What is your "best friend" as a programmer?

Question

What is the one "thing" (physical object, tool, software package, person, etc.) that is most indispensable to you as a programmer?

I will get the ball rolling by stating that I have long considered a whiteboard to be a programmer's best friend.

Answer 1

Google

Answer 2

It's my 13-inch MacBook that I carry with me everywhere I go

Answer 3

Coffee. .....

Answer 4

Regular Expressions. I have no idea what I would do if I didn't know them (since Google is no help here).

Answer 5

Google , my programming related books and recently Stackoverflow became my best buddy!

Answer 6

Visual Studio.

Answer 7

A good IDE with decent refactoring and debugging capabilities.

Answer 8

The yellow rubber ducky that sits next to my monitor

Answer 9

A good diff tool, like Beyond Compare

Answer 10

jQuery .. finally i can do magic on web pages

Oh and Firebug too .. of course..

Answer 11

Perl.

Even when I'm working in another language, I like to automate tasks, and I haven't bothered to learn all the intricacies of bash syntax to use a real shell script. So I turn to Perl, and it's always there for me. It lets me call out to shell commands when I need to, but still allows me to process variables like a real programming language.

It has tons of nice syntactic sugar, like regular expressions, that make some things so much easier (even if it's a little bit dense to read the first time). I use it for any moderately-complicated task that I need (or want) to automate, and since it was my first programming language, it's much more natural to me than using shell scripts.

Plus, I can usually get things done very quickly.

Who needs to update a Makefile every time you add an important new file to a rapidly growing project when you can just glob("*.c") to get a list of all your C files, no matter what you've added or taken out?

It has some of the most useful parts of shell syntax, but in a real, actual programming language.

Answer 12

A very close second for me is an IDE with good intellisense. There is no better starting point for understanding existing code than to type a dot :)

Answer 13

Stackoverflow and IRC chats any day . Google helps you find these appropriate places.

Answer 14

My keyboard. For without my keyboard, I am speechless.

Answer 15

Emacs.

I'm impressed with some of the magic that IDEs can do now but for pure text manipulation Emacs always come out on top.

And I'd be lying if I said I didn't like the fact that most people are scared of it. :-)

Answer 16

My peanut sized brain.

Answer 17

Caffeine, a debugger, and google.

Answer 18

Eclipse .^_^.

Cause it makes me as productive as it makes me unproductive. It is where I zip by some tasks in a jiffy without taking any of it`s procrastinatic capability "there gotta be a plugin that does that" and boom... where did that sunny friday afternoon go !!

thoug on the serious side

+1 for google +1 for rubber ducky (gotta get me a new one) and +1 for Stack overflow with much the same reasonign as eclipse though !

Answer 19

Visual Studio, Google, CodeProject.com, people smarter than myself (not too rare, sadly :P ) and recently StackOverflow.

Answer 20

Of course my notebook(both paper based and electronic circuits based)

Answer 21

Ergonomic keyboard and chair.

I don't care how good the software is, if I'm uncomfortable, I can't concentrate.

Answer 22

Eclipse, GVIM and visio. And now-a-days collabnet Subversion.

Answer 23

google, IDE with good intellisense and stackoverflow community

Answer 24

A good version control system.

Answer 25

GVIM.

The feature that I use most frequently is its default auto-completion and splitting the windows to view the source and the header file side by-side.

Answer 26

My headphones, to create a quiet place.

Answer 27

Total Commander is indispensable for all the file system stuff needed when programming (creating/browsing directory structures, copying, moving and deleting files, launching/opening/finding files)

Answer 28

My Visual Studio action figure :)

Some pic

Answer 29

IDE(vim)

version control system(Git)

Google

Answer 30

Source Control System

Answer 31

Redgate's .NET Reflector

Answer 32

A good text editor.

Answer 33

My Internet connection

This gives me all the goodies I need

• Google
• Reflector and other downloads
• Msdn
• Codeproject
• StackOverflow
• etc

Without it I'm helpless & useless.

