What people recommend, in their own words, with the receipt.
Game designer and director of the NYU Game Center; made Universal Paperclips and writes Donkeyspace.
6 things
PhotoshopSoftware Adobe
I love Photoshop. I’m not ashamed to admit it. Photoshop is my jam. When it comes to software, Photoshop represents, for me, the gold standard of power + intuition.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, comparing Unity unfavorably to software he likes
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-09-01Wrong?
BASICSoftware
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, recalling programming languages/tools he's used over the years
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-09-01Wrong?
JavaScriptSoftware
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, recalling programming languages/tools he's used over the years
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-09-01Wrong?
SETOther Marsha Falco
In a life spent playing games, it was, without a doubt, one of the most intense and rewarding and meaningful game experiences I’ve ever had. And that’s why I love SET.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, an essay on why he loves the card game SET
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-03-12Wrong?
UnitySoftware Unity Technologies
I’m sloooowly learning how to make changes and fixes, but I still have to ask for help a lot of the time, and I have a bad attitude about it. I just don’t like Unity.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, on using the Unity game engine to make a video game
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-09-01Wrong?
FlashSoftware Adobe (formerly Macromedia)
But I loved Basic when I was just starting out. I hated Flash. I eventually learned to love JavaScript when I was using that.
His Donkeyspace newsletter, recalling programming languages/tools he's used over the years
franklantz.substack.com ↗·2025-09-01Wrong?
Every entry is a verbatim quote and a link to the public post it came from. Nothing is paraphrased. If it is not on record somewhere public, it is not here.
The verdict is what they actually said: loved and liked are explicit; recommended means they told others to get it; uses means they only say they use it; read is a book on their public shelf with no verdict; mixed and disliked are kept too.
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The small bar beside a date shows how dated a recommendation is for its kind of thing.
The bar shows how dated a recommendation is, for its kind of thing. Full and green is recent. It drains, and turns amber and then grey, as the post gets older.
What counts as old depends on the thing. A laptop praised four years ago has been replaced twice; a book loved twenty years ago is probably still loved. The bar is empty after about:
A striped bar means the post carries no date and the date shown is an estimate. No date at all, no bar.