Developing, programming, coding, scripting, whatever you call it, is difficult. It's a fact.

Luckily, there are a plethora of tools we can use to make it just a little bit easier and faster to get code done and into production.

The tools I personally use evolve depending on the projects and technologies I am working on but the below list are the ones I use pretty much every day, both personally and with colleagues.

![Fullstack-Tools](/assets/fullstack-tools.jpg "Fullstack tools")

### Coding

* [Visual Studio Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/)

  VS Code is my IDE of choice for 90% of my work. It is lightweight, but fully featured and has an extensive range of extensions to make working with any technology much easier.
* [XCode](https://developer.apple.com/xcode/) 

  Not much choice here for iOS app development. XCode has a bit of a learning curve for Apple integrations and inner-workings but does provide the best options for deploying an iOS app.
* [Android Studio](https://developer.android.com/studio)

  Again, not much choice for bundling and deploying Android apps. I actually like the Android Studio developer experience in general but don't spend a lot of time writing pure Java or Kotlin so my usage is limited to testing and building.
* [BitBucket](https://bitbucket.org/)

  Given you'll see below that I'm using the Atlassian suite of project management tools, it just makes more sense to also use Bitbucket as my source control. Github is one I do use sometimes for completely personal projects, but I've found no massive differences in the functionality provided and they are both free.

### Database Management

* [Azure Data Studio](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/azure-data-studio/download-azure-data-studio?view=sql-server-ver15)/[SQL Server Management Studio](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-ver15)

  These two are combined as they essentially provide the same functionality for me. Both have similar interfaces for connecting to SQL databases and performing management tasks and querying.

### [](https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sql/ssms/download-sql-server-management-studio-ssms?view=sql-server-ver15)Project Management

* [Jira](https://www.atlassian.com/software/jira)

  Jira makes Agile/Scrum project management simple. I've found that even for relatively small projects with small teams, Jira sprints and bug cards makes development flow much easier.
* [Confluence](https://www.atlassian.com/software/confluence)

  Every developer needs documentation. Whether it is general stuff about the product, specific code related information or meeting notes and decisions, Confluence has a template for it.
* [GitKraken](https://www.gitkraken.com/)

  Learning Git and all the frequently used command line commands is vital to ensure you actually know what you're doing to your source code repository. That being said, having a GUI that provides a visual representation of where your branches are, makes life for me substantially easier.
* [Slack](https://slack.com/intl/en-au/)

  Slack is a pretty simple tool for us. 94% communicating and discussing issues - especially during these Covid-19 lockdown times. The other 6%? Giphy!

### Hosting/DevOps

* [Microsoft Azure](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/)

  I fell into using Azure for my DevOps requirements ([Why I Use Microsoft Azure](https://www.mickpatterson.com.au/blog/why-i-use-microsoft-azure/)) but it provides all the PaaS, IaaS, DBaaS services I need.
* [Azure DevOps](https://azure.microsoft.com/en-au/services/devops/)

  Automating the integration/deployment of production apps makes life substantially easier and faster. There's something comforting about simply having to push to your main branch and walk away knowing that unless you really stuffed up, your app will build and deploy to production without you being involved.
* [SiteGround Web Hosting](https://www.siteground.com/index.htm?afcode=cd682f354478356e77ed18c0a0e722fd)

  Sometimes I need to throw up a quick WordPress landing page or a simple website for a client. The reality is that for this sort of website where there's nothing more than a few pages and a contact form, WordPress is quicker and looks just fine. SiteGround provides easy install of WordPress sites and easy configuration sections to hook domains in, SSL certifications, CDN's and any other installs required.

A curated list of the best developer tools for fullstack indie developers covering everything from coding, git, database admin and devops

Best Indie Fullstack Developer Tools

## W﻿hat is a Recursive Function?

T﻿he short answer to this is: A recursive function is a function that somewhere in its own logic makes a request to call itself again because the same set of logic needs to be executed again.

Recursion is a fundamental concept in computer science and is used in a wide variety of algorithms and data structures.

T﻿he key to understanding how to use a recursive function is to understand how to handle the changing of function arguments to ensure there is an exit condition so the function does not call itself forever (like a while loop that never breaks the 'true' condition).

W﻿hen used properly, recursive functions are a powerful tool for solving complex coding requirements.

A﻿ simple, contrived, example of a recursive function is a countdown function:

```typescript
// Function definition
function countdown(n) {
  if (n === 0) {
    console.log("Done!");
  } else {
    console.log(n);
    countdown(n - 1);
  }
}

// Initiate the function
countdown(5);
```

T﻿he above is a simple function that counts down from a given starting value (greater than zero) and logs "Done!" when the value gets to zero. You can see that the function logs the value of the number, then requests the same function to run again, but takes one from the given value until the value is zero where it does not request to call itself again.

N﻿ow, obviously this is a contrived example and could also be achieved with a simple for loop:

```typescript
for(let i = 5; i >= 0; i--) {
  if(i !== 0) {
    console.log(i);
  } else {
    console.log('Done!');
  }
}
```

S﻿o, what is a more 'real world' use case for recursive functions?

W﻿hilst there are many, one that has presented itself frequently during my career is traversing folder directories:

```typescript
const fs = require('fs');

function listFiles(dir) {
  const files = fs.readdirSync(dir);
  for (const file of files) {
    const filePath = `${dir}/${file}`;
    const stats = fs.statSync(filePath);
    if (stats.isDirectory()) {
      listFiles(filePath);
    } else {
      console.log(filePath);
    }
  }
}

listFiles('/path/to/directory');
```

T﻿his recursive function accepts a directory path as its starting argument and then reads the directory using the NodeJs 'fs' module.

I﻿f the directory is a folder (isDirectory()) then the function is requested again with the updated path to the child folder directory.

I﻿n a real application, instead of logging the file path of the full file contained within the directory, the application would perhaps read the file and process the data (maybe a CSV of rows to insert into a database).

T﻿hese examples are a very simple introduction to the concept of recursion. There are many more complicated uses for recursion in the data science fields where complex algorithms need to be applied to data sets or in applications where algorithms are required to optimise performance to fine degrees.

You'll often hear or read that a recursive function was used to solve a programming problem that arose during the development of a piece of software. So, what is a recursive function, how does it work and when or why would the need to use one occur?

Best Indie Fullstack Developer Tools

What is Function Recursion