My software recommendations

Oct 27, 2023

Here's a list of some technologies that I like and recommend and aren't completely obvious (like git or firefox), in no particular order.

Before sending me hate mail, let me say that just because something isn't listed here doesn't mean I don't like it! (unless your hate mail is about my choice in text editors, in which case, send it)

Programming

Conan: comprehensively solves the C/C++ packaging problem.
CMake: it has its warts, but it's indispensible.
Waf: what to switch to once your CMakeLists start looking like real code... just make sure you read the manual
Sublime Text: best text/code editor on the planet. I treat Sublime instances like browser tabs, with many repos open at once for reference and code search.
Lite-XL: not as great as Sublime, but close, free, and open source.
Vim: my go-to when editing config files or SSH'ing into a server.
Haxe: an all around awesome language and tool.
Kha: has a very well-designed (and fun) graphics API.
Jupyter: I found it when studying AI, but use it now for exploring solutions to any hard problem.
Gitlab: So many features! (no Conan support though...) It's also open source and can be self-hosted for free.
Flatbuffers: awesome zero-copy serialization format with an included schema language and compiler

Operating systems and tools

Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite: "the year of the Linux desktop" will be powered by immutable OSes like this... mark my words!
GrapheneOS: runs Google Play services in a sandbox, so you still have access to the Play store while maintaining some controls over your privacy.
Podman: Honestly, I have no problems with Docker and only use this because Fedora/Centos switched to it by default... but it's one of my most-used tools so I can't not give it a recommendation.
Restic: well designed and easy tool for encrypted backups
NixOS: works surprisingly very similarly to Conan packaging, and offers an interesting alternative to containers. I haven't dived into writing custom packages for it, but have been using it for a while on a small server and love the peace of mind that comes with a fully declarative OS.
Windowmaker: 😎

Game development

Godot: the most polished and easy-to-use open source game engine
O3DE: much less polished, but also more powerful and flexible architecture. I wrote some articles about it!
Spine: excellent 2D animation software that can also be used for UIs and some special effects
Trenchbroom: 3D CSG-based level editor with very intuitive interface, great for prototyping!
RUBE: highly polished 2D physics body editor
Font Builder: simple open source Qt-based tool for building bitmap font atlases
Texture Packer: tool for efficiently packing 2D assets, sprite sheets, etc
Draffft: a simple game planner with a surprising amount of features

Other

Kagi: an awesome search engine with zero advertising or tracking garbage. Well worth the price!
Pushover: easy way to send notifications to your devices, very useful for automation tasks