(How did I do that in pre 1998?? Oh yes: the magic MSDN library on CD)

Answer 34

In no particular order:

• Visual Studio 2008
• Resharper
• VirtualBox
• Subversion
• TortoiseSVN and AnkSVN
• The Internet

And without a doubt my wife.

Answer 35

Notepad++

I wish the shortcuts and extra text editing functions were available in text fields across the whole operating system! In fact, they would make a great addition to IDEs such as Visual Studio, Eclipse and Netbeans.

Duplicate Current Line

Ctrl + D

Delete Current Line

Ctrl + L

Move Current Line Up

Ctrl + Shift + Up

Move Current Line Down

Ctrl + Shift + Down

Answer 36

my girlfriend.

because she doesn't know anything about programming, so i have every evening to explain to her what i did the day in a way she understands my work.

Answer 37

my laziness.

Answer 38

1. Google
2. Stackoverflow (a lot of times via Google)
3. Caffeine
4. the confession "Hello, my name is Norbert. I'm a programmer and I writer buggy code"

The last one keeps you with the feet on the ground... and write good code.

Answer 39

English is the best tool ever

Answer 40

The flying pig that hangs from a bit of fishing wire from the ceiling. Whenever someone comes in and asks something unreasonable, you just turn it on and it starts flapping around in a circle. :-)

Answer 41

My dog.

I take her for a walk when I need to clear my head, or get a fresh view on things. She takes me for a walk when I've been sitting too long in front of the computer.

Answer 42

Colleagues because talking with them always gives me a chance at better understanding what I'm doing.

Answer 43

Microsoft Trackball Optical Mouse

WHY WHY WHY did they cease manufacturing them?

I bought 4 when they started to get scarce as I cannot take using a regular mouse for more than an hour or two before getting aches in my hand...and I have several machines.

Simply couldn't work without one.

Answer 44

vim, my vim configuration file, google, stackoverflow, my laptop and all my previous code. You cannot imagine how many times you have to solve the same problem again and again.

Answer 45

Supportive Wife

Answer 46

Source control

Answer 47

Stackoverflow, to remind me why I do what I do

Answer 48

Time, Google and a good debugger

Answer 49

When I used to write code C on Linux, I lived in the man pages. Both of LIBC and system call documentation are pretty solid.

Answer 50

My self.

For always trying to help by judging my code.

Answer 51

The solid door to my office.

Answer 52

StackOverflow

I like making other people do my thinking for me.

Answer 53

A second monitor.

Really, I can't stress how useful it is to be able to google for help or read documentation on one screen while simultaneously being able to see your code on the other.

Answer 54

Google Talk.. as when I am fed up with some cranky code/logic that's not coming my way, i just talk to my frnds online and get relaxed and start again..

earphones too, just to keep away the sound of that bothering discussions of colleagues away from my ears...

Answer 55

The nearby couch where I can stretch out and think.

Answer 56

The obvious answer is the system on which you develop, for without it, there would be no development.

Answer 57

Polymorphic inheritance.

Answer 58

My "best friends" as a programmer

• Safari books online for quick reference books
• Google
• Brain (try coding without it)
• As stated in my previous comments, Notepad++ as a paste bin for later use and as a nice editor.

Would also like a second monitor, but my computer at work can't take two, and they don't want to invest in a video adapter (go figure out why).

Answer 59

coffee, VS, google

Answer 60

The Internet

Without internet getting all my IDE's, libraries, documentation, help, ideas etc. would be major pain and often impossible.

The rest of my setup would be:

• Good IDE
• Second screen
• Comfortable chair and desk
• My Apple keyboard (regardless of operating system)
• Good speakers/headphones with the right music
• Coffee

Answer 61

valgrind

Answer 62

SLIME.

The idea of restarting the process just to recompile some code seems downright archaic now. Or having to recreate a situation in my program just because an exception got raised.

Answer 63

Stackoverflow, others who will answer my questions here within minutes - go on!! and lately firebug with yslow

Answer 64

Task tracking system - I use OnTime.

