The software industry is growing; every day, more people are starting their journey as software developers. Whether you’re a novice or an experienced programmer, it’s necessary to keep up with software trends and have the right tools at hand to execute day-to-day tasks as efficiently as possible.
The ability to concentrate while coding is paramount for developers. We speak from experience. That’s why we present the best apps to improve developers’ productivity.
Contents
What are the needs of a full-stack developer?
To develop their work efficiently, in addition to knowing how to program and apply an analytical and logical approach to problem-solving, full-stack developers need:
- Attention to detail. Applications that automatically generate mechanical processes in programming will give the worker more time to review their work and code details.
- Work as a team. Teleworking is common in this position, so a complete application that allows effective communication between teams is essential.
- Concentrate for long periods. Programming is a job that requires many hours, and in all of them, the developer must concentrate because the slightest error can mean a long time to identify the bug and fix it.
- Manage time efficiently. In one day, there is not enough time to do everything. That is why you need an application to segment notifications according to their importance and concentrate on the most critical tasks.
- Keep accurate records of the work done. It is common not to write down what time you start and finish a task with the hustle and bustle of everyday life. A simple application, such as a stopwatch will make this process much more manageable.
- Keep up to date with the evolution of programming languages and new computer tools.
Below, you will find a list of the best 5 apps that meet these developers’ needs. They will make your daily life easier and your work more efficient.
Our developers suggest these five apps as the best. Although there are many more, and each programmer must adjust to their needs, our team finds them very helpful in their work.
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code is a lightweight and powerful source code editor. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux and runs directly on your desktop. It has integrated support for JavaScript, TypeScript, and Node.js.
The edit-build-debug cycle is exceptionally smooth and combines the simplicity of a source code editor with powerful developer tools, such as IntelliSense code completion and debugging.
Visual Studio Code’s configuration is adaptable and scalable to your development needs. It allows you to configure the required toolset and customize the tool to the way you work.
Extensions
Visual Studio Code has a varied ecosystem of extensions. These allow the user to enable different languages, themes, debuggers, commands, and many more features, such as combining VS Code keyboard shortcuts to match another editor.
Learning material
You will find many resources on its website to get the most out of the Visual Studio Code tool. There are videos and introductory material to the primary user interface (commands and functions of the editor).
As for resources for more advanced developers, there are suggestions from other developers shared in its forum, tutorials to quickly run and debug a Node.js web application, and material to learn how to write a VS Code extension.
IT-Tools
It-Tools is a handy tool for developers and IT workers. The application encompasses collections of different free online tools with a great UX. It comprises means for crypto, converters, web, images, development, mathematics, measurement, and text.
Crypto
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for the crypto theme, you will find the following:
- Token generator: allows you to generate a random string with the characters of your choice, numbers, symbols, and/or letters, both lowercase and uppercase.
- Hash text: creates a text string using the function you need. MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA224, SHA512, SHA384, SHA3 or RIPEMD160 are available as options.
- Bcript: compares the hashed string using a password hashing function based on the Blowfish cipher.
- UUID v4 generator: generates a universally unique identifier. The number of possible UUIDs is 16 ^ 32, i.e., approximately 3.4×10 ^ 38.
- Encrypt and decrypt text: uses cryptographic algorithms such as AES, TripleDES, Rabbit, or RC4 to encrypt and decrypt text.
- BIP39 passphrase generator: Generates the BIP39 passphrase from a random or existing mnemonic or obtains the passphrase mnemonic.
- Hmac generator: Calculate an HMAC-based message authentication code using a secret key and hash function of your choice.
Converters
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for converters, you will find the following modalities:
- Date and time converter: convert date and time into different formats.
- Integer base converter: generates random port numbers.
- Roman numeral converter: converts Arabic numerals to Roman numerals and vice-versa.
- Base64 string encoder/decoder: encodes and decodes the string into its base64 representation.
- Base64 file converter: converts strings, files, or images into their base64 representation.
- Colour converter: converts color between different formats such as HEX or HSL.
- Case converter: allows you to change the case of a string and choose between different formats.
Web
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for the web theme, you will find the following modalities:
- Encode/decode URL formatted strings: allows you to encode the percentage encoding format or decode from it.
- Escape HTML entities: allows you to replace <,>, &, ” and ‘ with your HTML version.
- Url parser: allows you to get all parts of a URL string.
- Device information: gets information about your current device.
- Primary auth generator: A username and password generate a basic authentication header in base64.
- Open graph meta generator: Generates open-graph and socials HTML meta tags for a website.
- OTP code generator: generates and validates a time-based one-time password for multi-factor authentication.
