Ask HN: What software has improved your life the most?

20 points | by TheDarkOne 1307 days ago

14 comments

  • shubb 1307 days ago
    Okcupid - although recent dating apps are apparently more challenging, at least for a time dating sites helped nerdy people find each other, and have those awkward 'do you want to date me' conversations in a safe way.
  • softwaredoug 1307 days ago
    Probably some software in a medical device that helped with some simple preventive medical procedure
    • quickthrower2 1306 days ago
      Yeah whatever software they use to help discover, develop and trial vaccinations too.
  • rikroots 1307 days ago
    Word processing software. I remember my first job as a lowly admin assistant in the Civil Service where my job was to manage with the team's post, file lots of pieces of paper, and deal with the Divisional Typing Pool ruled by the fearsome and never-to-be-forgotten Mrs Kagan. Word processors not only changed the office organisation structure forever, it saved me from having to approach Mrs Kagan to ask for a letter to be retyped because my boss wanted to add a couple of words "just here, and here - today if possible ... please?".
  • anotheryou 1307 days ago
    well I guess we have to exclude the staples, right? operating systems, infrastructure, messengers, browsers, navi apps.

    I love:

    org-mode

    autohotkey (windows)

    firefox add-ons and userscripts

    an alternative keyboard layout (and QMK for a hardware implementation)

    kodi

    calibre

    sumatra pdf

    well and including historically: I learned programming through macromedia flash

  • TheTrotters 1307 days ago
    Anki. Spaced repetition + testing effect made learning (math, in my case) much better and more efficient.
    • ab510 1306 days ago
      How did you use Anki(what kind of flashcards?) for math?
    • exaltation999 1304 days ago
      Bro where TF do you find flashcards? Too much effort to create them urself
  • tobbob 1306 days ago
    H.264 compression, or whatever makes video on the internet work.
    • quickthrower2 1306 days ago
      Fast cheap bandwidth and storage too then.
  • slmjkdbtl 1305 days ago
    Xiami, Douban, Spotify, Youtube, Bandcamp, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, RateYourMusic, Soulseek, ... no music no life!
  • alfonmga 1307 days ago
    Stand (https://getstandapp.com)

    It reminds me to stand up once an hour.

  • vegadodo 1305 days ago
    git, vs code

    I do most of my homework on vs code, and use git to track and archive all my coding-related stuff to private repo. Seriously, it gives me peace of mind and euphoric joy when I finish my homework and push to the repo.

  • kyranjamie 1307 days ago
    Google Maps
  • meiraleal 1306 days ago
    mIRC and its "powerful" mIRC scripting. Writing bots in 1999 was more interesting than nowadays.
  • caseyscottmckay 1306 days ago
    Vim, Intellij Idea, Java, Python, Bash
  • sloaken 1307 days ago
    Solitaire - LOL

    Internet browsers - almost any one.

    GUI compilers / dev environment

    GIT

    Excel

    Word

  • kirubakaran 1307 days ago
    Emacs

    Linux

    Lisp

    Python

    I owe them pretty much everything.