Answer 65

A person, who you could ask a question whenever you have a problem and nothing else helps.

Answer 66

In no particular order:

• Google
• Visual Studio
• My books (or Amazon when missing one)
• Stackoverflow is getting more useful everyday (but not for extremely boring and mind numbing office programming job...)

Answer 67

Twin 23" widescreen LCD monitors. Nothing, but nothing can substitute for screen real estate.

Answer 68

My programming playlist on my ipod.

Answer 69

Top Gear. Every time I can't focus, I throw an old episode in the background, and for some reason it provides just enough distraction/entertainment to occupy that bit of my mind that is stopping me from coding.

Answer 70

CTRL-C, CTRL-V :-)

Answer 71

Google C++ Mocking Framework.

Unit testing is no fun without it.

Answer 72

The internet

Answer 73

1)IDE - VS2008

2)web search - Google

3)noteKeeping - Evernote

4)backup,sync - BeyondCompare

5)textsearch - Agent Ransack

6)notepad2

Answer 74

code completion

Answer 75

At the risk of being a suck up, as of the last month, Stack Overflow.

Answer 76

Problems to solve!

Answer 77

Syntax Highlighting / Coloring

Good syntax highlighting can speed up the learning of a language, visually filter content, and also gives code a kind of beauty.

Answer 78

Ctrl + Z.

Dear GOD. CTRL + Z! CTRL + Z! CTRL + Z!

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Answer 79

Resharper

Answer 80

Backspace, the key that I type the most.

Answer 81

juggling balls for thinking... and a chair for when compiling.

Answer 82

intellisense

Answer 83

for , next and repeat , until loops are my favourite...

Answer 84

LINQPad :D

Answer 85

The compile error, since I am dyslectic.

Answer 86

I have to second the whiteboard. I realised when I saw this Dilbert cartoon how much I've come to rely on drawing on a whiteboard as a supplement to the essential hand-waving that characterizes the design discussions we have on our team.

Answer 87

That supercomputer inside my head...

It is: Faster, more powerful and more reliable than any silicone based computer or, any array of silicone based computers.

Prove It? Vast neural network with 200 trillion trillion nodes. Mutiliple (in the thousands at least) parallel processes in real time. Superior image recognition. Superior cognitive ability. Superior speech recognition (English, Basic, Sql, C++, C#, VB and some assembler). Excellent motor controller. Multiple years of service (50+). Low maintenance. It does require downtime every day and a subsequent re-boot in the morning. Analog design (superior to digital, we just never figured out how to do it in silicone).

Answer 88

Alt + Tab

Window + D

Window + R

Google

Answer 89

The floor. I like to do push-ups throughout the day to keep my blood flowing.

Answer 90

Visual Studio

QFT

Answer 91

All the childs friend

www.google.com

Answer 92

stackoverflow.com

Answer 93

MSN Messenger - Boy people must hate me by now :D

-- ofc, when that doesn't help Ill go seach SO, then google, and if I still haven't found my answer, Ill ask on SO :)

Answer 94

My non-programming partner for giving me something other than work to talk about when I get home. (damn I'm single, better get back in the partner game).

Answer 95

Redgate SQL Compare. Sort of DiffMerge for MS SQL databases

Answer 96

System.out.println (or whatever the print statement in your language of choice)

Answer 97

Again, whiteboard.

But here's the thing... I work from home. And I rent. So every time we have a property inspection (about once every 3 months) I have to take it down, plug up the holes with Spackling paste, and then very carefully mix various shades of tester paint to decieve the property inspector in to being none the wiser. Muhaha!

So worth it.

Answer 98

Redbull in non-stop coding nights, and Coffee in regular days ;)

Answer 99

Internet is probably easily one of the best tool though it can be a double-edged sword as you shouldn't refer to it for every problem. Sleep (bed?) is also pretty useful or any time (?) away from the computer really helps in seeing a new perspective.

Answer 100

flat assembler, an Open source assembly language compiler.

