User Reviews
PostgreSQL: Amazing Database
by TheAlienist
In all my years of open source development, postgresql stands out as the most amazing open source product I've used. It's full-featured and rock solid. Even its documentation is better than commercial databases.
Imho, the whole MySQL vs Postgres debate is pointless. Postgres is a better database in all aspects that matter (ie: except for a few contrived ISAM-based performance tests).
Some minor gripes include overcomplicated
14 of 14 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
GCC, the GNU Compiler Collection: GCC, what else?
by TheAlienist
If you need to compile C/C++ then save yourself some headaches AND money. Skip the commerical compilers and use GCC. The amount of R&D on this project surpasses that of the commercial alternatives (yeah, including Microsoft C/C++ Compiler).
15 of 17 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Vim: The swiss army-knife of text-editing
by TheAlienist
If you spend a lot of time writing and/or editing text (code, scripts, config files, etc...), then you owe it to yourself to invest in learning vim or emacs.
I chose Vim because I learned it in college. I can't honestly say it's better than emacs, but the bottom line is that any of these 2 editors can drastically improve your productivity.
Sure those flashy IDE's look impressive with the doo-hickeys all over the place. But the
8 of 9 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
TYPO3: Very powerful but slightly aged
by TheAlienist
Disclaimer: I haven't played with Typo3 in at least a year. However I'd be surprised if it changed that significantly.
Typo3 is an insanely powerful CMS system. In fact, it's so powerful, it should be put in a category in itself. Beyond managing content it also comes with a very powerful administrative website - think of it as a built-in IDE. You can extend plugins easily or simply define your own. These plugins can include custom data
4 of 4 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Mozilla Firefox: Good, but somewhat tired
by TheAlienist
I use Firefox 2.01 on a Mac. The whole tabbed browsing features was great 2 years ago, but all browsers do that now. So what's so great about firefox now? Plugins. If you're a web developer there's really no other way to go.
As for complaints, it's slow and a resource hog. I know it's better on Windows, but on a Mac both Safari and Opera feel much faster.
Don't get me wrong - there's not that much to complain about. I just wish they would evolve web browsing beyond tabs and plugins.
15 of 28 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Trac: Just what the doctor ordered
by TheAlienist
Say goodbye to overbloated crap like MS Project. Trac provides just enough project management as you should need. In other words, they don't impose or require a bunch of un-natural hand-holding and busy work like "what percentage of this feature are you done with?". I hate those kinds of apps. No real developer tracks their "sprints" or features on an hourly basis.
Trac integrates milestones, wiki, code repository and defects better
4 of 6 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
lighttpd: Simple Yet Effective
by TheAlienist
My biggest compliment is that the config file is reasonably simple. No more incomprehensible Apache config file bs... yay! It's a stable server with decent scalability. No complaints.
4 of 6 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Apache Ant: Better than Make!
by TheAlienist
Did I fool you?
Writing huge XML files to represent complex sequences of tasks is slightly more enjoyable than root canal. It must be said that most large projects end up with some type of build script and Ant fills this need, but the real gem of my advice is to try to reject it as long as possible.
4 of 6 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
CVS: Concurrent Versions System: Just good enough
by TheAlienist
CVS is the grand-daddy of source versioning systems and it shows. It's got all of the charm and reliability of a '88 ford taurus. It aint pretty, but by gosh it's everywhere!
What's there to like? It mostly works. Some projects have 10+ years of history using it. However, it has some pretty basic problems too. Tagging and branching is not only hard, it's slow and cumbersome.
Even with the massive adoption it's had, it's
4 of 8 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
VirtueDesktops: At least until Tiger is out...
by TheAlienist
OS X 10.5 will have built-in virtual desktops. Until then, VirtueDesktops does the trick. I agree that the config is a little more complicated than it needs ( I don't conceptualize my virtual desktop in a 2D space - just 1D). However I thought that was just a nit - otherwise I found it worked well.
TortoiseSVN: It's Ohhh-Kaayyyyy if you like GUIs
by TheAlienist
Nothing to complain about, except for the very premise of this app. I mean c'mon, how hard is it to type "svn co"? I guess some people prefer that... 'specially the M$ Windows users.
Anyway, I taught my mother to use this instead of the command line and she liked it a lot, so these 5 stars are for her. I love you mom!
5 of 11 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Prototype Javascript Framework: The scratch that cures the javascript itch
by TheAlienist
Prototype is one of those few libraries that is as impressive for what it does as what it doesn't do.
By focusing on solving only the most basic problems Javascript, it library has stayed mean, lean and clean. If you're tired of writing ridiculously long javascript statements, walking the DOM trying to find your specific element or dealing with ridiculous incompatibilities in javascript implementations, go download prototype now.
0 of 1 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Drupal (core): A contender for top CMS
by TheAlienist
I've used Drupal off and on for a few years. They have a strong developer and user community and seem to focus on providing a simple, reasonably elegant CMS. It might not have all the bells and whistles possible, but it handles the basics very well and has a huge amount of contributed modules/add-ons.
0 of 1 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
Tapestry: If you're still stuck with Java...
by TheAlienist
Back in the old days when I was still writing Java-based web apps, I stumbled upon Tapestry and thought it was da bomb. However after discovering Rails, i have to admit that even though Tapestry is simpler and more elegant than competing Java web frameworks, the simple truth is that Java is just not well matched for web development.
Therefore, if you must write in Java, by all means, check this out. Otherwise, I recommend web scripting solutions instead (php, rails, django, etc...).
1 of 4 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No
EasyMoblog: Flaky
by TheAlienist
I don't know much about this project - and from the lack of code activity AND by the fact that their website is down - I plan on keeping it that way. Stay away.
0 of 2 users found the following review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes | No