The purpose of this thread is to collect links to useful free tools that the members would like to recommend to others.
RULES
1. The tool must be free for the download. Free versions of commercial tools are allowed as long as the license you receive on download does not expire in less than a year.
2. The tool must be generally useful in the creation of a complete application or system. This is pretty broad, but if we allow databases, for example, it's hard to rule out image editors. You guys decide what's important.
3. Submit recommendations by replying to this thread. Include:
a) the link, which should point directly to the download page;
b) an optional link to an information or documentation page;
c) the accepted name of the program (i.e. as it appears on the developer's site);
d) a category/platform tag, i.e. "Java IDE/Linux", or "Hex editor/Windows";
e) an optional one sentence description.
4. Please review the current list before submitting your recommendation. Someone else may have submitted ahead of you.
5. Any and all operating systems and platforms are encouraged, from Windows and Linux to OSX and Symbian.
Submitters please keep the thread focused. Discussion of suitability of recommendations is allowed. Rants/raves are not.
Please reply to this thread with corrections or updates.
/** The AT Programmers List of Free Tools */
The following tools are free for personal use (at least), and have been recommended by the members of the Anandtech Programming forum. The top link in each entry is the download link. If pages with additional information are available they are linked under "More data". If there is no additional information link then the download and information pages are the same.
Entries may be preceeded by the following tags:
(b) - the software is a beta release, and may have stability or correctness problems
(*) - the software has some license restrictions and may not be free in all usage scenarios
IDE's, Compilers, and Editors
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express Editions
Platform: Windows, 32/64, Windows Phone, Web
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstud...itions/product-comparison#expressCompareTable
Free editions of Microsoft's powerful programming environment. Limited to a single language.
Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0
Platform: Windows 32/64, Windows Phone, Web
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb200104.aspx
A free version of Visual Studio for game developers, integrated with XNA and the content pipeline.
Microsoft Robotics Studio
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/
Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) is a Windows-based environment for hobbyist, academic and commercial developers to create robotics applications for a variety of hardware platforms.
MASM32 SDK Version 10
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.masm32.com/
The MASM32 SDK version 10 is a working development environment for programmers who are interested in either learning or writing 32 bit Microsoft assembler (MASM).
Eclipse
Platform: Windows/Linux, any Java 5 JRE
More data: http://www.eclipse.org/
Powerful Java-based IDE for multi-language development, including Java and C/C++.
Gnu C/C++ (GCC)
Platform: Windows/Linux/AIX/DOS/Solaris/Etc.
More data: http://gcc.gnu.org/
The Free Software Foundation's implementation of ANSI C/C++.
Python
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/others
More data: http://www.python.org/
The Python programming language from Python.org
Perl
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/lots
More data: http://www.perl.org/about.html
The Perl programming language from perl.org
PHP
Platform: Windows/Linux/Solaris/others
More data: http://www.php.net/
The PHP hypertext preprocessor language (included with most *nix distros)
Ruby
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
The Ruby programming language
Erlang
Platform: Windows/Linux/Others
More data: http://www.erlang.org/
A language for concurrent programming developed by Ericsson.
Haskell
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Solaris
More data: http://www.haskell.org/
Haskell is a language for expressing the functional programming paradigm.
Snippet Compiler
Platform: Windows, .Net 2.0,3.5
More data:
Jeff Key's indispensable code snippet compiler for .Net developers.
SciTE
Platform: Windows/Linux
More data: http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html
SciTE is a portable source code editor, with syntax highlighting and other features.
jEdit
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.jedit.org/
Portable source code editor written in Java, with syntax highlighting and other features.
Notepad++
Platform: Windows
More data: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Programmer's editor with syntax highlighting and many add-ons.
NetBeans
Platform: Windows, Linux, others
More data: http://www.netbeans.org
Multilanguage and platform IDE, originally for JAVA (SE, EE & Mobile) but now natively supports Ruby, C, C++, PHP and of course UML.
Vim and GVim
Platform: Windows, Linux, Unix, others
More data: http://www.vim.org/
Vim is an advanced text editor that seeks to provide the power of the de-facto Unix editor 'Vi', with a more complete feature set.
TextWrangler
Platform: Mac
More data: http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator?s tool.
ConTEXT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.contexteditor.org/
ConTEXT is a small, fast and powerful freeware text editor, developed to serve as a secondary tool for software developers.
Microsoft Small Basic
Platform: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ff384126.aspx
Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming, by providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment.
(*)Atari lite-C
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.3dgamestudio.com/litec.php
The game programming language lite-C was developed by Conitec in cooperation with Atari, Inc, and is intended for quickly and easily developing graphics or virtual reality applications - such as 2D or 3D computer games - even without previous programming knowledge.
AMD x86 Open64 Compiler Suite
Platform: Linux
More data: http://developer.amd.com/CPU/OPEN64/Pages/default.aspx
The x86 Open64 compiler system is a high performance, production quality code generation tool designed for high performance parallel computing workloads.
[URLs are not working as of this editing. We'll keep an eye on it.]
soapUI
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.soapui.org/
soapUI is the leading tool for Web Service Testing. With more than 950 000 downloads, it's the most used tool for SOA testing in the world.
(*)JCreator
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.jcreator.com/index.htm
JCreator is a Java IDE written in C++. The free version includes everything but the debugger and code completion.
