List of stuff I use (and like)

The following is a list of my favorite tools, most of which I use in my daily life, digital and otherwise. I try to use open source, minimalist software, but that doesn't always work out.

General

• Operating System - Ubuntu, Mac, and rarely Windows
• Development - VSCode, for almost anything, even Java
• Shell - zsh (with oh-my-zsh)
• GitHub - primary source control for all projects
• Pass - the standard unix password manager
• Obsidian - note-taking (some call it second brain)

Infrastructure

Generally I prefer using Kubernetes, and containers whenever possible. I find that the automation and tooling are unbeatable.

• Hetzner - Used as cloud for kOps, aka easy-to-use kubernetes
• Grafana & Prometheus & Loki - Logging and Monitoring
• k9s - IDE for Kubernetes clusters
• ArgoCD - Best Kubernetes CD automation

Languages

I'm agnostic when it comes to any tools, and programming languages are no different for me. I believe that having a good understanding of the overarching software engineering concepts is much more important than being a specialist in one particular syntax.

• Go - Big fan, I admire a language that's slim on features
• TypeScript - De-facto best general-purpose, backend, frontend, scripting language when not in an enterprise
• Python - Best for rapid iterating. I'm still missing better types and better async support
• C# - Nice language for enterprise-projects

Databases

• Postgres - Favorite SQL database
• MongoDB - (Ex)Favorite no-sql database. Would choose postgres over it any day
• Redis - Favorite database for cache
• Kafka - Favorite event streaming platform (database? it's complicated...)

Frontends

• Vue.js - Top favourite ATM. It turns out it was building the right abstractions this whole time.
• Svelte - Ex-favorite, love the minimalism. I like vue's "boring" and stable track record better.
• React - Nobody's favorite, but it's got the best game in town. De-facto choice, if perception is a factor
• React Native - Best cross platform app development platform. For simplicity, I use it via Expo
• Nuxt - Favorite fullstack framework for web-sites and web-apps

Awesome random stuff

• Eleventy - Simplest static site generator
• Syncthing - Simple file sync between machines
• Neo4j - Graph Database for when you're sick of joins
• Beekeeper studio - The smoothest, best looking, and easiest to use SQL client for MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, SQL Server, and more.
• Obsidian - Second brain