Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.
Without the right tools for the job, software development would be a pain,
like trying to build a house without a hammer - possible, but incredibly difficult and time-consuming.
Fortunately, some great tools and exist to ease the process and stay productive.
Here's a big list of all of my favorite stuff.
Workstation
Macbook Air M1 (2020)
The bedrock of the development process. The M1 still remains plenty for all my development needs, although I could have done with 16GB of RAM instead of 8GB!
Asus VG249Q Monitor
A 24 inch 1080p 144hz IPS monitor. It's always nice to have a larger second screen instead of always switching between multiple windows. Also used for the occasional gaming session!
Epomaker SK68 Keyboard
A 65% RGB hotswappable mechanical bluetooth keyboard. That's a lot of jargon...
Logitech MX Anywhere 2 Mouse
A bluetooth mouse that works on both Mac & Windows. Its small size makes it perfect for on-the-go use.
Nothing Ear (1)
Can't be programming without a bit of music, especially when doing those unavoidable, boring tasks. These sound pretty good and the transparent design is super cool.
Hayworth Zody
A very comfortable office chair with lots of adjustment. Perfect for those long programming sessions.
Frameworks
Ruby on Rails
Ruby on Rails is the primary framework I use. I've been using it for 3 years now, and I love how quickly and easily I can get stuff built with it.
Stimulus & Turbo
The perfect JS companions for Rails that make adding interactivity easy.
Alpine.js
A lightweight JS framework, perfect for those little bits of JavaScript.
SvelteKit
The cleanest and easiest frontend JS framework I've tried. So good that I used it to build this site!
Tailwind CSS
Easy to understand utility classes that makes writing CSS so much more enjoyable.
Dev Tools
VS Code
My go-to code editor. Super customisable through extensions which enables me to have any features and aesthetic I desire.
Warp
A modern, customisable terminal with AI built in.
Postico 2
A user-friendly application for MacOS which makes looking at Postgres databases easy and efficient.
Github Desktop
Best way to visually see the code changes I've made.
Other Tools
Arc Browser
A cool new browser that focuses on decluttering your browser experience. Helps me organise tabs into different spaces and stops me from having a million open tabs. Plus they add shiny new features every week.
Notion
The place where I store all my notes and organise my life.
ChatGPT
Used for general learing, debugging pesky code, writing copy and getting ideas on how to approach certain problems.