Code::Blocks
Platform: Cross-platform (Windows/Linux/mac)
More data: http://www.codeblocks.org/
Code::Blocks is a free C++ IDE built to meet the most demanding needs of its users.
JWasm
Platform: Precompiled for DOS, Windows, Linux
More data: http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html
JWasm is a free MASM-compatible assembler. In addition to the precompiled binaries source is available and there are makefiles for OS/2 and FreeBSD.
Gnu Octave
Platform: Linux, Mac, Windows, Sun
More data: http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It provides capabilities for the numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, and for performing other numerical experiments.
Intellij IDEA
Platform: multiplatform
More data: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
IntelliJ IDEA is a code-centric IDE focused on developer productivity. The editor deeply understands your code and knows its way around the codebase, makes great suggestions right when you need them, and is always ready to help you shape your code.
Komodo Edit
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
More data: http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit
Komodo Edit is a fast, smart, free and open-source code editor. Switching your trusty code editor is hard, but give Komodo Edit (or its big brother Komodo IDE) a try: it'll be worth your while.
Class Libraries (C++, Java, .Net, others)
Joda-time
Platform: Java runtime
More data: http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/
Joda-Time provides a quality replacement for the Java date and time classes. The design allows for multiple calendar systems, while still providing a simple API.
http://sprng.cs.fsu.edu/Version4.0/quick-start.html
Platform: Independent
More data: http://sprng.cs.fsu.edu/
SPRNG 1.0 provides the user the various SPRNG random number generators each in its own library.
File Utilities
HHD Hex Editor Neo
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.hhdsoftware.com/Pro...e/hex-editor-free.html
A powerful hex editor for Windows.
.NET Resourcer
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.lutzroeder.com/dotnet/
Lutz Roeder's editor for all .NET resource file formats.
Skater .NET Obfuscator
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.rustemsoft.com/SkaterDoc/index.html
Skater is a security tool for obfuscating .NET assemblies to protect the IP content of source code and resources.
7-zip
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac-OS X
More data: http://www.7-zip.org/
7-zip is a cross-platform file compression utility and archive manager.
CSDiff 5
Platform: Windows
More data: http://download.cnet.com/CSDif...0351784.html?tag=mncol
This program compares lists of folders and document contents, but operates only on plain text files.
Path Copy Copy
Platform: Windows
More data: http://pathcopycopy.codeplex.com/
A Windows Explorer add-on that adds a contextual menu item on all files and folders allowing the user to copy the path in various formats. Idea copied from "Path Copy".
PowerEXT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://powerext.codeplex.com/
PowerExt can display assembly name, assembly version, public key etc in Windows Explorer. It's a Windows Explorer extension written in C++. For .NET Assemblies (dll and exe files) it adds an additional .NET tab to the Windows Explorer's File Properties dialog.
Free Commander
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.freecommander.com/index.htm
FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows.
WinMerge
Platform: Windows
More data: http://winmerge.org/
FileLocator Lite
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?type=filelocatorlite&page=home
FileLocator Lite is a free reduced functionality version of FileLocator Pro. It is free for both personal and commercial use.
Databases and Tools
Microsoft SQL Server Express
Platform: Windows, 32/64
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/compare.aspx
Free desktop edition of Microsoft's powerful SQL Server DBMS
SQL Server Compact Edition
Platforms: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/ff687142
SQL Server Compact is a free SQL Server embedded database that is ideal for building stand-alone and occasionally connected applications for mobile devices, desktops, and Web clients.
MySQL
Platform: Windows/Linux/SUN OS/virtually all
More data: http://www.mysql.com/
The most popular open source SQL database client/server system.
MySQL GUI Tools
Platform: Windows, Linux, others
More data: http://www.mysql.com
Multiplatform set of tools to make administrating and maintaining MySQL databases a lot easier; includes Query Browser, Migration Toolkit and of course Administrator.
MySQL Workbench
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/
MySQL Workbench enables a DBA, developer, or data architect to visually design, generate, and manage all types of databases including Web, OLTP, and data warehouse databases.
PostgreSQL
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Solaris/FreeBSD
More data: http://www.postgresql.org/about/
A powerful open source SQL database server platform
Schemester
Platform: Windows/Oracle
More data:
A good visual database schema design and code generation tool for Oracle
Query Express
Platform: Windows/SQL (OLE-DB)
More data:
A very small and fast Query Analyser replacement for working with any OLE-DB compliant database.
Oracle SQL Developer
Platform: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Other
More data: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/index.html
Oracle SQL Developer is a free and fully supported graphical tool for database development.
Hibernate
Platform: Java, .NET
More data: http://www.hibernate.org/
A cross-platform persistence framework for Java and .NET
DBVisualizer
Platform: Windows, MAC, Linux x86, Unix
More data: http://www.dbvis.com/products/dbvis/
A database tool useful for developers and database administrators, it is the perfect solution since the same tool can be used on all major operating systems accessing a wide range of databases.
LINQPad
Platform: Windows (.NET 3.5+)
More data: http://www.linqpad.net/
LINQPad lets you interactively query SQL databases in a modern query language: LINQ. Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio!
