Mindset for leveraging tools:
- “Know what you leverage.” -Craig Randall
- “Understand what a tool does for you before you rely on the tool.” -Brent Rector
- “Trust, but verify.” -Ronald Regan, quoting an old Russian proverb (Doveryai, no proveryai.)
- “If all that you have is a hammer, everything looks like a browser.” -Ray Ozzie
Tools of interest
Frequently used (”power”) tools:
- VMware Workstation (virtual machine)
- Araxis Merge Professional (indispensable if you need to compare two bodies of code quickly)
- TechSmith SnagIt (flexible screen capture tool)
- Altova Xmlspy (developer-oriented XML IDE)
- Logic Explorers Code Logic (unique code-to-UML (reverse-engineering) functionality)
- JetBrains Intellij IDEA (innovative Java IDE; e.g. refactoring support)
Microsoft-focused tools (e.g. Windows, .NET):
- Reflector for .NET (class browser, decompiler and XML documentation browser; directory of Reflector add-ins)
- Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (de facto IDE; IDE tips; debugger tips)
- Microsoft FxCop (code analysis tool; Framework Design Guidelines conformance checking; MSDN TV spot; blog)
- NDoc (generate reference-level documentation from code; e.g. HTML Help format; ref. [1])
- NAnt (build tool; ref. [1]; also SDC Build Tools on GDN)
- Open Source Software in C# (C-Sharp) (a portal to specific projects)
- log4net (part of the Apache Logging Services project)
- SharpZipLib (Zip, GZip, BZip2 & Tar)
- NUnit (unit testing framework; ref. [1], [2], [3])
- Compuware DevPartner Studio Professional
- Dotfuscator Community Edition (login required)
- Sysinternals (free tools for Windows; e.g. Process Explorer, File Monitor, Registry Monitor)
- Microsoft Debugging Tools (WinDbg)
Links of interest
Collections of note:
Microsoft .NET:
- What is .NET?
- Got .NET?
- MSDN Home (Microsoft Developer Network)
- MSDN Developer Centers
- TheServerSide.NET
Microsoft support:
- MSDN Subscriber Downloads (login required)
- Windows Update
- Office Update
- Microsoft KB Search by ID
- Microsoft DLL Help Database
Web services:
Software architecture:
- Microsoft .NET Architecture Center
- UML References - Quick / Longer
- Design Patterns Explained
- Patterns Library
- Refactoring (defined)
Java:
- Sun Java Technologies
- Java Community Process
- Jakarta Project @ Apache (e.g. Log4j)
- Web Services Project @ Apache (e.g. Axis)
- XML Project @ Apache (e.g. Xerces)
- Ant Project @ Apache
- TheServerSide.com








0 responses so far ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
You must log in to post a comment.