Answer 101

Shortcuts on my Keyboard
Don't use the mouse --> makes you slow :-)

in addition to Carl Vondrick (Keyboard)

Answer 102

KomodoEdit
Google
VirtuaWin (virtual desktop, just like in Linux)

Answer 103

Unlocker. Why Windows chooses to lock random files I will never understand. Nor do I need to care anymore with Unlocker.

Answer 104

Vim

For shear text processing it cant' be beat. If only I could vim style modal editing with an IDE.

Perl

Because automating repetitive tasks is something all programmers have to do.

Google

Because for 99.9% of your problems someone else has already experienced it and has useful advice.

Answer 105

Ctrl + Space

Autocomplete FTW.

Answer 106

A notepad and pen. Before coding any non-trivial part of a project I tend to write down my thoughts on the particular pros and cons of any solutions that come to mind.

I just find it easier than typing it out in a project management app or something similar.

Answer 107

A bathroom with a fan

Answer 108

Guess I'm the first one to mention REFLECTOR :-)

Answer 109

Interesting Blogs(CodingHorror...) , WIKI , Google and Visual Studio

Answer 110

Overtime salary

Answer 111

Silence is wat i need.

Answer 112

Soma.fm - Groove salad channel

Wonderful distraction free music to code by.

Answer 113

The technical support people.

They do most (and most times all) of the hand-holding with the customers so that I can develop software instead of researching how "it's just not working" for some dumb reason like they haven't turned thir computer on.

Answer 114

Being able to type fast and knowing crap-loads of keyboard shortcuts.

Answer 115

O'Reilly Safari

Answer 116

Python. Even if I'm working on something in C, I always try
how things will work in Python, and then build from there.

Answer 117

a sense of perspective

Answer 118

IDE (i'm not picky... :P) + Goggle + confy keyboard and I'm ready to go! :D

Answer 119

By all means its Electricity,

Its a computers best friend and without it computers won't exist and no computer means no programmer.

Answer 120

Well, I've seen an answer stating that a second screen is a programmer.

In fact, I'm currently using four 1920*1080 24" displays. That cost me under $1000, and I guess the screens repay for themselves every other week.

I think extra-screens are by far the most effective use for your money if you want to improve your productivity.

At my previous job position, I insisted that every programmer should have at least 3 screens if he wants to, and I eventually got my point accepted by the management.

Answer 121

1. Visual Studio
2. Regionerate
3. GhostDoc
4. Reflector
5. FireBug
6. The Proxomitron

Answer 122

Whiteboard, yes. But back at my desk there's the following:

• Text searching: good old command-line grep often comes in handy when searching files my IDE won't search.

• Google: It's hard to imagine the time when we didn't have Google for seaching the body of knowledge and Q&A out there (but I do remember back, in the mists of time...). It's not indispensable but it's a magic wand from time to time. And it's how I found Stackoverflow. (And solved a problem I was having with my application icon.)

• Outlook Folders: More than most people I know, my .PST file in Outlook is a hierarchical archive of ever-accumulating emails. Keeping this archive organised and using the Advanced Find are of daily use to me.

• Miscellaneous: a couple of large monitors on my desk, a well-run source control tool and a consistent versioning scheme, IDE with intellisense, the Alt-TAB in Windows, and mstsc (Terminal Services) are a few others...

Thanks for the opportunity to think of the things I sometimes take for granted :-)

Answer 123

My Teddy Bear.

If ever I have a problem I can't solve, I go and explain it to the teddy bear. 90% of the time, by the time I've explained the problem to the bear, I have found the solution.

If that does'nt work, I resort to talking to my colleagues. Talking to the bear first though, saves loads of their time!

Answer 124

My most important three tools for programming:

1. Pen
2. Paper
3. My mouth

Pen & paper will always kick ass. No software will replace scribbled notes on an innocent piece of paper. It's fast, cheap, easy and you can use it as a valve to your aggressions.