Toad for MySQL Freeware (Registration required)
Platform: Windows (.NET 2.0)
More data: http://www.quest.com/toad-for-mysql/
Quest Software's Toad for MySQL leverages Quest Software's database expertise to empower MySQL developers and administrators, of varying skill levels, to rapidly create and execute queries, automate database object management and develop SQL code more efficiently.
SQLite
Platform: Cross Platform (Mac, Linux, Windows)
More data: http://www.sqlite.org/
SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine.
Teaming and Communications
Pastebin
Platform: Any web browser
More data: http://pastebin.com/pastebin.php?help=1
Pastebin is here to help you collaborate and share code snippets.
Doxygen
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
More data: https://www.doxygen.nl/index.html Links fixed 6/2024 - Moderator Ken g6
Doxygen is a documentation system for C++, C, Java, Objective-C, Python, IDL (Corba and Microsoft flavors), Fortran, VHDL, PHP, C#, and to some extent D.
Natural Docs
Platform: Cross-platform (Perl)
More data: http://www.naturaldocs.org/
Natural Docs is an open-source documentation generator for multiple programming languages.
Ghostdoc
Platform: Windows
More data: http://ghostdoc.12.forumer.com/
GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#.
XML Utilities
SAXON
Platform: Windows (.NET)/Java
More data:
An open source XSLT processor and XML transformation tool.
Liquid XML Studio 2011
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.liquid-technologies.com/xml-studio.aspx
A free version of Liquid's XML IDE.
XML Notepad 2007
Platform: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905339.aspx
XML Notepad 2007 provides a simple intuitive user interface for browsing and editing XML documents.
XPath Builder
Platform: Windows .NET 2.0
More data: http://www.bubasoft.net/xpathbuilder/Xpathbuilder2.aspx
Buba XPath builder that enables you to evaluate an XPath expression.
Web Development
Dojo Toolkit
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://dojotoolkit.org/
Complete javascript web development framework
Ruby on Rails
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.rubyonrails.org/
The Rails web development framework for the Ruby language.
Google Web Toolkit
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/
A set of javascript libraries for ajax and other web 2.0 interface behaviors.
Yahoo User Interface Library
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/
A set of javascript libraries with a lot of good Yahoo UI stuff in them.
ExtJS
Platform: Cross-platform (javascript)
More data: http://extjs.com/
Ext JS is a cross-browser JavaScript library for building rich internet applications.
jQuery
Platform: Cross-platform (javascript)
More data: http://jquery.com/
jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.
Joomla!
Platform: Apache, IIS
More data: http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla.html
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications.
DotNetNuke
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/
DotNetNuke® is the most widely adopted open source framework for website content management and web application development on Microsoft ASP.NET
Umbraco
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://umbraco.org/
Umbraco is an open source content management system for Windows ASP.NET web development.
*Kentico
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.kentico.com/
Kentico CMS for ASP.NET, flexible, all-in-one solution for web developers.
NeatUpload
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET), Linux (Mono, XSP)
More data: http://www.brettle.com/neatupload
The NeatUpload ? ASP.NET component allows developers to stream uploaded files to storage (filesystem or database) and allows users to monitor upload progress.
MicroMighty SDK
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://micromighty.com/SDK/
The MicroMighty Software Development Kit (SDK) is a ASP.NET project for developers that demonstrates the usage and abilities of the SDK namespaces and components through sample files and source code.
*Devexpress 60 Free Controls
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.devexpress.com/Prod...ree/WebRegistration60/
DevExpress is happy to offer you over 60 DevExpress controls free of charge ? without royalties or distribution costs. (Mod note: this offering requires creating an account and providing contact information).
Microsoft AJAX Control Toolkit
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/V...ame=AjaxControlToolkit
The AJAX Control Toolkit is a joint project between the community and Microsoft. Built upon the ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Extensions, the Toolkit aims to be the biggest and best collection of web-client components available.
Microsoft WebMatrix
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/
WebMatrix is a free web development tool from Microsoft that includes everything you need for website development.
Web and Application Servers
XAMPP for Windows (Linux, OSX, Solaris)
Platform: Windows, Linux, Solaris
More data: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Multiplatform webserver bundle including latest versions of Apache, PHP4/5, MySQL, OpenSSL, FileZilla FTP Server and Mercury Mail all in an easy to install bundle
MediaWiki
Platform: Linux (Apache), Windows (IIS)
More data: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free software wiki package originally written for Wikipedia.
Source Code Control
Subversion
Platform: Windows/Linux (Deb, Fed)/OS X/Others
More data: http://subversion.tigris.org/features.html
An increasingly popular alternative to CVS/CVSNT.
CVS
Platform: Linux/Others
More data: http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
Concurrent Versions System (CVS), links to downloads on first page.
CVSNT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVSNT
The open source Win32 port of CVS from March-Hare; download option on the lower right.
Git
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Others
More data:
An increasingly popular alternative SCM.
TortoiseSVN
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://tortoisesvn.net/
Probably the best Explorer-based front-end to Subversion
TortoiseCVS
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://www.tortoisecvs.org/
Probably the best Explorer-based front-end to CVS
Subversive
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Eclipse
More data: http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/
An official Eclipse plug-in for Subversion integration.
