Official Free Tools Thread

[BadRobot]

do we want to include paint.net? its not exactly a programming tool but I use it instead of photoshop for making things for websites...

 

[Markbnj]

Thanks for the contris, guys. Added.

However, Badrobot, I'm not sure about Paint.Net. I'd like to hear some other opinions. Clearly it is a tool lots of developers use, but it seems to me that it's really unrelated to code or system development. We could call it a resource tool, I suppose.

Any thoughts?

 

[imported_Dhaval00]

I vote for Paint.NET. It has been a life-saver for some of the developers I work with. The company doesn't want to shell out money for Photoshop-like applications, and mostly for Web development, Paint.NET is sufficient.

It could be under "Imaging Tools?"

 

[BadRobot]

Do we want to include CMS such as joomla, http://www.joomla.org/about-joomla.html if so i'll reply with the proper form you requested etc

 

[nordloewelabs]

first of all, great thread!
my suggestion makes the editing of XML a lot easier!



XML Utilities
XML Notepad 2007
Platform: Windows .NET
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.

 

[Markbnj]

Good stuff guys, thanks. Updated.

 

[imported_Dhaval00]

I would also add GIMP under Paint .NET. It has the best user's manual I have seen in a long time. Not to argue, the tool itself is pretty cool.

http://www.gimp.org/

For Unix*, Mac OS X, and Windows.


Also, someone had suggested XPathBuilder in the forums for figuring out XPath queries. I thought it was pretty cool... has Intellisense of sorts.
http://www.bubasoft.net/xpathbuilder/Xpathbuilder2.aspx - .NET 2.0 or greater.

Along those same lines, Liquid XML Studio now has a free "Community Edition."
http://www.liquid-technologies...mlStudio_Features.aspx - Looks like Windows + .NET 2.0 or greater only.

I tried both of them on simple XML documents, and both seem to work fine.

 

[chronodekar]

I want to recommend doxygen.

http://www.stack.nl/~dimitri/doxygen/

It's a source-code documentation tool. And the MOST customizable one I've seen so far. ( As far as FREE offerings go )

Also, another VERY good documentation tool is Natural Docs,

http://www.naturaldocs.org/

That one makes it really easy for anyone to start learning about the usefulness of Source Code Documentation. Perhaps you should make a new category for that too, eh ?

Great List !!

 

[chronodekar]

Considering the current state of things, I petition that TestDriven.NET be removed from the list. It's no longer free.

This is what I base my argument on,

http://forums.anandtech.com/me...id=2244626&STARTPAGE=1

It's a sad turn of events, IMO. :brokenheart:

 

[Markbnj]

Thanks for the heads up, chronodekar. As far as I can tell there is a freely downloadable and usable version available for students and Open Source developers. I don't see how this is substantially different from the situation with, say, Visual Studio Express. I understand that a lot of people are disappointed that Testdriven.NET is no longer a completely free resource, but the point of this thread is to identify resources that individuals can grab and use. I think the free versions of Testdriven still meet the criteria. I'm open to arguments to the contrary, but for the moment I'm inclined to leave it on the list.

 

[Markbnj]

Thanks for the contris, guys. List updated.

 

[sourceninja]

xming is a great X windows server for windows. It lets me run my unix apps from my windows machine. Makes life grand.

 

[SunnyD]

SQL Server Compact Edition

(This is NOT the same as SQL Server Express)

Great for lighter-weight desktop applications that need local SQL support without having to install a full blown SQL product. Same optimizing engine that SQL Server uses, but works more like old-school Access-based applications. Supports 32 and 64 bit Windows, Native and .NET. Also has features such as being able to replicate data into full SQL Server databases.

 

[Markbnj]

Thread updated. Thanks for the contris, guys. sourceninja, I had to think about it a bit, but my feeling is not to admit x servers and virtualization tools, etc., to the list. Certainly these are useful tools for developers, but it seems to me they're really operating system components and tools. If anyone disagrees sound off and we'll discuss.

