Languages I use, tools I love, and other things I recommend.
I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, make my life a bit easier, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.
Languages & Frameworks
PHP
My one big love, i started programming with PHP and i am still in love with it. Every version PHP gets better and better together with the community and the ecosystem PHP is hands down the best way to write websites, apis and more.
Laravel
This Framework just gives you so much. I use Laravel since version 5.0 and i am always baffled how quickly it lets you create your next big thing with extensive scaffolding and tools out of the box.
JavaScript/TypeScript
There it is my love/hate relation. You can create amazing stuff with JS and TS but sometimes it can get really frustrating. Regardless one of the versatile languages you can think of.
Vue
Still one of my go to JS Frameworks to get the job done. It is just simple and lets you create pretty much everything you can think of.
Svelte/SvelteKit
Svelte is my new darling, i still like Vue but after building this blog with SvelteKit, vue has a new contender as my go to JS Framework.
tailwindcss
How did we ever write css without tailwind...? Adam really created a amazing framework to quickly build your styles without any compromise.
Life saving packages
inertia.js
What a life saver if you do not want to deal with all of the SPA, Client Authentication and routing stuff and still want a cool fast SPA or SSR rendered Frontend. Huge recommendation!
PHPStan
There was a time where i did not like types in languages, this time is long over and i love the confident und security that type languages give me. PHPStan is the perfect package to get the benefits of static typed languages into PHP.
Pest
I am lazy.I do not want to test my application manual everytime i change something. Gladly because of Pest i do not need to. Pest is the perfect tool to quickly write unit tests in php based und PHPUnit.
Development tools
PHPStorm
The IDE to conquer them all! PHPStorm is simply amazing, with all it's build in features and tools it replaced a lot of other standalone apps i had on my PC. Refactoring is a blast with this thing, just use the refactor actions and PHPStorm does all the busy work for you.
Forge
I am not much of a server guy. That's why i love Forge so much. It takes all of the complicated managing stuff out of the deployment and let's me ship my apps fast and reliably.
Design
Figma
Most of the time i design directly in the browser, but if i need a real design ool Figma is my way to go. It is simple, a joy to use and gets pretty much every job done i have to do with it.
My Setup
14" MacBook Pro, M1 Pro 32GB RAM (2021)
I was using an Intel-based 14” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through it stays quiet.
Samsung LF32TU87 32" 4k Display
A great big monitor with a lot of pixels and a integrated usb-hub that can charge my Mac and delivers the image with one single USB-C Cable.
Logitech MX Master Keys & MX Master 3
Just good mouse and keyboard. The mouse is very ergonomic and has a nice vertical scroll wheel which comes handy if you scroll through code. The keyboard is nice and heavy and has a super type feeling.
Productivity
Obsidian
Ordering notes in directories never really worked for me so Obsidian is the perfekt tool to link all of my thoughts together without the need to create a huge pile of nested directories. And all of your files are locally on your machine. No cloud needed.
Arc Browser
The newest tool i adopted. I quite like Arc, it lets me organise my tabs in workspaces and helps me to focus on the given project and takes a way the distractions of a cluttered tab bar.