Craig’s Musings

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:

• Scott Hanselman’s Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List

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:

• Web Services Primer
• IBM - Developer - Web Services
• Microsoft Web Services Developer Center

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