Ultimate Rails developer & power user tools for Mac (2011 edition)

[kipsfi]

This doesn't really seem to be an "Ultimate developer & power user tool" list. It seems to be more of a "this is what I use".

According to you, your ultimate setup for Rails development includes a machine that loads the Rails stack slowly (!), a 24-inch monitor (while you say you'd love a 27-inch), and headphones that sound "ok".

You have an interesting definition of "ultimate".

[masnick]

The title is riffing off of the other two posts I mentioned at the top of my post.

Regardless, all of these lists are personal opinion and limited by resources and current technology. I prefer portability over speed, for example.

[tptacek]

If you're an Emacs person, let me plug 'magit' real quick --- it turns out, a near-optimal git UI fits nicely into Emacs UX/UI idiom. One of those rare things that doesn't just nicely integrate Emacs and some-random-tool, but actually makes Emacs and the tool better in the process.

Wouldn't even consider a standalone OSX Git client, or, for that matter, using git on the commandline anymore. Magit is just so much better.

[ericb]

If you have a "knot" type pain in your shoulder blade area on the same side of your body as your mouse hand, I cannot strongly recommend a track ball mouse like this enough:

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-det...;

I had a continual knot and painful spot in my shoulder blade from age 16 (when I started using a computer regularly) until age 35 when I tried the trackball mouse. Within a month or so of switching, the achey spot was entirely gone. I started a new job and used their mouse, and the pain came back. I brought in my mouse and it went away. Also, trackballs are faster once you get used to them.

[hopeless]

Seconded. I've used that model and its predecessor for about 10yrs. Because my forearm and wrist remain stationary, I found I don't get any RSI like pains and I don't rub my wrist off the edge of the desk which was irritating the metal plates in my arm.

[argarg]

Same problem, same solution here. The magic mouse is the worse I used for my wrist. After 2-3 month I had regular pain in the wrist. Brought that same mouse you linked to I had at home and it disappeared a couple days after.

[sandropadin]

Great list. I'd like to mention I use Tower app for a Git GUI. I especially like that it shows a diff right as you're looking at changes and lets you stage chunks of code which I find very helpful.

[masnick]

Thanks!

I've actually tried Tower but I prefer the simplicity of Gitbox's UI.

If you like Tower, you should check out SourceTree (http://www.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/overview). It's free from the Bitbucket people.

[ridruejo]

If you are doing PHP or Ruby development on Mac you may be interested in BitNami stacks http://bitnami.org/stacks (disclaimer I am one of the BitNami developers) They allow you to have local, self-contained, pre-configured development and test environments for Rails, PHP, WordPress, Drupal, etc.

[danneu]

Since I spend most of my time in Vim, I moved from Chrome to Firefox just for Pentadactyl which brings Vim bindings to Firefox, and it's much more powerful than similar Chrome add-ons. Tabbing between Vim and Firefox, sharing keybindings, and never touching the mouse have boosted my productivity tremendously.

You should see how many more HN articles I can read per hour.

I'd add Guake (or whatever the Mac equiv is). Ctrl-Spacing a universal, auto-focusing, half-screen terminal window at any time is a great tool. Right now, I have my whole Tmux/Vim/RailsServer/irssi/ssh command center in the Guake terminal that can be toggled whenever. Alt-tabbing is unmanageable.

[ottbot]

On a mac, the a quake like drop down terminal (or as a prefer, non animated full screen) can be had with TotalTerminal, previously called Visor, but now without SIMBL, or iTerm2. I find absolutely indispensable!

[jonnii]

There's a chrome extension called Vimium which does the same thing.

[rafaqueque]

First of all, nice read.

I'm a PHP developer and I work everyday on a Mac environment and I was wondering if there is any chance for you to write an article like "Ultimate PHP developer & power user tools"?

[masnick]

Thanks. Pretty much all the tools I listed should work for PHP as well.

[dasil003]

Sparrow more efficient than the native Gmail interface? Either they added a lot more command keys and UI elements (list-view cursor) or you haven't yet mastered the web UI.

[masnick]

I think this depends on how you use gmail. I mostly read, reply, and archive. Sparrow is really good for this, but not very good at say labeling or search.

[jfb]

It also supports IMAP, which is key for those of us who like the GMail interface well enough but loathe Google.

[alwillis]

And thanks for mentioning Greplin (https://www.greplin.com) —hadnt heard about it, but already loving it.

[jcorbly]

Just got an external monitor today to use with my MacBook snd ran into ergonomic considerations.

I like the pic of the monitor and laptop in stacked configuration. Gonna try that with mine, but I wonder if I'll get tired of moving my head upp and down. I might also put the MacBook side-by-side with the monitor, keeping that at desk level.

[alwillis]

Nice write-up. I would just add iTerm2 (http://www.iterm2.com/), which has made using the command line all day a much nicer experience even after all of the improvements in Lion's Terminal app.

[vishnumenon]

Like Rubinius, I also use RubyRegexpMachine (Mac Only, http://rubyregexp.sourceforge.net/) for regular expressions. Its pretty cool, you can describe expressions in english.

[odilontalk]

Which font are you using on your terminal ?

[namidark]

Another Amazon link bait post! -.-

[masnick]

There are no affiliate links in my post. Check before you accuse/troll.