Images
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for images, you will find the following modalities:
- QR Code generator: generates and downloads a QR associated with a URL or text. It also allows you to customize the background and foreground colors.
- SVG placeholder generator: generates SVG images to be used as placeholders.
Development
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for the development theme, you will find the following modalities:
- Git cheatsheet: this tool offers tricks and shortcuts for quick access to Git commands, a decentralized version management software.
- Random port generator: generates random port numbers out of the range 0-1023.
- Crontab generator: validate and generate the crontab and get a readable description of the cron schedule.
- JSON prettify and format: prettify your JSON string to a readable format.
- SQL prettify and format: format and prettify your queries in various SQL dialects online.
Mathematics
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for mathematics, you will find the following:
- Math evaluator: evaluates mathematical expressions with functions such as sqrt, cos, sin, or abs.
- ETA calculator: allows you to know the approximate time of completion of a task.
Measurement
You will find the stopwatch option among the tools offered by IT Tools for measurement.
Text
Among the tools offered by IT-Tools for the text theme, you will find the following options:
- Lorem ipsum generator: this text replacement allows you to display the visual form of a document without relying on meaningful content.
- Text statistics: obtain information about a text, such as the number of characters, the number of words, or its size.
GitHub Notifications
GitHub is a web-based hosting service for software development and version control using Git. This tool offers Git’s distributed version control, access control, bug tracking, software feature requests, task management, continuous integration, and wikis for each project.
However, we want to highlight GitHub notifications, a dashboard the GitHub application provides. Through a subscription, you can receive constant updates about specific activities you have already subscribed to on GitHub.
You can choose different notifications, including:
- A conversation about a specific issue report, pull request, or gist.
- All activities in a repository or team discussion.
- CI activities, such as the status of workflows in repositories configured with GitHub Actions.
- Repository issues pull requests, releases, security alerts, or discussions (if enabled).
- Automatically follow all repositories to which you have to write access, except for their forks. To see any other repository you have manual access to, just click the Watch button.
If at any time you are not interested in one or more conversations, you can choose to unsubscribe, stop following, or customize the types of notifications you want to receive.
Slack
Slack is a web communication application designed especially for businesses. It keeps your team connected and replaces email by being faster, safer, and more efficient.
Communication is organized in channels that are easy to create and join. Channel communication allows you to manage project teams so employees are not overwhelmed with information that is not relevant to them. It also allows you to create a common channel for the whole company so that all staff can be kept up to date.
The Slack Connect app also allows you to collaborate with teams in other companies in the same way that you communicate with your employees and colleagues through Slack.
The app’s messaging can be on an individual or team level, while a message can be sent instantly or on a scheduled basis. It allows you to connect with team members wherever they are, so if you have two or more offices, Slack is a way for them to stay connected and work as a team.
Sometimes written communication is tedious and insufficient for reporting on a task or new project. For this reason, the app allows your team to meet in video calls or send audio messages.
In terms of security, Slack encrypts data at rest and in transit for all users and is additionally protected with tools such as Slack’s EKM, audit logs, and integrations with best-of-breed PPDs.
Finally, Slack allows you to add integrations with the daily tools necessary for your teams, such as Google Drive, Zappier, Miro, or Google Calendar.
MusicForProggraming()
Although this application does not solve programmatic tasks, it is a good option for maintaining a high level of concentration for a long time, which is one of the basic needs of full-stack developers. The ability to concentrate is an essential quality of any programmer.
The MusicForProgramming() application aims to help maintain a state of high concentration over a long period, thus assisting programmers in their day-to-day work.
Over the years, through trial and error, they have compiled hundreds of hours of music specially designed for programming. Their music list contains sound elements of drones, noise, arpeggios, or arrhythmic textures. Music with these kinds of features can help provide enough of a cognitive load to engage certain parts of the brain that might otherwise be distracted.
How to include these applications in Rambox
Rambox allows you to unify as many applications as you want in one place, making it the perfect tool to improve productivity when working with multiple applications.
If you want to add any of these applications to your work toolbox to improve your concentration and productivity when programming with Rambox, you only have to follow three simple steps:
- Click on the + icon in your applications panel.
- Search for the name of the application you want to install.
- Click on the “+ add” button to add the application to your applications panel.
If the application you are looking for does not appear in the search results, click on “add a custom app”.
Then enter the website URL you want to add and click the “+ add” button.
That’s it! You now have the best apps for developers in one place.
If you are overwhelmed by the number of applications you have to work with, and can’t optimize your time and resources, try Rambox for free. All you have to do is download the program, configure it to your liking and start enjoying its functionalities. No cards, no cheating, it’s that simple!
