My Tools of Trade

I saw this post by Mike Gunderloy where he tells us what cool software a Rails developer uses, so I decided to make a list of my own. I guess I can be called an amateur developer because I can't really have a job yet and I do it just for my personal enjoyment.

Hardware

I don't have much to say in this part. I own an Apple iMac ( a newer version came out this week you might want to give it a look ) and an ASUS F3Jc ( which, I guess, is kinda old ). I also got an Xbox 360 and a PSP Fat. Besides those I also own:

- Extra RAM for the iMac ( 4 GB ) and the laptop ( 2 GB )
- Primary external hard drive is a Prestige Portable Hard Drive 500GB from IOMEGA
- Secondary hard drive is a 320GB Portable Hard Drive from IOMEGA as well.
- Apple Wireless Keyboard. This beauty is my main keyboard, it's small, functional and beautiful. I can handle pretty much any type of keyboard but I really like this one.
- A4Tech X7 is my mouse. I have it for 2 years. It was bought when I was an hardcore gamer because it had a triple click feature.

Both HDD's were really cheap and they haven't failed me.

Software

The list is not in any kind of order. I just added the ones common with Mr. Gunderloy and then my own apps.

- Safari - The program I use most. I spend most of my time on the internet but when I'm doing some web programming ( rarely ) I use Firefox for debugging.
- TextMate - I never used an IDE very much so this is what I like, it never disappointed me.
- Eclipse - When I'm doing some heavy Java stuff I feel more comfortable in using Eclipse than any other IDE or editor.
- NewsFire - I read many, many blogs and this is my RSS reader of choice. I used to have Vienna installed as well but I prefer this one.
- Mail - This is my primary mail reader. It's not very good but I find it light and functional. It also handles lots of e-mails really well, I never had slowdowns or any kind of crash. Besides, it's built in.
- Terminal - Linux in OS X just like in fairy tales. What else can I ask for?
- MarsEdit - This is what I use when blogging. The Blogger interface is very, very ugly and not functional at all on Safari. It is also ugly but really functional.
- Navicat - I do a fair amount of database configuration and this is what I use.
- GitX - The only native OS X GUI for git I've found. It works but I mostly use the terminal.
- Pixelmator - I avoid Photoshop because I don't have time to learn it os this little program is where I spend most of my design time.
- Cyberduck - There are a lot of FTP clients for MAC, this is just one of them.
- Evernote - Where I drop most of my fixed notes. I guess I use it as a final destination for notes.
- Notational Velocity - Here is where the heavy note duty happens. I drop every bit of information I want to keep in here and organize it, if I think that the note will be useful later I send it to Evernote and give it nice formatting.
- Balsamiq Mockups - When I feel like doing mockups instead of just taking notes this is what I use.
- SQLite Manager - SQLite databases are a big deal these days. This GUI is not great but it works.
- Quicksilver - The most crucial app on my system. I use it to launch apps, move files, mail files, etc.
- Skype - For PC-to-PC voice communication.
- Adium - For MSN. MSN is the service we mostly use chatting in Portugal, I think it sucks :X
- LimeChat - For IRC. There are only a few IRC clients for MAC and this is my favourite.
- DropBox - What I use to host my files.
- Tinderbox - Yet another note taking application but this one is mostly for diagrams. It's SO UGLY but it works really, really well.
- VMWare Fusion - There are still some apps I miss from "gud ol" Windows like Visual Studio so I give the virtualization job to the VMWare folks.
- WhatPulse - This is one just for fun. I like to keep track of how many keys I press on some kind of project.
- Twitter - Not really a website but one of the websites I use most.