By the way, I use nxserver for the same thing. Run it on my Debian Etch box and use the client on my Windows machine.

 

[Ken g6]

Hey, guys, what about installers?

I've used the Nullsoft Scriptable Install System before. The scripting language is kind of weird - it's like assembly code for some virtual machine I've never seen otherwise - but it works.

 

[SunnyD]

Microsoft "Small Basic"
Looks like the perfect absolute beginner programming language and environment. Designed for .Net.

 

[Markbnj]

Thanks for the contris. Thread updated.

 

[Crusty]

While looking at Sandcastle I found a link to http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/

Ghostdoc is an add-in to VS.NET that makes writing comments a very easy process. With the press of a key combination it'll scan the highlighted code for patterns and generate full XML comments based on what it finds. You can completely customize the rules to match whatever coding conventions you are using, but for the most part if you follow common conventions there isn't much tweaking needed at all.

It's free for non-commercial AND commercial use too

 

[Markbnj]

Thread updated. As of this update I have begun adding tags to indicate whether a package is beta or has license restrictions in certain usage scenarios. I have reviewed the software on the current list (along with the items added in this update), however it is not always easy to find license language on the associated websites. If you believe a tool is not free in all scenarios then drop a reply on this thread and I will investigate and update the list. Please note that if a tool has a free version that is really free, and a commercial version that is separate and optional, then we list the free version without any tagging. The tag will be applied only when there is a version that is free for some use, but costs $ for others.

 

[imported_Dhaval00]

WIX (Windows Installer XML) - http://sourceforge.net/projects/wix/

The Windows Installer XML (WiX) is a toolset that builds Windows installation packages from XML source code. The toolset supports a command line environment that developers may integrate into their build processes to build MSI and MSM setup packages.

For Windows, of course.

 

[Markbnj]

Updated!

 

[Markbnj]

Originally posted by: brandseo
I like to work on Xamp . It is free and easy to use

Thanks. XAMPP is already listed.

 

[Aberforth]

No one has mentioned Content management tools here....

1. DotNetNuke
2 Umbraco
3 Kentico CMS Free Editon

----
LINQPad Standard Edition: Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio!

NeatUpload with Ajax support: The NeatUpload ? ASP.NET component allows developers to stream uploaded files to storage (filesystem or database) and allows users to monitor upload progress. It is open source and works under Mono's XSP/mod_mono as well as Microsoft's ASP.NET implementation.

MicroMighty SDK for ASP.net: The MicroMighty Software Development Kit (A.K.A. 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.
Save on R&D and use our practical examples to boost up your solution, find out more at the MicroMighty SDK page.

DevExpress 60 FREE .NET ControlsevExpress is happy to offer you over 60 DevExpress controls free of charge without royalties or distribution costs.


Microsoft Robotics Studio: Microsoft Robotics Developer Studio 2008 (RDS) is a Windows-based environment for hobbyist, academic and commercial developers to create robotics applications for a variety of hardware platforms. RDS includes a lightweight REST style, service-oriented runtime, a set of visual authoring and simulation tools, as well as tutorials and sample code to help get started.

Microsoft Ajax Control Toolkit ( 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.
~~~
Resource Hacker: http://www.angusj.com/resourcehacker/
OllyDebug: http://www.ollydbg.de/

MASM (Microsoft Assembler 32): http://www.masm32.com/
~~~
InnoSetup: Free scriptible installer for Windows environment
ISTool GUI Front End for InnoSetup: http://sourceforge.net/projects/istool/

 

[Markbnj]

Thanks for the excellent contri, Aberforth. Took a little while to get through it, but all good stuff and the thread has been updated.

 

[Rudy Toody]

I think the AMD Linux C++ compiler would be a nice addition to this list.

linky
EDIT: Sorry, the link appears to be broken.

EDIT2: It seems that everything is down, so check the link later.

Edit3: link is working. I made it direct to amd.