Subject: Software not painful to use Subject_short: painless software Topic: /misc/coolsw Archive: no Date: Nov 20 2006 Order: -9.5 inMenu: true ### General ### * *Operating System* : [Mac OS X][switch]: heaven, after the purgatory of Linux and the hell of Windows. * *Browser*: [Firefox][firefox]. On a Mac, [Camino][camino]. * *Email*: [GMail][gmail], "search, don't sort" really works. * *Text Editor*: [TextMate][textmate], you have to buy it, but it's worth every penny. There are rumours that it's been converting (recovering) Emacs users (addicts). Unfortunately, it's Mac only. An alternative is [jedit][jedit] (GPL, Java). ### Development ### * *Build system*: [cmake][cmake], throw the [autotools][autotools] away. * *Source code control system*: ditch CVS for [subversion][subversion]. * *Project management*: [Trac][trac] tracks everything. * *Scripting language*: [Ruby][ruby] is Japanese pragmatism (and has a [poignant][poignant] guide). Python, you say? Python is too academic and snob: $ python Python 2.4.1 (\#1, Jun 4 2005, 00:54:33) Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information. >>> exit 'Use Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit.' >>> quit 'Use Ctrl-D (i.e. EOF) to exit.' * *Java IDE*: [JBuilder][jbuilder] is great software and has a free version (IMHO better than Eclipse). Java is not a pain anymore since it gained [generics][java-generics] and got opensourced. * *Mark-up language*: HTML is so 2001, why don't you take at look at [Markdown][markdown]? [Look at the source of this page](data/misc_markdown.png). * *C++ libraries*: * [QT][qt] for GUIs. * [GSL][gsl] for math. * [Magick++][magick] for manipulating images. * [Cairo][cairo] for creating PDFs. * [Boost][boost] for just about everything else. ### Research ### * *Writing papers*: [LaTeX][latex] * *Writing papers & enjoying the process*: [LyX][lyx] * *Handsome figures in your papers*: [xfig][xfig] or, better, [jfig][jfig]. * *The occasional presentation with many graphical content*: [OpenOffice Impress][impress] (using the [OOOlatex plugin][ooolatex]); the alternative is PowerPoint with the [TexPoint][texpoint] plugin. * *Managing BibTeX*: [jabref][jabref]: multi-platform, for all your bibtex needs. * *IEEExplore and BibTeX*: convert citations using [BibConverter][bibconverter]. ### Cool websites ### * *Best site in the wwworld*: [Wikipedia][wikipedia] * [Mutopia][mutopia] for sheet music; [the Gutenberg Project][gutenberg] for books; [LiberLiber][liberliber] for books in italian. * *Blogs*: [Bloglines][bloglines] * *Sharing photos*: [flickr][flickr] exposes an API you can use. [firefox]: [gmail]: [bloglines]: [wikipedia]: [ruby]: [poignant]: [webgen]: [markdown]: [latex]: [lyx]: [impress]: [ooolatex]: [texpoint]: [jabref]: [camino]: [switch]: [textmate]: [cmake]: [xfig]: [jfig]: [subversion]: [jbuilder]: [flickr]: [myflickr]: [bibconverter]: [autotools]: [jedit]: [qt]: [gsl]: [magick]: [cairo]: [boost]: [markdown]: [trac]: [mutopia]: [liberliber]: [gutenberg]: [java-generics]: