Tools and libraries

A tool and a library I’ve been using or at least trying out:

Launchy Free, open-source Windows app that indexes Program Files and any other directories you tell it to. Then alt-space pops up a command line box and it autocompletes as you type. I installed it a while ago and meant to mention it but it kind of faded into the background and I don’t think about using it anymore. It’s just there. No more do I need to concern myself with the program menu’s lengthy “organization” by vendor nor do I keep needing to add paths to my PATH. I used to do that so I could use Windows-Run to run things rather than rummaging in Program Files but Launchy is a much better solution. I’ve read that it resembles Quicksilver for the Mac. SQLAlchemy “SQLAlchemy is the Python SQL toolkit and Object Relational Mapper that gives application developers the full power and flexibility of SQL.” — mostly it handles some tedium without getting in the way. ORMs still make me nervous since they tend to have a lot of “magic” in them but SQLAlchemy makes it pretty easy to use the convenient parts and override the “magic” if/when it’s necessary for performance. Which probably won’t happen too much but knowing it’s easy makes it easier to rely on SQLAlchemy in the meantime. I don’t know if I’ll keep using it, because like every other time I use a library like this I find myself spending more time trying to figure out how SQLAlchemy expresses something and I already know how to use SQL.