10 Useful Apple Store Apps for Programmers and Alpha Geeks

Recently, Lukas Eder wrote a post about The Top 10 Productivity Booster Techs for Programmers and in one of the comments he challenged me to write my own list of cool tools. I decided to give it a try and in my attempt I discovered it is not so easy to define your 10 most favorite tools. Actually, right now, my board is full with names of cool tools that I, as a programmer, use very often. I realize that I could probably make a 10-list on many different categories. So, to enrich what Lukas originally wrote, I have decided to start with a list of the kind of cool apps that any alpha-geek programmers would probably love to install in their Apple devices.

Lisping

If you are a fan of functional programming and particularly of the Lisp family of programming languages, then you are going to love Lisping. It is available for iPhone and iPad and you can create and run programs for the Scheme and Clojure programming languages. To avoid confusion with all the parenthesis the applications offers a very interesting and intuitive way of edition that allows you to focus on a specific context at once. Honestly I found it difficult to edit programs with it in my iPad, but still it is a tool that any alpha-geek can appreciate. Now you can test your small Scheme programs from theSICP book while you watch the extended DVD edition of the Lord of the Rings for the fifth time.

Raskell

So, not a fan of dynamically-typed functional programming languages? Well, if you prefer the safety of static typing instead then you’ll surely love Raskell. There you can edit and run programs for the Haskell programming language and it is also available for iPhone and iPad. Now, you can test those code snippets from Learn you a Haskell for Great Good while you’re comfortably reading in bed and trying to see if this time you can actually figure out what the heck is a monad!!!.

Pythonista

If multiparadigm programming languages is your thing, and particularly if you are fan of the Python programming language then Pythonista is the application you are looking for. The app is available for both iPhone and iPad and as you might expect lets you edit and run programs for the Python programming language, but it goes beyond that, it provides support for multi-touch, animations and sound, so that your programs can really take advantage of your device. Now you can let your Pythonicspirit run free while you wait the end of the five-minute TV commercials broadcast during your latest episode of The Big Bang Theory.

Textastic

Well, not every one of our favorite programming languages has a cool app editor. So, for those of us fan of other programming languages, we have this great application editor called Textastic which provides syntax highlighting support for more then 80 different programming languages and with really cool edition features that makes it really easy to use it in mobile devices. When used in the iPad or the iPhone the keyboard is extended with a new set of keys typically used by programmers and that makes writing code much simpler. The app is also available for MAC OSx. So, now you can edit your cool open source programs while you girlfriend tries to tell you all about her day at dinner together in that fancy restaurant.

Penultimate

What about software design? Well, I have not been able to find a decent app to do things like flowcharts or UML diagrams. However, I found that if you have an stylus, you can create your own handwritten designs in Penultimate. I have actually defined a good collection of flowcharts and UML diagrams in this way. It is a great tool to discuss design ideas, algorithms or simply to keep your thoughts and great software ideas properly recorded.

Dash (Docs & Snippets)

Are you tired of searching the Web for the Javadocs of a given class? Did you forget the methods of one of those angular services? What were the parameters of that git command? Heck, every time I want to read the Javadocs I have to first search the URL in Google. Well, with Dash those days are over. It is like the Google search of programmers. It offers offline instant access to dozens of different API documentations. Just type a term and it’ll find the answer you were looking for.

Code Runner

Does it happen to you too that sometimes you would like to test just small code snippet of Java, or JavaScript and you are forced to setup an entire project in you IDE just to test a small idea? Well, withCode Runner you avoid all these complications. It is a simple way to run small code snippets or simply a tool to run any program in any programming language with just a single click. It comes with a set of predefined programming languages, but you can extend it with more.

Instapaper

It is hard to keep up with the latest trends in technology. Every week I find several interesting articles I would like to read and often I try to remember articles I had read in the past. In order to keep up with all this information, for me, there is no tool like Instapaper. I save there articles I want to read and then read them offline later on, when I have time, directly from my iPad or iPhone. So this is the perfect tool for those days when you girlfriend says she’s got a headache. Keep it near bed, it will help you concentrate on something else and believe me you’re going to be the most well informed geek in your community.

Evernote

Finally I have a tool to keep all my ideas organized and available at all times. I have been in dozens of projects and always lose important data from every one. I can barely remember details of requirements, or the IP address for a server, or the location of all repositories, or what about the FQDN of the development server which I need to access via SSH? And those other cool ideas for projects or investigations in progress. Not to mention those great ideas for articles posts, etc. Well, with Evernote all this gets very simple. Never ever again lose any of those cool ideas or investigations in progress, or important things to remember. And if you combine it with Evernote Web Clipper it will serve the same purpose as Instapaper, mentioned above.

SSH Term Pro

So you’re watching again the remasterized  version of Star Wars and then you feel curiosity to know if that script you left running on your server on Friday before going home has finished successfully. Well, you no longer need to get up from your couch. With SSH Term Pro you can access your server via SSH and have access to a terminal and go crazy. Your boss is going to love you for getting this tool.

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. If you guys know of any other cool apps that you consider are a must-have for alpha geeks do not hesitate a second to leave a comment and maybe we can enrich this list with even more cool apps like these.