Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13887237

it's a linux clone of autohotkey, meaning it lets you script your mouse/keyboard/windows using python. It can trigger the scripts using a keyboard shortcuts or by watching keywords in regular text. I use it to kill emai/phone/date quickly, or to automate combinations of actions in GUI that don't have macros.

youtube-dl

I travel a lot, with plenty of downtime. Downloading conferences from many video sites, or music, turns those otherwise wasted hours into learning experience, relaxation, etc.

dynalist

Favorite life organization app, that I use for shopping, restaurant idea, todo, etc. Basically half of my GTD is in there. It's much more productive than any system I tried before, and I tried a lot of them.

thunderbird

I have 20 email addresses, and this varies depending of my clients. Web base email are not up to the task, and I need offline search/archive capabilities. Thunderbird is the only mature cross platform app that does that correctly.

pulsesms

I have a rich social life, and this means organizing groups of people. Of course, they all have their different chat apps, social account, preferences. Some are using an old 3310. Some don't want to be on facebook, etc. SMS is the only things that works with everybody, but typing it on the phone is a pain. I have an android phone, so no imessage, but no google account, so no android message. Pulsms allows me to write message from my computer comfortably.

fdfind and ripgrep

I search stuff all the time, and since they are way faster type (because easier to remember), faster to execute, and have an output that is faster to read, cumulatively it saves a lot of time.

tilix

I don't use a tiling windows manager or tmux-like software, so I rely on tilix to provide a terminal a the press of a key, and to provide tabs and split screens.

black

Automatic formatting for python code. No parameters.

bitwarden

Or lastpass, or 1password. Any password manager really. But bitwarden is the latest I'm using. I'd also say "tetripin" for otp on the command line but it would not really make it up to 100 hours.

meld

It compares files or directory. It's not the best out there, but it works everywhere, so I don't have to wonder. I just install meld. I'd say reggexer for search and replace as well, but again, not saving 100 hours.

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Of course I could say GNU/Linux, python, firefox and vscode, but it's a bit obvious. Probably the most productive softwares I use though.

It pulls source and destination branch merges them locally and then pushes the source branch and creates a pull request if not already there. Reviewers are configurable per repo.

Disclaimer - I have used this every day for past 3 years and i maintain it as well.

Plex - We have munchkins and they love watching the same stuff off youtube or movies over and over. We simply download them and Plex will sync them to all of our devices with easy offline support. (We run it on a synology NAS)

I also prefer vim's macros to multicursors, but I think it ammounts to nothing more than habit and preference.

Macros in Vim are going to be much more powerful, with movement commands and selection commands giving yo a more flexible system... I think? Hard to be objective after so many years of Vim.