What's in my Tool Stack for 2017?

2017-01-27

After some planning and testing, I’ve come up with a small list of applications that will compose my tool stack for the rest of the year. I think listing these applications down will help me commit to learning them deeply as I do my work. For each tool, I include a short rationale, along with other tools I also highly considered.

Text editor

Visual Studio Code Availability: Cross-platform Cost: Free

• Often confused with Visual Studio, Visual Studio Code (or VS Code) is a cross between a text editor and an IDE. In terms of functionality, it bears close resemblance to Sublime Text and Atom.
• Like Sublime Text and Atom, VS Code has a pretty interface capable of both linting and auto-complete. Through a plethora of plugins, each of these editors support a wide range of languages from Python to Swift. A wide range of options and features are supported, including easy configuration and console integration.
• Unlike Sublime Text and Atom, VS Code comes out of the box with Git integration and a JavaScript debugger. A robust Python debugger can be downloaded as an extension as well. Where VS Code pales in comparison to Sublime Text is in performance, particularly for very large files. Regardless, I find VS Code’s performance satisfactory for my use.
• I intend to use VS Code mostly as a simple text editor and plan to leave heavier work to the full IDEs in this list. But for those times that I want to work with less IDE magic, it is nice to have such a robust set of features available.
• I found it difficult to decide between Sublime Text and VS Code. In the end, I decided to take the tool that is open-source and free. Sublime Text (USD 70) has an unlimited trial, but as a software developer, I can’t help but feel like I’m stealing if I use the trial for an extended period of time.

C#

Visual Studio with ReSharper Availability: Windows Cost of Visual Studio: Free Cost of ReSharper: Part of JetBrains bundle for USD 24.90/month

• C#, along with .NET, is still my favourite language, and I have no reservations in saying Visual Studio is the best C# IDE out there. Choosing Visual Studio was a very easy decision. In terms of cost, Visual Studio Community Edition is free — I’ll be using this for personal projects. At work, I have access to a Visual Studio Professional license.
• ReSharper is an extension by JetBrains that helps improve programming speed and code quality by automating trivial tasks and providing code analysis and helper components. Although Visual Studio already has impeccable auto-complete and refactoring tools, ReSharper is meant in part to help developers recognize and deal with suboptimal coding practices.
• ReSharper comes bundled with my monthly subscription to the JetBrains products pack, along with PyCharm and WebStorm.

Python

PyCharm Availability: Cross-platform Cost: Part of JetBrains bundle for USD 24.90/month

• In 2017, I intend to use Python more intensively in two specific ways: web development and machine learning. I will continue to explore libraries/packages like Django and Anaconda.
• PyCharm is recognized by many as the best Python IDE, and I plan to leverage its robust feature set to help me do some cool things this year. Aside from the standard auto-complete and code linting, PyCharm offers a rich debugger, VCS integration, and built-in support for many popular Python libraries.
• PyCharm comes bundled with my monthly subscription to the JetBrains products pack, along with ReSharper and WebStorm.

JavaScript

WebStorm Availability: Cross-platform Cost: Part of JetBrains bundle for USD 24.90/month

• The native language of the web, JavaScript, has also grown to be one of the most versatile. With frameworks like Angular, Express, and Node, it is possible to write complete web applications from end to end with nothing but JavaScript. While not without its annoying quirks, it is an important improvement point for me in 2017.
• Similar to Python’s Pycharm, WebStorm is consistently ranked as one of the best IDEs for JavaScript development. It is a tool that I am still largely unfamiliar with but I expect to be able to pick it up relatively quickly. For one, it is a JetBrains IDE, and their IDEs seem to always follow a similar layout, key shortcuts, etc.
• WebStorm comes bundled with my monthly subscription to the JetBrains products pack, along with ReSharper and Pycharm.

It is apparent from my tool stack that my foci for 2017 include the languages C#, Python, and JavaScript. By gaining access to some of the best tools for these languages, I hope to move myself closer to a productive and challenging year in software development.