Pick the Right Tools to Improve Your Productivity

by Trisha Gee 

It’s true that there is no silver bullet, and that the answer to all your questions is going to be It Depends. But that doesn’t mean you have to lose all hope, there are tools and techniques that can improve your productivity as a developer. Tools that can let you develop faster, giving you the opportunity to do rapid prototyping and get fast feedback from your users.

I’m going to demonstrate, whilst building an application before your very eyes, what some of these tools are, and how selecting the right ones for the right job are more important than finding the single magic solution to your problem.

It might surprise you to learn that Java is one of these tools, given its reputation as a boiler-plate-heavy language – not just because new language features like Lambdas and Streams are powerful when used correctly, but also the range of libraries can allow you to avoid Not Invented Here syndrome. But I won’t stop there, there’ll be some buzzword bingo with NoSQL (MongoDB), alternative JVM languages (Groovy), and probably some unavoidable JavaScript.

I will be leaning heavily on IntelliJ IDEA, sharing many of the tips that I learnt pair-programming that I never even knew existed before that I now cannot live without.

I do not promise that this combination of technologies is perfect for you. But I will show you how the right tools used correctly are key to your productivity.