Technology I use on a daily basis, and why I like it.
Computing
Keyboard
Happy Hacking Keyboard Hybrid
It is a very minimal keyboard with no separate arrow keys or a numpad (which, as a programmer, I never have a need for), which makes it very symmetrical and reduces my hand movement. It has a Sun Type 3 arrangement, so the Ctrl key is already to the left of A, which is perfect for me as an Emacs and terminal user. The keys are slightly curved, are made of high quality PBT plastic, and have unique Topre switches, which are very pleasant to type on. I got the Hybrid model, because it offers Bluetooth connectivity with fast switching between 4 devices, and uses standard AA batteries.
Laptop
MacBook Pro 14" M3 Pro
The battery life is amazing, the performance is great, and the keyboard is very comfortable to type on. I have the 36GB RAM model, and it is more than enough for my needs. One of the most essential pieces of tech I have.
Head Mounted Display
Meta Quest Pro
It is a very cool piece of tech, and really amazing for being my first headsets that I genuinely wanted to use every day. What I like about it the most:
- Very clear and light pancake optics
- Extremely simple mechanism for taking off and putting back on
- Open design with optional light blocker, no face pressure
- Fantastic, fully self-tracked controllers that feel amazing (except for the hand straps)
- Generally quite polished software and regular updates
- Works amazingly well with PCVR wirelessly over Virtual Desktop app, as well as for work
- Special charging dock with pogo pins
Editor
VSCode, Zed
I used to use Emacs a lot for my projects, but I eventually switched to Visual Studio Code because of the better extension ecosystem. While Emacs is a powerful and customizable editor, I found that the extensions available for VSCode made it easier to work with modern JavaScript frameworks and libraries. Additionally, the tight integration of Github into the editor makes it a breeze to work with many projects. Zed is a pretty new editor built from the ground up, and its performance and UX is really fantastic. Only thing it currently lacks is a powerful Git client like the one available in VSCode.
Development tools
iTerm2, Dash, ChatGPT and more
Here are a number of tools I have collected over the years in no particular order that I have found of great value:
- iTerm2, still in my opinion the best terminal emulator available for macOS
- RapidAPI, a native REST client for Mac that supports HTTP and gRPC, as well as has advanced features like code generation
- Dash, a fantastic documentation viewer for all of your language and library needs, that integrates with editors too
- ChatGPT: still a great native client, and solves most of your problems