Software alternatives
Lesser-known first to keep the list interesting
- LeftWM - a window manager
- Caddy - a web server with automatic HTTPs and refreshingly simple configuration
- Helix - a text editor
- Zellij -
tmux
alternative, batteries included - Nu - cross-platform shell with a fresh approach to streams & redirections
- Zola - a static site generator, which powers this website
- Paru - AUR helper for all Arch folks
- Neovide -
neovim
client with eye-candy animations - Alacritty - a terminal emulator
- Wezterm - another terminal emulator
- fd - unix
find
but actually usable without having to readman
each time
I encourage you to compare the documentation of the software from this list with their classic alternatives, just to see how important good documentation is.
Justification/Philosophy
Most of the software that powers our devices runs on C, C++ and Java. I do not mean to criticise those languages, as they were a great improvement for the programming community, opening new and exciting paths to better software. However, during the last 2 decades, new languages have emerged, fulfilling the need for:
- Built-in tools for easy code reuse (package/library management)
- Memory safety
- Speed & resource efficiency
- Improved approach to macros and other metaprogramming-related aspects
- Integrated documentation builders (
cargo doc
as a prime example)