AnkhSVN
Platform: Windows
More data: http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/
AnkhSVN is a Subversion SourceControl Provider for Visual Studio. The software allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE
Syntevo SmartSVN/SmartCVS/SmartGIT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.syntevo.com/index.html
Syntevo produces a line of graphical clients for the major SCM systems. The "Foundation" version of each of these tools is free for any use.
Testing and QA Tools
(*)TestDriven.NET
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://www.testdriven.net/overview.aspx
An integrated unit-testing framework for Visual Studio that supports nUnit and other popular test drivers.
nUnit
Platform: Windows, .NET
More data: http://www.nunit.org/index.php?p=home
An open source .NET port of jUnit written in C#.
JUnit
Platform: Java Runtime/SDK
More data: http://www.junit.org/
An open source test driver framework for Java development.
Debugging and Forensic Tools
Fiddler2
Platform: Windows, IE 9.0+
More data: http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/
A debugging web proxy component for IE 9.0+.
Firebug
Platform: Windows/Linux, Firefox 3.x
More data:
An indispensable web debugger for Firefox.
Valgrind
Platform: Linux
More data: http://valgrind.org/
An instrumentation framework for debugging and profiling.
Sandcastle
Platform: Windows/Visual Studio/.NET
More data: [Beta]
Sandcastle produces accurate, MSDN style, comprehensive documentation by reflecting over the source assemblies and optionally integrating XML Documentation Comments.
Dependency Walker
Platform: Windows (X86/X64/IA64)
More data: http://www.dependencywalker.com/
Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules.
(*)OllyDebug
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.ollydbg.de/
OllyDbg is a 32-bit assembler level analysing debugger for Microsoft® Windows®. Emphasis on binary code analysis makes it particularly useful in cases where source is unavailable. OllyDbg is a shareware, but you can download and use it for free.
Process Hacker
Platform: Windows
More data: http://processhacker.sourceforge.net/
Process Hacker is a feature-packed tool for manipulating processes and services on your computer.
Gnu Data Display Debugger
Platform: Linux/Unix
More data: http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/
GNU DDD is a graphical front-end for command-line debuggers such as GDB, DBX, WDB, Ladebug, JDB, XDB, the Perl debugger, the bash debugger bashdb, the GNU Make debugger remake, or the Python debugger pydb.
Oracle Java Visual VM
Platform: Multiplatform
More data: http://visualvm.java.net/index.html
VisualVM is a visual tool integrating several commandline JDK tools and lightweight profiling capabilities. Designed for both production and development time use, it further enhances the capability of monitoring and performance analysis for the Java SE platform.
Diagramming and Design
Dia
Platform: Linux, Unix, Windows
More data: http://live.gnome.org/Dia
Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix and Windows released under the GPL license.
Umbrello UML Modeller
Platform: Linux/KDE
More data: http://uml.sourceforge.net/index.php
Umbrello UML Modeller is a Unified Modelling Language diagram programme for KDE, that allows you to create diagrams of software and other systems in a standard format.
Toolkits and Frameworks
Krypton Toolkit
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.componentfactory.com/products.php#toolkit
Krypton Toolkit takes over where Windows Forms stops; with its combination of global palettes and deep customizability, you can use this toolkit to create professional user interfaces.
Cygwin
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.cygwin.com/
Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of a DLL which acts as a Linux API emulation layer, providing substantial Linux API functionality, and a collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel.
Content Tools
Paint.NET
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.getpaint.net/features.html
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows.
Gimp
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac, Sun, FreeBSD
More data: http://www.gimp.org/features/
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
Resource Hacker
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res).
Installation and Deployment Tools
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
Platform: Windows
More data: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source system to create Windows installers.
Windows Installer XML (WiX)
Platform: Windows
More data: http://wix.sourceforge.net/
The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code.
InnoSetup
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
Inno Setup is a free installer for Windows programs. First introduced in 1997, Inno Setup today rivals and even surpasses many commercial installers in feature set and stability.
IS Tool
Platform: Windows
More data: http://sourceforge.net/projects/istool/
ISTool is a visual script editor/generator for Jordan Russell's Inno Setup compiler.
Free Online Tools
RegEx Library
Platform: Web
More data: N/A
RegExLib.com, the Internet's first Regular Expression Library.
RULES
1. The tool must be free for the download. Free versions of commercial tools are allowed as long as the license you receive on download does not expire in less than a year.
2. The tool must be generally useful in the creation of a complete application or system. This is pretty broad, but if we allow databases, for example, it's hard to rule out image editors. You guys decide what's important.
3. Submit recommendations by replying to this thread. Include:
a) the link, which should point directly to the download page;
b) an optional link to an information or documentation page;
c) the accepted name of the program (i.e. as it appears on the developer's site);
d) a category/platform tag, i.e. "Java IDE/Linux", or "Hex editor/Windows";
e) an optional one sentence description.
4. Please review the current list before submitting your recommendation. Someone else may have submitted ahead of you.
5. Any and all operating systems and platforms are encouraged, from Windows and Linux to OSX and Symbian.
Submitters please keep the thread focused. Discussion of suitability of recommendations is allowed. Rants/raves are not.
Please reply to this thread with corrections or updates.
/** The AT Programmers List of Free Tools */
The following tools are free for personal use (at least), and have been recommended by the members of the Anandtech Programming forum. The top link in each entry is the download link. If pages with additional information are available they are linked under "More data". If there is no additional information link then the download and information pages are the same.
