My Daily Hacks to Make Development Life Easier

In the world of software development, efficiency is key. As a developer, I’m constantly seeking ways to streamline my workflow and make my development life easier. Over time, I’ve developed several hacks and shortcuts that have become indispensable tools in my daily routine. Here’s a glimpse into my arsenal of productivity-boosting tricks:

Terminal Aliases

Make terminal aliases for frequently used commands:

alias ws="cd /home/agarg/projects/project1"
alias wss="docker exec -it container-name bash"
alias rc="docker exec -it container-name bundle exec rails c"

Docker Scripts

Create easy-to-use executable scripts to handle docker-compose commands for different services:

#!/bin/bash

path="/home/projects/project1"

# Check if an argument is provided
if [ -z "$1" ]; then
    echo "Please provide an argument."
    exit 1
fi

# Start docker containers for sll-la
gnome-terminal --tab -- bash -c "cd '$path' && docker-compose -f docker-compose.dev.yml up $1"

Git Branch Status Script

Echo Git branches of all project repositories on terminal start:

#!/bin/bash

# Function to get branch name and status
get_branch_status() {
    local repo_path=$1
    local branch=$(git -C "$repo_path" rev-parse --abbrev-ref HEAD)
    local status=$([ -n "$(git -C "$repo_path" status --porcelain)" ] && echo "Local changes present" || echo "no local changes")
    printf "%-25s | %s\n" "$branch"  "$status"
}

# Define paths for each repository
SLL_LA_PATH=~/projects/sll-la/eportfolio
SLL_LA_INSIGHTS_PATH=~/projects/sll-la-insights
SLL_INFRA_PATH=~/projects/sll-infra
SLL_BASE_PATH=~/projects/sll-base

# Get branch names and status for each repository
SLL_LA=$(get_branch_status "$SLL_LA_PATH")
SLL_LA_INSIGHTS=$(get_branch_status "$SLL_LA_INSIGHTS_PATH")
SLL_INFRA=$(get_branch_status "$SLL_INFRA_PATH")
SLL_BASE=$(get_branch_status "$SLL_BASE_PATH")

# Print aligned output
echo "==================================================================="
echo "======= Git Branches =============================================="
echo "==================================================================="
printf "%-10s | %s\n" "SLL LA" "$SLL_LA"
printf "%-10s | %s\n" "INSIGHTS" "$SLL_LA_INSIGHTS"
printf "%-10s | %s\n" "SLL INFRA" "$SLL_INFRA"
printf "%-10s | %s\n" "SLL BASE" "$SLL_BASE"

Additional Productivity Tips

Use VS Code snippets for frequently typed code blocks
Set up keyboard shortcuts for common development tasks
Create project-specific scripts for repetitive tasks
Use tmux sessions to manage multiple terminal windows
Implement auto-completion for your most used commands

These tools have significantly improved my development workflow and reduced the time spent on repetitive tasks. The key is to identify patterns in your daily work and automate them!