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Ask HN: What's a new developer tool you recently started using?

8 points by chandler767 3y ago

I always like learning about new tools and never know what I'm missing out on. Share some tools you've recently started using.

accrual 3y ago
It's kinda silly, but I like "frhed" for Windows. It's a small fast hex editor. I tried more advanced editors but found myself going back to frhed because it opens instantly and never complains, it just opens any file and lets me get to work. https://sourceforge.net/projects/frhed/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/frhed/ On a similar note I also use Notepad2 which hasn't been updated in years, but is a no-BS upgrade from Notepad that also will open just about anything very quickly. I use it more than Notepad++ because of the balance between simplicity and function, and it never gives me popups to update. https://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html https://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
- chandler767 3y ago
  Notepad2 is a classic.
slayerjain 3y ago
Lima - pretty smooth way to develop on a linux vm on macOS. I connect it via SSH to VS code, and performs quite well on M1/M2 MacBooks.
- chandler767 3y ago
  How does Lima compare to something like Docker Desktop?
- girishso 3y ago
  recently came across Orb, it's a linux VM cum docker runtime. VM boots in seconds, access any folder on Mac as linux folder https://orbstack.dev/ https://orbstack.dev/
mdwalters 3y ago
I just started using chezmoi, a cross-platform dotfiles manager. Would highly reccommend chezmoi if you're looking for a reliable dotfile manager.
- satvikpendem 3y ago
  How is this better than using git?
  - mdwalters 3y ago
    chezmoi actually uses git to manage the dotfiles, see https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/setup/#use-a-hosted-repo-to-manage-your-dotfiles-across-multiple-machines https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/setup/#use-a-hosted-repo-t....
    - satvikpendem 3y ago
      I see the comparison page, seems to be a better answer for what I was looking for: https://www.chezmoi.io/comparison-table/ https://www.chezmoi.io/comparison-table/ Hm, it seems like most of what chezmoi does, I don't really need, compared to a private git repo.
oops 3y ago
I have been poring over a large amount of data for debugging purposes recently and discovered “facets” which provides a quick and easy way to compare and explore datasets. https://pair-code.github.io/facets/ https://pair-code.github.io/facets/
skydhash 3y ago
Dash - An offline documentation browser for MacOS. These days, I found that online searches is a bit wasteful–I never have time to configure specific site- search in Alfred. Kinda useful for languages like Go, Common Lisp and Clojure. VMs - Specifically with Parallels Desktop. I'm a bit fed up with MacOS packagers. I prefer having a small VM, where things are at least consistent. And no risks of NPM contaminations.
mortallywounded 3y ago
I tried DBeaver recently and thought it was pretty nice. I tried it as an alternative to Beekeeper.
swah 3y ago
Some new diff tool https://github.com/dandavison/delta https://github.com/dandavison/delta I just wanted to do a diff inside a bash script and ask the user if it looked ok, found this one.

8 points by chandler767 3y ago

I always like learning about new tools and never know what I'm missing out on. Share some tools you've recently started using.

accrual 3y ago

It's kinda silly, but I like "frhed" for Windows. It's a small fast hex editor. I tried more advanced editors but found myself going back to frhed because it opens instantly and never complains, it just opens any file and lets me get to work. https://sourceforge.net/projects/frhed/ https://sourceforge.net/projects/frhed/ On a similar note I also use Notepad2 which hasn't been updated in years, but is a no-BS upgrade from Notepad that also will open just about anything very quickly. I use it more than Notepad++ because of the balance between simplicity and function, and it never gives me popups to update. https://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html https://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html

chandler767 3y ago
Notepad2 is a classic.

slayerjain 3y ago

Lima - pretty smooth way to develop on a linux vm on macOS. I connect it via SSH to VS code, and performs quite well on M1/M2 MacBooks.

chandler767 3y ago
How does Lima compare to something like Docker Desktop?
girishso 3y ago
recently came across Orb, it's a linux VM cum docker runtime. VM boots in seconds, access any folder on Mac as linux folder https://orbstack.dev/ https://orbstack.dev/

mdwalters 3y ago

I just started using chezmoi, a cross-platform dotfiles manager. Would highly reccommend chezmoi if you're looking for a reliable dotfile manager.

satvikpendem 3y ago
How is this better than using git?
- mdwalters 3y ago
  chezmoi actually uses git to manage the dotfiles, see https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/setup/#use-a-hosted-repo-to-manage-your-dotfiles-across-multiple-machines https://www.chezmoi.io/user-guide/setup/#use-a-hosted-repo-t....
  - satvikpendem 3y ago
    I see the comparison page, seems to be a better answer for what I was looking for: https://www.chezmoi.io/comparison-table/ https://www.chezmoi.io/comparison-table/ Hm, it seems like most of what chezmoi does, I don't really need, compared to a private git repo.

oops 3y ago

I have been poring over a large amount of data for debugging purposes recently and discovered “facets” which provides a quick and easy way to compare and explore datasets. https://pair-code.github.io/facets/ https://pair-code.github.io/facets/

skydhash 3y ago

Dash - An offline documentation browser for MacOS. These days, I found that online searches is a bit wasteful–I never have time to configure specific site- search in Alfred. Kinda useful for languages like Go, Common Lisp and Clojure. VMs - Specifically with Parallels Desktop. I'm a bit fed up with MacOS packagers. I prefer having a small VM, where things are at least consistent. And no risks of NPM contaminations.

mortallywounded 3y ago

I tried DBeaver recently and thought it was pretty nice. I tried it as an alternative to Beekeeper.

swah 3y ago

Some new diff tool https://github.com/dandavison/delta https://github.com/dandavison/delta I just wanted to do a diff inside a bash script and ask the user if it looked ok, found this one.