Environment / assumptions for this post:
Here are a few tools I've been using day to day that have come in very useful during normal development activities. I'm sure there are many alternatives to each of these, but these are either my favourites or maybe just what I've gotten used to.
Note: for useful programs equivalent to those below, checkout my post on the
Linux Desktop in the workplace.
Cygwin
Cygwin is a collection of GNU and Open Source tools - basically Linux on Windows. If you have to use Windows for development and your servers are Linux based, then Cygwin can be greatly helpful. I love to use it for
troubleshooting remote JVMs with JConsole, and use it for
ssh shell access to the servers.
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Cygwin terminal on Windows 7 - remotely connected to Linux
server with SSH and showing JConsole |
Notepad++
Runner-up: Textpad
This is a
great text editor - free, governed by GPL. Every day I take advantage of features like:
- all the usual multiple tabs, syntax highlighting, multiple encodings, etc.
- good regex support
- if you close the program, you can restart with all your files/tabs intact even if they weren't saved
- even for searching the contents of files in a directory hierarchy
 |
| Notepadd++ - multiple tabs, and lots more |
WinMerge
This is an Open Source diff / merge tools for Windows. Very nice, you can compare individual files or whole directories, ignoring certain files if you like. You can also just cut&paste into left/right windows.
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| WinMerge - diff / merge tool for Windows |
WinDirStat
Open Source directory statistics viewer. Similar to KDirStat or QDirStat on Linux. Comes in really handy when you have a small SSD drive and are running out of space.
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| WinDirStat - directory statistics viewer |
DJ Java Decompiler
Sometime you have to go to greater lengths than normal to troubleshoot issues. In those cases, being able to decompile classes is very useful, and this is probably
the best program to do it. An earlier release is free, but the latest is $20US although it has a trial version.
 |
| DJ Java Decompiler |
LdapAdmin
The
Ldap Admin tool is also free, and allow you to connect to any Ldap server including Oracle OID. It is a nice way to search and verify things if OIDDAS isn't available, or you don't feel like using command-line tools.
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| Ldap Admin tool - connect to Ldap directories |
VLC Media Player
Every developer needs to drown out their co-workers occasionally. :) For such times,
VLC comes in handy - it is open source and multi-platform.
 |
| VLC Media Player |
Snipping Tool
Believe it or not, even some people who have been using Windows for years may not realize that a very useful accessory tool is included with Windows - the Snipping Tool. There are better tools out there but this one is right there ready to go.
 |
| Microsoft's Snipping Tool |
IrfanView
This is freeware, so free for personal or educational use but otherwise $12US. I suppose there are newer free image viewers, but I've been using this for a long time and I'm used to it. Very small and fast, easy to do simple manipulations. It is
found here.
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| IfranView - nice little fast image viewer |