To communicate is highly important. I like emails and bug tracking software. But there is an enormous problem: It's fixed. If you write one false word in an email, you're doomed. In a normal conversation, you can discuss and clarify your opinion.
The combinated use of email (for appointments etc) and normal conversation is perfect.

Answer 125

Visual studio + Resharper

Answer 126

My copy of "The Mythical Man Month" whenever a manager starts to get an idea

Answer 127

Dojo and firebug for webdev and STL/Loki-lib for C++.
Also google and wiki know just about everything :D

Answer 128

Resharper. Makes my coding time so much more productive.

Answer 129

Note, Pen, Mind, and Google.

Answer 130

White erase board.

Answer 131

ctrl + C and Ctrl + V keeps me going forward :)

Answer 132

A plain old text editor and a good knowledge of unix commands. I can't tell you how many times I've been saved by something like Emacs "find-grep" or the ability to run a simple search and replace with a command like:

find . -name "*.xml" -type f | xargs perl -pi.bak -e "s/TEST/BLAH/g"

Despite the proliferation of capable IDEs (which I use every single day) like Eclipse and Visual Studio, there is something to be said for introducing every programmer to the simple text manipulation tools that have served us well for a few decades. At the core of what we do: text manipulation, and the programmer that is best friends with his or her text editor (vi or emacs) is a programmer that can do just about anything.

Answer 133

Fiddler followed by Firebug

Answer 134

A large supply of chilled water, healthy and helps force you take breaks.

Answer 135

Probably a walk around the block. There's nothing better when I start thrashing, especially during crunch times.

Answer 136

OpenGrok found here: http://opensolaris.org/os/project/opengrok/

I set up an OpenGrok server a few months ago hosting the rather large code-base I work with. Symbol and definition look-up are damn fast and being able to click through function calls helps to get my head around unfamiliar code quickly.

Answer 137

goole google google... It has everything a programer need :)

Answer 138

I'd say the most important thing for me is Google - being able to lookup API's and find other peoples solutiones to problems I'm having is by far the most productive part of my toolchain.

After that, I'd say a good IDE is important (I use KDevelop).

Finally I think a good SCM tool such as Git or Mercurial is a lifesaver.

Answer 139

Textmate definitely.

Answer 140

Digitally Imported of course ;p

Answer 141

a calm and quiet working environment :)

Answer 142

One one only... Google

Answer 143

Paper and pen. I fix most of my coding problems (as opposed to implementation tedium) while on the bus, away from any computer larger than my phone.

Backups, and by extension version control. The freedom to revert has made me a lot less cautious about trying new ideas.

Google code search. Rather than slogging through the source for something common-but-undocumented, I can just find out how everyone else is using it. This often gets me the jist of its style much faster, after which figuring out the details is easier.

Answer 144

LOGIC... LOGIC .... LOGIC all the way To find things you need logic and to use what you found you need logic so it is definitely logic friends... it is Logic. Regards, Andy

Answer 145

Your mind

Answer 146

My punching bag.

Answer 147

stackoverflow

Answer 148

The swedish bikini team that walks through or office once every hour to wake us from our programming stupor.

Answer 149

Google - All i need

Answer 150

My Pair at PairProgramming sessions.

Answer 151

Mac, TextMate and Google! It's the key for success ;)

Answer 152

My father, he introduced me to programming, if not I would never put my hand on that thing.

• Google and forums (like SOF) are my best friends to develop code
• Books and Videos are the best friends to learn
• Blogs and articles help me brush my skills

Answer 153

Visual studio with MSDN

Answer 154

Visual Studio and Resharper

Answer 155

The . key -- Intellisense is your friend.

Answer 156

cygwin

I need those Unix-style tools to be productive on Windows even with IDEA as my IDE.

Answer 157

My brain is the best friend I have.

Answer 158

Maybe not best - but most recent "cool" one:

www.linqpad.net

Supports both C# and VB

Lets you enter linq code directly against a live database - great for testing/learning.

Also has some great snippets and built in leasons.

I learned quite a bit just from playing around with it several months back.

