so extendable it's only expected that programmers would want to extend it with their own plugins. And while I have been able to write one plugin for it I found the documentation and tutorial for writing plugins all over the place and sometimes very outdated. It is my request if anyone from jetbrains read it to please make plugin docs more accessible and easier to understand, esp the testing quickly part.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#286

Post by joshschreuder »

baggsie wrote: post #160

- WallabyJS - makes writing tests almost feel addictive, and being able to run and debug the JS directly in the code has saved me hours. - Jetbrains IDEs - the refactoring and debugging tools are second to none.

If you’re in the .NET world, NCrunch is basically Wallaby. Saves me a huge amount of time and helps me write better tests by identifying where I’ve missed branches or setup test data incorrectly through the line indicators.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#288

Post by opan »

perceptronas wrote: post #269

- Windows. By not having to configure drivers and other compatibility problems which I have on Linux it definitely saved me 100 hours. - Listary (windows) Not sure if its 100 hours, but I love its search in any context of explorer. Default explorer search is terrible IMO. For example when you open file - you can use search there instead of navigating by hand.

It certainly depends on the device. Several years ago I bought a Wii U Pro Controller before getting the actual console, so I'd planned to use it with my computer. On Windows I had to install the Toshiba bluetooth stack (on a non-Toshiba computer, fighting to remove what I'd had before from Windows Update), manually add the HID for my bluetooth dongle to the driver, then run in "Test Mode" for it to let it work. Test Mode watermarked the corner and also warned me it would only work for 30 days. On GNU/Linux it really truly just worked out of the box. This is an extreme example, but it's one I will never forget. I believe in the Windows world it's common to make controllers pretend to be Xbox 360 controllers because those are supported well, while the kernel known as Linux has support for more obscure things like Wii Remotes and such.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#289

Post by anotheryou »

anotheryou wrote: post #8
anotheryou wrote: post #5

(mine are all not particularly new) ShareX (windows): screenshot > optionally annotate > upload to ftp > copy url to clipboard But I can also paste from the clipboard: - if it's a file: upload to ftp, copy link to clipboard - if it's text: upload to ftp, custom URL makes it load in my org-mode or markdown web-render

SikuliX: last resort for automation when AHK can't do it. Finds where to click or type visually. (e.g. good for android emulators)

java fueled pain in the ass to run though, nothing for day-to-day helper scripts

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

#290

Post by DeathArrow »

keymone wrote: post #281
perceptronas wrote: post #269

- Windows. By not having to configure drivers and other compatibility problems which I have on Linux it definitely saved me 100 hours. - Listary (windows) Not sure if its 100 hours, but I love its search in any context of explorer. Default explorer search is terrible IMO. For example when you open file - you can use search there instead of navigating by hand.

Maybe it’s gotten better, but that same reason made me switch from windows to macos(with some Linux in between, which was not great indeed). That plus not having to reboot every time you sneeze.

Rebooting often was true for XP and earlier. I own 4 Windows 10 machines, 2 laptops and 2 desktops. I never rebooted the laptops. Desktops were rebooted when there was a power glitch because I don't own an UPS.

These day I read more stories about people switching from macOS to Windows than the other way around.

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