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Scott Hanselman's 2009 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List for Windows

65 points by bdfh42 17y ago

ZeroGravitas 17y ago
Given the title there's a surprising amount there that are websites, webapps, Firefox extensions etc.
10ren 17y ago
Notepad2 or Notepad++ or E-TextEditor Just because there are two code editors that have every feature you could possibly imagine (and many many many more) doesn't mean you can't write another one (or three) and be successful. So, next time a market looks full.... BTW: anyone remember that HN article about a guy who was interested in search, but thought he was too late because altavista had it covered? And then he iterates about 10 of the following successive leaders in search, up to Google, then concludes with: and of course now it really is too late.
- CWuestefeld 17y ago
  Along the same lines, the article offers "It's over and 7zip won." Wasn't over once before, and PKZip won? And later it was over again, and WinZIP won?
  - 10ren 17y ago
    I noticed that one, too. But I think "winning" would really be if MS bought you and incorporated you into the OS (which it has done with an awful lot of stuff). BTW: there was also one before, that PKZip was based on (actually infringing on its copyright, and ended up being very upsetting to the originator).
    - nailer 17y ago
      Yep, that was arc.
mhansen 17y ago
Wow, needs to trim down the list a little bit. 3 feed readers? 3 different boot CDs? 5 different launchers? Powershell, cygwin, and grep and tail replacements 'BareGrep' and 'BareTail'? How many of these does he actually use?
gfodor 17y ago
Needs more vim.
- nailer 17y ago
  Windows has plenty of programmatic text editors that offer most of the features of vim , with better discoverability. except reliably being installed, which vim isn't on Windows anyway.
  - ciupicri 17y ago
    > except reliably being installed, which vim isn't on Windows anyway. vim runs fine on Windows
    - nailer 17y ago
      Sure. But you can't sit down on a random Windows machine and expect to have vim installed.
  - Afton 17y ago
    > Windows has plenty of programmatic text editors that offer most of the features of vim profound disbelief.
    - nailer 17y ago
      Your post has no content. Perhaps you'd like to read the Hacker News guidelines, then make a reasonable, polite argument?
      - Afton 17y ago
        Interestingly, neither does yours. You make a claim, I express that I don't believe that claim. I'm pretty sure that makes it your move... ps. sorry for the lateness of the reply, I don't know how to receive any kind of notification that I've been replied to.
jeroen 17y ago
"7-Zip - You'll typically get between 2% and 10% better compression than ZIP." Does anyone really care about compression rates? And what about the fact that noone you send your .7zip's to has 7zip installed?
- smiler 17y ago
  All depends on what you're using it for. We use 7zip all the time at work and it is invaluable and I often see better compression rates depending on the data involved. I just zipped up an Eclipse workspace .zip using 7zip = 27mb .7zip using 7zip = 6.5mb We have a VPN to a customer over a dedicated ADSL link (max 300k upload) and daily we are transferring new builds / files. Which would you prefer? Edit: you can also create a self-extracting 7zip as an executable as well with a very minimal payload (couple of 100k)
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
- ciupicri 17y ago
  7zip is the new zip
- blasdel 17y ago
  The real annoyance for me is that the 7zip program's extraction mechanism (for all the formats it supports) writes the uncompressed data twice, and in the penultimate step is using 2x the space. It's just like a naive compressed tar extractor.
strick 17y ago
He left out my absolute favorite, Expandrive. Lets you map any Linux host as a drive letter via sftp. If your box has SSH, it is good to go: http://www.expandrive.com/windows http://www.expandrive.com/windows
macco 17y ago
Hackers use a Unix. Ask PG
- fake_pg 17y ago
  Argh...again with the questions. Yes, "hackers" use Unix-based operating systems. Great hackers also generally insist on using open source software. Not just because it's better, but because it gives them more control. Good hackers insist on control. This is part of what makes them good hackers: when something's broken, they need to fix it.[1] [1] I copied this from my essay, "Great Hackers" (http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html). Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Sarah Harlin for reading earlier versions of this comment.
  - macco 17y ago
    Hey I was just complaining, because I have to a Windows maschine at work. I try to make it behave like a Unix with Cygwin and Emacs, but there are limits. Actually I think the Hanselman List is pretty useless. To use 3 different editors is BS. Get to know one, for every kind of editing.
    - steverb 17y ago
      I think your problem is that you are trying to make it behave like a Linux machine. If you're going to live in Rome, you'll have a better time of it if you learn to speak Italian. And the fact that the list has multiple editors isn't saying that you need to use all of them. It means that there are several very good editors and that you should choose one based on your needs / preferences. I agree that you should choose one, use for all your editing and learn it inside and out. Personally, I just use Visual Studio for everything.
      - macco 17y ago
        But I don't want to live in Rome (actually i would like). And I need a car that works the same in Rome AND in Paris.
  - 17y ago
rjprins 17y ago
I'm missing a tool like FARR "Find And Run Robot", to start any program. But I guess Windows Vista and 7 have that now in the start menu. Still FARR has a lot more features. Also, AutoHotkey changed my life! http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/ http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/
- smhinsey 17y ago
  He refers to these as launchers and lists several.
mikeytown2 17y ago
You only need one: http://andLinux.org/ http://andLinux.org/
jpcx01 17y ago
Fiddler is awesome. Does anyone know of a similar mac tool? I have little snitch, but it doesn't actually let you sniff what contents get sent back and forth. Fiddler killer feature is being able to sniff SSL content as well and decode it (provided you give it the key).