Entries may be preceeded by the following tags:
(b) - the software is a beta release, and may have stability or correctness problems
(*) - the software has some license restrictions and may not be free in all usage scenarios
IDE's, Compilers, and Editors
Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Express Editions
Platform: Windows, 32/64, Windows Phone, Web
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/visualstud...itions/product-comparison#expressCompareTable
Free editions of Microsoft's powerful programming environment. Limited to a single language.
Microsoft XNA Game Studio 4.0
Platform: Windows 32/64, Windows Phone, Web
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb200104.aspx
A free version of Visual Studio for game developers, integrated with XNA and the content pipeline.
Microsoft Robotics Studio
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/robotics/
Microsoft® Robotics Developer Studio (RDS) is a Windows-based environment for hobbyist, academic and commercial developers to create robotics applications for a variety of hardware platforms.
MASM32 SDK Version 10
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.masm32.com/
The MASM32 SDK version 10 is a working development environment for programmers who are interested in either learning or writing 32 bit Microsoft assembler (MASM).
Eclipse
Platform: Windows/Linux, any Java 5 JRE
More data: http://www.eclipse.org/
Powerful Java-based IDE for multi-language development, including Java and C/C++.
Gnu C/C++ (GCC)
Platform: Windows/Linux/AIX/DOS/Solaris/Etc.
More data: http://gcc.gnu.org/
The Free Software Foundation's implementation of ANSI C/C++.
Python
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/others
More data: http://www.python.org/
The Python programming language from Python.org
Perl
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/lots
More data: http://www.perl.org/about.html
The Perl programming language from perl.org
PHP
Platform: Windows/Linux/Solaris/others
More data: http://www.php.net/
The PHP hypertext preprocessor language (included with most *nix distros)
Ruby
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.ruby-lang.org/en/
The Ruby programming language
Erlang
Platform: Windows/Linux/Others
More data: http://www.erlang.org/
A language for concurrent programming developed by Ericsson.
Haskell
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Solaris
More data: http://www.haskell.org/
Haskell is a language for expressing the functional programming paradigm.
Snippet Compiler
Platform: Windows, .Net 2.0,3.5
More data:
Jeff Key's indispensable code snippet compiler for .Net developers.
SciTE
Platform: Windows/Linux
More data: http://www.scintilla.org/SciTE.html
SciTE is a portable source code editor, with syntax highlighting and other features.
jEdit
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.jedit.org/
Portable source code editor written in Java, with syntax highlighting and other features.
Notepad++
Platform: Windows
More data: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm
Programmer's editor with syntax highlighting and many add-ons.
NetBeans
Platform: Windows, Linux, others
More data: http://www.netbeans.org
Multilanguage and platform IDE, originally for JAVA (SE, EE & Mobile) but now natively supports Ruby, C, C++, PHP and of course UML.
Vim and GVim
Platform: Windows, Linux, Unix, others
More data: http://www.vim.org/
Vim is an advanced text editor that seeks to provide the power of the de-facto Unix editor 'Vi', with a more complete feature set.
TextWrangler
Platform: Mac
More data: http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/
TextWrangler is the powerful general purpose text editor, and Unix and server administrator?s tool.
ConTEXT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.contexteditor.org/
ConTEXT is a small, fast and powerful freeware text editor, developed to serve as a secondary tool for software developers.
Microsoft Small Basic
Platform: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ff384126.aspx
Small Basic is a project that's aimed at bringing "fun" back to programming, by providing a small and easy to learn programming language in a friendly and inviting development environment.
(*)Atari lite-C
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.3dgamestudio.com/litec.php
The game programming language lite-C was developed by Conitec in cooperation with Atari, Inc, and is intended for quickly and easily developing graphics or virtual reality applications - such as 2D or 3D computer games - even without previous programming knowledge.
AMD x86 Open64 Compiler Suite
Platform: Linux
More data: http://developer.amd.com/CPU/OPEN64/Pages/default.aspx
The x86 Open64 compiler system is a high performance, production quality code generation tool designed for high performance parallel computing workloads.
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soapUI
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.soapui.org/
soapUI is the leading tool for Web Service Testing. With more than 950 000 downloads, it's the most used tool for SOA testing in the world.
(*)JCreator
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.jcreator.com/index.htm
JCreator is a Java IDE written in C++. The free version includes everything but the debugger and code completion.
Code::Blocks
Platform: Cross-platform (Windows/Linux/mac)
More data: http://www.codeblocks.org/
Code::Blocks is a free C++ IDE built to meet the most demanding needs of its users.
JWasm
Platform: Precompiled for DOS, Windows, Linux
More data: http://www.japheth.de/JWasm.html
JWasm is a free MASM-compatible assembler. In addition to the precompiled binaries source is available and there are makefiles for OS/2 and FreeBSD.
Gnu Octave
Platform: Linux, Mac, Windows, Sun
More data: http://www.gnu.org/software/octave/
GNU Octave is a high-level interpreted language, primarily intended for numerical computations. It provides capabilities for the numerical solution of linear and nonlinear problems, and for performing other numerical experiments.
Intellij IDEA
Platform: multiplatform
More data: http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/
IntelliJ IDEA is a code-centric IDE focused on developer productivity. The editor deeply understands your code and knows its way around the codebase, makes great suggestions right when you need them, and is always ready to help you shape your code.
