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Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

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Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#171

Post by mrob »

Qalculate!. This is easily my favorite calculator app. It's fast, it has many useful features (I especially like how you can specify units for all your values and get an answer with a unit), and it lets you type in expressions instead of wasting space on skeuomorphic calculator buttons. I configured the dedicated calculator button on my keyboard to run it, and I typically use it multiple times a day.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#174

Post by Draiken »

reitanqild wrote: post #161

Netbeans IDE. Cannot remember one serious crash. Have emptied the cache twice that I can think of over the years I have used it. (And most importantly: I have less problems than my colleague who uses IntelliJ.) Also as others have mentioned I've had major stability problems with eclipse, mostly in connection with the perforce plugin.

Man times must have changed... Had to use Netbeans on college and it was literally the worst IDE I've ever used.

Crashed so often I just gave up. Decided to work with Gedit for a good period before I was introduced to vim.

Have never even tried to use other IDEs unless I'm kind of forced to (like android development) and made sure to stay away from Netbeans.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#176

Post by reitanqild »

gshx wrote: post #6
PaulHoule wrote: post #2

IntelliJ Idea is head and shoulders better than many other IDEs, particularly Eclipse in the reliability department.

Care to give some examples how? For me, Eclipse has remained very stable. Maybe we are using them for different languages and/or things.

I had some issues when I used eclipse, especially back in 2009 when I was forced to use perforce.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#177

Post by dpcan »

This is actually a topic that I think about often because I LOVE several of the software tools I use daily, and the majority of my favorites are made by either individuals or smaller companies (except a few).

I've purchased licenses of the following and have used them all for years. These are all wonderfully simple in my opinion, and the most reliable pieces of software I have ever used and I have been very happy with my purchases:

EditPlus

Probably the best money I've ever spent. I use it for almost all of my coding. No other code editor seems to be arranged the same way with Folders and Files on the left with a tab to quickly switch to a function view, and simple color coded syntax highlighting. It's SO fast too.

ScanWiz 2

Converts scans to PDFs. For me, it has been flawless and perfect in every way. I once had to email because my computer crashed and I needed my license key again. I was literally lost without it. I've never used anything so beautifully simple for the single function it performs for me.

XnView and IrfanView

I purchased a license for each at one point. XnView for batch processing and IrfanView for almost all other simple image functions. I know I can batch in IrfanView, but I like how I can select filters and such in XnView.

Adobe Fireworks

I cannot believe this one is supposedly being shut down. I have never used such a simple vector based editing tool in my life. I literally do everything in it, and when I try to use something else, I can't stand it. I pray they leave it available through my Cloud subscription for forever.

Bvckup

I actually only got Bvckup about a year ago, but it has already saved me - and allows me to run my backups super fast and more regularly. Again, it's all about the simplicity.

Re: Ask HN: Examples of reliable software you enjoy using

#180

Post by bordercases »

mangeletti wrote: post #160

Alfred ( https://www.alfredapp.com ) Alfred is absolutely the most game-changing app I've ever been introduced to. I only use it for finding files, searching, opening a page by direct URL, defining words, calculator, translation (via Google), launching apps, and quickly jumping to apps that are already open. It's probably saved me hundreds of hours in clicking around, etc. I've never purchased the paid version (been…

I tried Alfred and thought it kind of redundant until one day my sizable collection of PDFs flooded Spotlight's indexer, and I couldn't find any of my apps via Spotlight's search.

Alfred's indexer is superior to Spotlight's, and is much saner in what it prioritizes for viewing over what it doesn't.

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