Tools

I think that having a good knowledge of your tools makes you work better and quicker. In this way, you became more efficient.

I tend to use tools that are easy to use and that can be customized¹ to adapt to my needs. When searching for a new tool, I focus my attention on its simplicity².

These are the tools that I use daily.

Linux «

• st , terminal emulator; it is lightweight and easy to customize.
• bspwm , a tiling window manager that is is easy to customize and usable on with X window System. Used in conjunction with polybar, sxhkd and dunst.
• polybar , powerfull status bar which is easy to configure.
• sxhkd , an X daemon that reacts to input events by executing commands, enables to define keybindings. It is easy to configure.
• dunst , a highly configurable and lightweight notification daemon.

Mac «

• alacritty terminal emulator, easy to customize through a configuration file.
• skhd hotkey deamon, easy to configure keybindings through the configuration file.
• yabai window manager, easy to customize with its configuration file.

Windows «

I tend to avoid working on Windows machines and for this reason, I don’t use many tools that are specific for it.

The only one that I use is called Microsoft PowerToys , and I use it to swap the caps lock key with the esc key.

Other «

• zsh, easy to customize with interesting plugins and the possibility to use the vim keybindings.
• nvim or vim , are my default editors, it is a pleasure to write with them: you can move through your text quicker and smarter. Also these editor are present in almost all systems.
• git , greate version control system that is easy to use and easy to customize.
• tmux , terminal multiplexer, enables you to organize your work in the terminal. You can work with different sessions, each with a different purpose. And, if the terminal closes or the ssh connection drops, the sessions stay alive; enabling you to attach to it whenever you want. Also, you can install tmux in almost all systems.
• lf terminal file manager.
• bat , like cat but with syntax highlighting.
• mpv , cross-platform media-player. It is open source, lightweight, easy customize and to use.
• yt-dlp , a command line package that can download videos and, or, music from many websites, not only youtube as the name may suggest.
• ksnip , cross-platform screenshot tool that provides many annotation features for your screenshots.
• syncthing , a cross-platform program that anables you to share files with all your devices.
• keepass , open source, light-weight and easy-to-use password manager.
• zathura , a minimalist PDF and EPUB reader, it is possible to interact with the documents with the vim keys, it can also be configured with a configuration file.
• gimp , open source Image Manupulator that I often use during the meetings to better describe the different concepts.
• newsboat , an RSS feed reader for the terminal.