Answer 159

A sign by my desk that reads "If headphones are on, send an email".

(and below that "Except if the fire alarm is going off", because I can't hear it with my headphones on)

Answer 160

Soda to keep me awake and Beer to keep me calm.

Answer 161

www.di.fm --> Trance channel. Keeps me focusing and in a good mood

Answer 162

A door I can close and a phone with a ringer-off switch.

Answer 163

• Open Source
• Google
• Caffeine

Answer 164

Code auto-formatting.
They're absolutely fabulous in Netbeans and Visual Studio. When your code formatting is just a little out and your braces don't line up it becomes agony to try and make sense of something that should read as quickly as an English sentence.

Align my code for me and I'm a happy guy!

Answer 165

my computer and google

Answer 166

• Google
• StackOverflow
• Visibone

Answer 167

Apache Chainsaw, as a log viewer, but you should run it with the extra switches to allocate more memory than the default (say, -Xms32m -Xmx1024m)

Answer 168

Cigar and tea.

Answer 169

Araxis Merge... it's by far the best diff tool available. Indispensable when merging code, comparing my own changes and debugging.

Answer 170

Books by Thomas Erl, Martin Fowler, and Eric Evans...

I would be totally lost without their excellent insight and approach to our most common and difficult problems.

Microsoft...

For creating an amazing computing environment and development ecosystem that has provided me with the career I have today...without them....well, not many of us would be here today, I figure.

Answer 171

Here are the tools I can't live without

1. Textmate
2. Firebug
3. CSS Edit
4. git
5. Terminal
6. Google

Answer 172

stackoverflow.com

Answer 173

G'day,

I totally, Totally, TOTALLY, TOTALLY (is there a pattern here?) agree with having

1. a whiteboard,
2. a quiet space, and
3. the project time allocated

to:

• discuss, and
• argue, and
• negotiate, and
• postulate, and
• evaluate, and
• ...

So that, in the end, you can have someone senior, e.g. an architect or senior developer, with relevant experience, who was also a party to the discussions, just say

"Bugger it!" This, is what we'll do!

But, seriously, having that space to:

• discuss
• and write
• and talk
• and digest

is a big jump on other companies who just expect you to "discuss these things using email or ICM"

Just my AUD0.02!

HTH

cheers,

Answer 174

CTRL-C CTRL-V

CRTL-Y CRTL-K

Answer 175

My fingers. I don't know what I'd do without them :)

Answer 176

XM Real Jazz playing on my PC. The only music I can code to without getting disctracted.

Answer 177

Trance music is almost an absolute must, and a Ti-83+ close.

Answer 178

Divine Intervention (Google), vim, rxvt, zsh, gcc, gdb and valgrind :)

Answer 179

Notepad++ , haven't had a development machine without it since I first downloaded it years ago.

Answer 180

Game and music

Answer 181

A bottle of beer.

Answer 182

EXECUTOR

This is a multi purpose launcher and a more advanced and customizable version of windows run. The program originated as I was sick of spending too much time searching for programs through my ever growing windows start-menu, and also I missed a tool that could ease and optimize my daily work flow.

KEYNOTE

Tree structured note program.

Answer 183

A good VPN connection or other remote access tool. Knowing that I can get to my stuff and be productive whenever and whereever I need to - home, office, the company's other office across town, Panera, when I'm waiting for my car to get serviced - is invaluable.

Answer 184

TextPad.

Answer 185

Emacs!!! :)

Answer 186

Firebug, Aptana, Netbeans, Eclipse and ArgoUML are my best friends

Answer 187

Coca Cola

I must finish off about 7 cans a day

Answer 188

Notepad++

The only thing I haven't done with it is compile code.

Answer 189

Just a Terminal:

1. Windows: DOS Shell with the unix command in my path
2. Linux and Mac: The Terminal

Answer 190

Pink Floyd's progressive music :)

Answer 191

Caffeine. It's no fun when you're the sober observer.

Answer 192

Coffee and green tea.