Komodo Edit
Platform: Windows, Mac, Linux
More data: http://www.activestate.com/komodo-edit
Komodo Edit is a fast, smart, free and open-source code editor. Switching your trusty code editor is hard, but give Komodo Edit (or its big brother Komodo IDE) a try: it'll be worth your while.
Class Libraries (C++, Java, .Net, others)
Joda-time
Platform: Java runtime
More data: http://joda-time.sourceforge.net/
Joda-Time provides a quality replacement for the Java date and time classes. The design allows for multiple calendar systems, while still providing a simple API.
http://sprng.cs.fsu.edu/Version4.0/quick-start.html
Platform: Independent
More data: http://sprng.cs.fsu.edu/
SPRNG 1.0 provides the user the various SPRNG random number generators each in its own library.
File Utilities
HHD Hex Editor Neo
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.hhdsoftware.com/Pro...e/hex-editor-free.html
A powerful hex editor for Windows.
.NET Resourcer
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.lutzroeder.com/dotnet/
Lutz Roeder's editor for all .NET resource file formats.
Skater .NET Obfuscator
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.rustemsoft.com/SkaterDoc/index.html
Skater is a security tool for obfuscating .NET assemblies to protect the IP content of source code and resources.
7-zip
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac-OS X
More data: http://www.7-zip.org/
7-zip is a cross-platform file compression utility and archive manager.
CSDiff 5
Platform: Windows
More data: http://download.cnet.com/CSDif...0351784.html?tag=mncol
This program compares lists of folders and document contents, but operates only on plain text files.
Path Copy Copy
Platform: Windows
More data: http://pathcopycopy.codeplex.com/
A Windows Explorer add-on that adds a contextual menu item on all files and folders allowing the user to copy the path in various formats. Idea copied from "Path Copy".
PowerEXT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://powerext.codeplex.com/
PowerExt can display assembly name, assembly version, public key etc in Windows Explorer. It's a Windows Explorer extension written in C++. For .NET Assemblies (dll and exe files) it adds an additional .NET tab to the Windows Explorer's File Properties dialog.
Free Commander
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.freecommander.com/index.htm
FreeCommander is an easy-to-use alternative to the standard windows file manager. The program helps you with daily work in Windows.
WinMerge
Platform: Windows
More data: http://winmerge.org/
FileLocator Lite
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.mythicsoft.com/page.aspx?type=filelocatorlite&page=home
FileLocator Lite is a free reduced functionality version of FileLocator Pro. It is free for both personal and commercial use.
Databases and Tools
Microsoft SQL Server Express
Platform: Windows, 32/64
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/sqlserver/en/us/product-info/compare.aspx
Free desktop edition of Microsoft's powerful SQL Server DBMS
SQL Server Compact Edition
Platforms: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/data/ff687142
SQL Server Compact is a free SQL Server embedded database that is ideal for building stand-alone and occasionally connected applications for mobile devices, desktops, and Web clients.
MySQL
Platform: Windows/Linux/SUN OS/virtually all
More data: http://www.mysql.com/
The most popular open source SQL database client/server system.
MySQL GUI Tools
Platform: Windows, Linux, others
More data: http://www.mysql.com
Multiplatform set of tools to make administrating and maintaining MySQL databases a lot easier; includes Query Browser, Migration Toolkit and of course Administrator.
MySQL Workbench
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.mysql.com/products/workbench/
MySQL Workbench enables a DBA, developer, or data architect to visually design, generate, and manage all types of databases including Web, OLTP, and data warehouse databases.
PostgreSQL
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Solaris/FreeBSD
More data: http://www.postgresql.org/about/
A powerful open source SQL database server platform
Schemester
Platform: Windows/Oracle
More data:
A good visual database schema design and code generation tool for Oracle
Query Express
Platform: Windows/SQL (OLE-DB)
More data:
A very small and fast Query Analyser replacement for working with any OLE-DB compliant database.
Oracle SQL Developer
Platform: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, Other
More data: http://www.oracle.com/technology/products/database/sql_developer/index.html
Oracle SQL Developer is a free and fully supported graphical tool for database development.
Hibernate
Platform: Java, .NET
More data: http://www.hibernate.org/
A cross-platform persistence framework for Java and .NET
DBVisualizer
Platform: Windows, MAC, Linux x86, Unix
More data: http://www.dbvis.com/products/dbvis/
A database tool useful for developers and database administrators, it is the perfect solution since the same tool can be used on all major operating systems accessing a wide range of databases.
LINQPad
Platform: Windows (.NET 3.5+)
More data: http://www.linqpad.net/
LINQPad lets you interactively query SQL databases in a modern query language: LINQ. Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio!
Toad for MySQL Freeware (Registration required)
Platform: Windows (.NET 2.0)
More data: http://www.quest.com/toad-for-mysql/
Quest Software's Toad for MySQL leverages Quest Software's database expertise to empower MySQL developers and administrators, of varying skill levels, to rapidly create and execute queries, automate database object management and develop SQL code more efficiently.
SQLite
Platform: Cross Platform (Mac, Linux, Windows)
More data: http://www.sqlite.org/
SQLite is a software library that implements a self-contained, serverless, zero-configuration, transactional SQL database engine.
