Productivity Apps I use #GeekEdition
These apps have enabled me stay productive even during the busy quarantine time of 2020. They are in no particular order of importance.
These apps have enabled me stay productive even during the busy quarantine time of 2020. They are in no particular order of importance. For those who are not into tech, I wrote another post for you
Moving on with the list. TL:DR(Too Long: Didn't Read): Slack, VSCode, TablePlus, Terminal, Lulu, iStat Menus, Numi.
Slack
Slack is what I call "WhatsApp for teams". Its the go between work and some fun, depending on how you use it and your team members. Slack has groups called channels, one on one chat spaces, ability to add bots (little programs that run inside another program specifically for automation of tasks)
Slack
I use slack for keeping tabs on the different activities going on in different teams. These include server notifications, code changes and pushes, scheduled calendar events, tasks to be done and those completed, news (yes I use an awesome RSS Bot to fetch the news for me in slack), Google drive files that have been shared with me, team discussions on ongoing projects and link sharing and storage.
If you are the kind who is on more than one team and want to keep tabs on things going on across those teams, I recommend Slack as a must have productivity tool.
VSCode
Visual Studio Code (VSCode) is a very popular code editor that is free and open source, meaning its code is available for everyone to read, edit and even improve upon. I use it for creating new web-based applications, hybrid mobile apps using React Native and writing scripts using Python and NodeJS.
There are other editors out there that might be better but I prefer VSCode since its lightweight, open source and has lots of plugins that I can install to enhance my productive time during work. Some of the plugins include GitLens, this helps me track the Git History per file and who made changes to it. CodeMetrics helps show the complexity of a given code function or method and is super handy in understanding whether a given project is too expensive to maintain. The Docker extension helps me see and manage the different containers and images for the different code projects am working on. Its super handy especially given the fact that Docker is now a core part of many developers workflows.
TablePlus
TablePlus is a native app for database management on the desktop. It replaces the need for logging into several Database servers and running SQL commands directly in those web-based interfaces. The different databases supported include MySQL, PostgreSQL, SQLite,Amazon RedShift, MariaDB, Oracle Suite of Databases, Redis, Cassandra, MongoDB (this one is still in beta at the time of writing), Microsoft SQL Server, Cockroach database and Greenplum.
admintableplus.com
TablePlus gives me the convenience of backing up and restoring databases on-the-fly as well as writing SQL queries directly to interact with the databases. There are some database queries I usually need all the time and TablePlus has the favourites feature where I save the several database queries I need nearby.
Terminal
The terminal app is my gateway into the "inside world of the computer". Its the app I pull up when the GUI (Graphical User Interface) commands are failing, freezing or just to damn slow. I have a Linux Server Administration background and so the Terminal is an integral part of my workflow and productivity since it gives me the raw power to execute commands like a boss. 😎
The terminal is where I set off to go into the SSH world of servers and Linux administration. My terminal shell is Zsh which now comes as the default on Mac OS Catalina. The terminal app comes bundled with Mac OS.
Lulu
LuLu is the free, open-source macOS firewall that aims to block unknown outgoing connections, unless explicitly approved by the user. Its just that simple 🤷🏽♂️. I use Lulu as a shield and monitor against software that tries to "communicate back home" without my consent. Lulu just works.
https://objective-see.com/products/lulu.html
iStat Menus
There are many times I want to know the speed of the internet connection I am using or the apps that are using the internet more than others. This is where iStat Menus comes in. It has quite many features which include weather notifications, battery and power alerts etc etc but I simply use the speed feature to keep up with my internet speed notifications. This software is not free and you can buy it from this link.
Numi
Have you ever found a calculator that simply knows when you type "200 divide by 31"? Or a calculator that knows when you are converting currencies and gives you a rate automatically? If your answer was no, stop right there, get Numi and then come back to testify. Numi is a beautiful calculator for Mac.