65 points by bdfh42 17y ago

Given the title there's a surprising amount there that are websites, webapps, Firefox extensions etc.

10ren 17y ago

Notepad2 or Notepad++ or E-TextEditor Just because there are two code editors that have every feature you could possibly imagine (and many many many more) doesn't mean you can't write another one (or three) and be successful. So, next time a market looks full.... BTW: anyone remember that HN article about a guy who was interested in search, but thought he was too late because altavista had it covered? And then he iterates about 10 of the following successive leaders in search, up to Google, then concludes with: and of course now it really is too late.

CWuestefeld 17y ago
Along the same lines, the article offers "It's over and 7zip won." Wasn't over once before, and PKZip won? And later it was over again, and WinZIP won?
- 10ren 17y ago
  I noticed that one, too. But I think "winning" would really be if MS bought you and incorporated you into the OS (which it has done with an awful lot of stuff). BTW: there was also one before, that PKZip was based on (actually infringing on its copyright, and ended up being very upsetting to the originator).
  - nailer 17y ago
    Yep, that was arc.

mhansen 17y ago

Wow, needs to trim down the list a little bit. 3 feed readers? 3 different boot CDs? 5 different launchers? Powershell, cygwin, and grep and tail replacements 'BareGrep' and 'BareTail'? How many of these does he actually use?

gfodor 17y ago

Needs more vim.

nailer 17y ago
Windows has plenty of programmatic text editors that offer most of the features of vim , with better discoverability. except reliably being installed, which vim isn't on Windows anyway.
- ciupicri 17y ago
  > except reliably being installed, which vim isn't on Windows anyway. vim runs fine on Windows
  - nailer 17y ago
    Sure. But you can't sit down on a random Windows machine and expect to have vim installed.
- Afton 17y ago
  > Windows has plenty of programmatic text editors that offer most of the features of vim profound disbelief.
  - nailer 17y ago
    Your post has no content. Perhaps you'd like to read the Hacker News guidelines, then make a reasonable, polite argument?
    - Afton 17y ago
      Interestingly, neither does yours. You make a claim, I express that I don't believe that claim. I'm pretty sure that makes it your move... ps. sorry for the lateness of the reply, I don't know how to receive any kind of notification that I've been replied to.

jeroen 17y ago

"7-Zip - You'll typically get between 2% and 10% better compression than ZIP." Does anyone really care about compression rates? And what about the fact that noone you send your .7zip's to has 7zip installed?

smiler 17y ago
All depends on what you're using it for. We use 7zip all the time at work and it is invaluable and I often see better compression rates depending on the data involved. I just zipped up an Eclipse workspace .zip using 7zip = 27mb .7zip using 7zip = 6.5mb We have a VPN to a customer over a dedicated ADSL link (max 300k upload) and daily we are transferring new builds / files. Which would you prefer? Edit: you can also create a self-extracting 7zip as an executable as well with a very minimal payload (couple of 100k)
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
ciupicri 17y ago
7zip is the new zip
blasdel 17y ago
The real annoyance for me is that the 7zip program's extraction mechanism (for all the formats it supports) writes the uncompressed data twice, and in the penultimate step is using 2x the space. It's just like a naive compressed tar extractor.

strick 17y ago

He left out my absolute favorite, Expandrive. Lets you map any Linux host as a drive letter via sftp. If your box has SSH, it is good to go: http://www.expandrive.com/windows http://www.expandrive.com/windows

macco 17y ago

Hackers use a Unix. Ask PG

fake_pg 17y ago
Argh...again with the questions. Yes, "hackers" use Unix-based operating systems. Great hackers also generally insist on using open source software. Not just because it's better, but because it gives them more control. Good hackers insist on control. This is part of what makes them good hackers: when something's broken, they need to fix it.[1] [1] I copied this from my essay, "Great Hackers" (http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html http://www.paulgraham.com/gh.html). Thanks to Jessica Livingston, Robert Morris, and Sarah Harlin for reading earlier versions of this comment.
- macco 17y ago
  Hey I was just complaining, because I have to a Windows maschine at work. I try to make it behave like a Unix with Cygwin and Emacs, but there are limits. Actually I think the Hanselman List is pretty useless. To use 3 different editors is BS. Get to know one, for every kind of editing.
  - steverb 17y ago
    I think your problem is that you are trying to make it behave like a Linux machine. If you're going to live in Rome, you'll have a better time of it if you learn to speak Italian. And the fact that the list has multiple editors isn't saying that you need to use all of them. It means that there are several very good editors and that you should choose one based on your needs / preferences. I agree that you should choose one, use for all your editing and learn it inside and out. Personally, I just use Visual Studio for everything.
    - macco 17y ago
      But I don't want to live in Rome (actually i would like). And I need a car that works the same in Rome AND in Paris.
- 17y ago

rjprins 17y ago

I'm missing a tool like FARR "Find And Run Robot", to start any program. But I guess Windows Vista and 7 have that now in the start menu. Still FARR has a lot more features. Also, AutoHotkey changed my life! http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/ http://www.donationcoder.com/Software/Mouser/findrun/

smhinsey 17y ago
He refers to these as launchers and lists several.

mikeytown2 17y ago

You only need one: http://andLinux.org/ http://andLinux.org/

jpcx01 17y ago

Fiddler is awesome. Does anyone know of a similar mac tool? I have little snitch, but it doesn't actually let you sniff what contents get sent back and forth. Fiddler killer feature is being able to sniff SSL content as well and decode it (provided you give it the key).