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Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

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Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#461
post #32

Seeing a lot of “fiddly” software being listed here. Stuff that lets you configure and tune a workflow endlessly. It’s ironic that this is the sort of thing most of us will think of, since it doesn’t really account for time saved so much as time spent fiddling… Keeping an eye out for software that you barely use, as this is the kind with the most potential to truly save me time.

Reminds me of a co-worker who would spend between 3-5 hours a day messing with their vim config. I know we cannot actually write code for 8 hours a day, heck a 3-4 hour session can feel too long. But spending 15+ hours a week endlessly fiddling with their tools was hilarious to watch on some level. I remember at team lunches how they would go on and on about this new plugin they found that is going to save them so mu…

Yeah I know I’d fall in this trap if I let myself customize my tools so use everything with default config. No custom keyboard layouts, no shell aliases, nothing. It has the advantage of portability as well.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#465

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Turn-by-turn navigation in a completely foreign place can be invaluable, and save much frustration. I personally use Organic Maps (MAPS.ME), and I'm fortunate that it never led me astray or on horrible roads etc.

My family and I were on a “star safari” last night, and our guides gave us a Google Maps location for a parking lot on a volcano. Google struggled, as did Here. Organic Maps? No problem! So thank you; you’ve set me up with my new offline map!

I'm happy for you! OSM derived projects served me well in the past, I hope it will you too.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#466
post #14

Still Karabiner and it's probably 1000 hours yearly at this point. https://wiki.nikiv.dev/macOS/apps/karabiner On order of 100 hours, this year I'd say it's Sublime Merge, VSCode, Height (to manage projects) and Telegram.

For MS Windows users, the equivalent is AutoHotkey (https://www.autohotkey.com/).

It is incredibly powerful and versatile but the scripting language takes some time to adapt (I am still never sure when to use braces and when not). But the effort is really, really worth it.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#467

Earlier quoted context omitted.

add the c and it will prompt so you can make the determination yourself.

So, no

People get so hung up on this, but it's literally the shallowest sort of refactoring. If you're choosing your tools strictly for this you're doing yourself a disservice.

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#469

My most time saving programs didn't change in several years: Slickrun, floating command line for Windows https://bayden.com/slickrun/ Autohotkey - shortcuts, text expander and scripting for everything https://www.autohotkey.com/ Total Commander, still the best file manager on Windows https://www.ghisler.com/ CyberChef - The "Cyber Swiss Army Knife" - single file web app for all kinds of conversions, encryption, encod…

I use Total Commander and Autohotkey, and CyberChef as well. I would add ClipMate as the absolute BEST clipboard manager: http://www.thornsoft.com/clipmate7.htm Display Fusion Pro for managing window layout with multi monitors https://www.displayfusion.com/ Misc programs I use daily that are easily google-able: Evernote Belvedere Bitwarden Snagit

> I would add ClipMate as the absolute BEST clipboard manager

Give a try to Ditto (https://ditto-cp.sourceforge.io/) - it rocks!

Re: Ask HN: Programs that saved you 100 hours? (2022 edition)

#470
For me it was definitely Emacs and ORG mode. I use this combo to create presentations (pdf + reveal.js), write notes (org-roam style), do project management (ORG mode at its best), collect small code snippets (literal programming in ORG mode), almost everything...

As for a large code base I found ripgrep + rg.el (the interface in Emacs) to be pure gold!

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