Teaming and Communications
Pastebin
Platform: Any web browser
More data: http://pastebin.com/pastebin.php?help=1
Pastebin is here to help you collaborate and share code snippets.
Doxygen
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac OS X
More data: https://www.doxygen.nl/index.html Links fixed 6/2024 - Moderator Ken g6
Doxygen is a documentation system for C++, C, Java, Objective-C, Python, IDL (Corba and Microsoft flavors), Fortran, VHDL, PHP, C#, and to some extent D.
Natural Docs
Platform: Cross-platform (Perl)
More data: http://www.naturaldocs.org/
Natural Docs is an open-source documentation generator for multiple programming languages.
Ghostdoc
Platform: Windows
More data: http://ghostdoc.12.forumer.com/
GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#.
XML Utilities
SAXON
Platform: Windows (.NET)/Java
More data:
An open source XSLT processor and XML transformation tool.
Liquid XML Studio 2011
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.liquid-technologies.com/xml-studio.aspx
A free version of Liquid's XML IDE.
XML Notepad 2007
Platform: Windows
More data: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa905339.aspx
XML Notepad 2007 provides a simple intuitive user interface for browsing and editing XML documents.
XPath Builder
Platform: Windows .NET 2.0
More data: http://www.bubasoft.net/xpathbuilder/Xpathbuilder2.aspx
Buba XPath builder that enables you to evaluate an XPath expression.
Web Development
Dojo Toolkit
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://dojotoolkit.org/
Complete javascript web development framework
Ruby on Rails
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X
More data: http://www.rubyonrails.org/
The Rails web development framework for the Ruby language.
Google Web Toolkit
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://code.google.com/webtoolkit/
A set of javascript libraries for ajax and other web 2.0 interface behaviors.
Yahoo User Interface Library
Platform: Cross-browser javascript
More data: http://developer.yahoo.com/yui/
A set of javascript libraries with a lot of good Yahoo UI stuff in them.
ExtJS
Platform: Cross-platform (javascript)
More data: http://extjs.com/
Ext JS is a cross-browser JavaScript library for building rich internet applications.
jQuery
Platform: Cross-platform (javascript)
More data: http://jquery.com/
jQuery is a fast and concise JavaScript Library that simplifies HTML document traversing, event handling, animating, and Ajax interactions for rapid web development.
Joomla!
Platform: Apache, IIS
More data: http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla.html
Joomla is an award-winning content management system (CMS), which enables you to build Web sites and powerful online applications.
DotNetNuke
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.dotnetnuke.com/
DotNetNuke® is the most widely adopted open source framework for website content management and web application development on Microsoft ASP.NET
Umbraco
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://umbraco.org/
Umbraco is an open source content management system for Windows ASP.NET web development.
*Kentico
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.kentico.com/
Kentico CMS for ASP.NET, flexible, all-in-one solution for web developers.
NeatUpload
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET), Linux (Mono, XSP)
More data: http://www.brettle.com/neatupload
The NeatUpload ? ASP.NET component allows developers to stream uploaded files to storage (filesystem or database) and allows users to monitor upload progress.
MicroMighty SDK
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://micromighty.com/SDK/
The MicroMighty Software Development Kit (SDK) is a ASP.NET project for developers that demonstrates the usage and abilities of the SDK namespaces and components through sample files and source code.
*Devexpress 60 Free Controls
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.devexpress.com/Prod...ree/WebRegistration60/
DevExpress is happy to offer you over 60 DevExpress controls free of charge ? without royalties or distribution costs. (Mod note: this offering requires creating an account and providing contact information).
Microsoft AJAX Control Toolkit
Platform: Windows (ASP.NET)
More data: http://www.codeplex.com/Wiki/V...ame=AjaxControlToolkit
The AJAX Control Toolkit is a joint project between the community and Microsoft. Built upon the ASP.NET 3.5 AJAX Extensions, the Toolkit aims to be the biggest and best collection of web-client components available.
Microsoft WebMatrix
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.microsoft.com/web/webmatrix/
WebMatrix is a free web development tool from Microsoft that includes everything you need for website development.
Web and Application Servers
XAMPP for Windows (Linux, OSX, Solaris)
Platform: Windows, Linux, Solaris
More data: http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html
Multiplatform webserver bundle including latest versions of Apache, PHP4/5, MySQL, OpenSSL, FileZilla FTP Server and Mercury Mail all in an easy to install bundle
MediaWiki
Platform: Linux (Apache), Windows (IIS)
More data: http://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki
MediaWiki is a free software wiki package originally written for Wikipedia.
Source Code Control
Subversion
Platform: Windows/Linux (Deb, Fed)/OS X/Others
More data: http://subversion.tigris.org/features.html
An increasingly popular alternative to CVS/CVSNT.
CVS
Platform: Linux/Others
More data: http://www.nongnu.org/cvs/
Concurrent Versions System (CVS), links to downloads on first page.
CVSNT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CVSNT
The open source Win32 port of CVS from March-Hare; download option on the lower right.
Git
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Others
More data:
An increasingly popular alternative SCM.
TortoiseSVN
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://tortoisesvn.net/
Probably the best Explorer-based front-end to Subversion
TortoiseCVS
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://www.tortoisecvs.org/
Probably the best Explorer-based front-end to CVS
Subversive
Platform: Windows/Linux/OS X/Eclipse
More data: http://www.eclipse.org/subversive/
An official Eclipse plug-in for Subversion integration.
AnkhSVN
Platform: Windows
More data: http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/
AnkhSVN is a Subversion SourceControl Provider for Visual Studio. The software allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE
Syntevo SmartSVN/SmartCVS/SmartGIT
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.syntevo.com/index.html
Syntevo produces a line of graphical clients for the major SCM systems. The "Foundation" version of each of these tools is free for any use.
Testing and QA Tools
(*)TestDriven.NET
Platform: Windows 32/64
More data: http://www.testdriven.net/overview.aspx
An integrated unit-testing framework for Visual Studio that supports nUnit and other popular test drivers.
nUnit
Platform: Windows, .NET
More data: http://www.nunit.org/index.php?p=home
An open source .NET port of jUnit written in C#.
JUnit
Platform: Java Runtime/SDK
More data: http://www.junit.org/
An open source test driver framework for Java development.
Debugging and Forensic Tools
Fiddler2
Platform: Windows, IE 9.0+
More data: http://www.fiddler2.com/fiddler2/
A debugging web proxy component for IE 9.0+.
Firebug
Platform: Windows/Linux, Firefox 3.x
More data:
An indispensable web debugger for Firefox.
Valgrind
Platform: Linux
More data: http://valgrind.org/
An instrumentation framework for debugging and profiling.
Sandcastle
Platform: Windows/Visual Studio/.NET
More data: [Beta]
Sandcastle produces accurate, MSDN style, comprehensive documentation by reflecting over the source assemblies and optionally integrating XML Documentation Comments.
Dependency Walker
Platform: Windows (X86/X64/IA64)
More data: http://www.dependencywalker.com/
Dependency Walker is a free utility that scans any 32-bit or 64-bit Windows module (exe, dll, ocx, sys, etc.) and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependent modules.
(*)OllyDebug
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.ollydbg.de/
OllyDbg is a 32-bit assembler level analysing debugger for Microsoft® Windows®. Emphasis on binary code analysis makes it particularly useful in cases where source is unavailable. OllyDbg is a shareware, but you can download and use it for free.
Process Hacker
Platform: Windows
More data: http://processhacker.sourceforge.net/
Process Hacker is a feature-packed tool for manipulating processes and services on your computer.
Gnu Data Display Debugger
Platform: Linux/Unix
More data: http://www.gnu.org/software/ddd/
GNU DDD is a graphical front-end for command-line debuggers such as GDB, DBX, WDB, Ladebug, JDB, XDB, the Perl debugger, the bash debugger bashdb, the GNU Make debugger remake, or the Python debugger pydb.
Oracle Java Visual VM
Platform: Multiplatform
More data: http://visualvm.java.net/index.html
VisualVM is a visual tool integrating several commandline JDK tools and lightweight profiling capabilities. Designed for both production and development time use, it further enhances the capability of monitoring and performance analysis for the Java SE platform.
Diagramming and Design
Dia
Platform: Linux, Unix, Windows
More data: http://live.gnome.org/Dia
Dia is a GTK+ based diagram creation program for Linux, Unix and Windows released under the GPL license.
Umbrello UML Modeller
Platform: Linux/KDE
More data: http://uml.sourceforge.net/index.php
Umbrello UML Modeller is a Unified Modelling Language diagram programme for KDE, that allows you to create diagrams of software and other systems in a standard format.
Toolkits and Frameworks
Krypton Toolkit
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.componentfactory.com/products.php#toolkit
Krypton Toolkit takes over where Windows Forms stops; with its combination of global palettes and deep customizability, you can use this toolkit to create professional user interfaces.
Cygwin
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.cygwin.com/
Cygwin is a Linux-like environment for Windows. It consists of a DLL which acts as a Linux API emulation layer, providing substantial Linux API functionality, and a collection of tools which provide Linux look and feel.
Content Tools
Paint.NET
Platform: Windows .NET
More data: http://www.getpaint.net/features.html
Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows.
Gimp
Platform: Windows, Linux, Mac, Sun, FreeBSD
More data: http://www.gimp.org/features/
GIMP is the GNU Image Manipulation Program, and is a freely distributed piece of software for such tasks as photo retouching, image composition and image authoring.
Resource Hacker
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
Resource HackerTM is a freeware utility to view, modify, rename, add, delete and extract resources in 32bit Windows executables and resource files (*.res).
Installation and Deployment Tools
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
Platform: Windows
More data: http://nsis.sourceforge.net/Main_Page
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source system to create Windows installers.
Windows Installer XML (WiX)
Platform: Windows
More data: http://wix.sourceforge.net/
The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code.
InnoSetup
Platform: Windows
More data: http://www.jrsoftware.org/isinfo.php
Inno Setup is a free installer for Windows programs. First introduced in 1997, Inno Setup today rivals and even surpasses many commercial installers in feature set and stability.
IS Tool
Platform: Windows
More data: http://sourceforge.net/projects/istool/
ISTool is a visual script editor/generator for Jordan Russell's Inno Setup compiler.
Free Online Tools
RegEx Library
Platform: Web
More data: N/A
RegExLib.com, the Internet's first Regular Expression Library.
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