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My Development Tools

The last two Octobers, I took a moment to reflect on the development tools I was using.  It's interesting to see what sticks, and what doesn't.  Unfortunately, my 2005 list is lost in the aether, but here is the link to 2006, and more importantly the list from last year...

Tools I Really Used in 2007:

  • ReSharper, a productivity enhancer for Visual Studio and often referred to as R#.  I've preached the virtues of the product many times before.  Unfortunately, it's not ready for VS2008 as many have lamented iStock_000003150423XSmalland many have criticized.  But, when it is you better watch out!

  • SQL Prompt from Red Gate. Amazing IntelliSense type behavior for SQL as well as your custom schemas.  Makes me wish I was doing more SQL work sometimes. I also use their SQL Compare and SQL Data Compare products frequently to sync up databases.

  • Subversion, often referred to as SVN. This has been my source control of choice for the last four years.

  • TortoiseSVN, SVN client for Windows. I still use this, but I am enamored with...

  • VisualSVN, a Visual Studio plugin for integrating SVN. Well worth the money.  It has made using SVN in Visual Studio effortless.

  • TopStyle, an excellent CSS editor that has been in my toolbox for years now.

  • Firebug, an essential for Web developers! Did I mention that it is essential?

  • Unfuddle, a lot like BaseCamp (which we continue to use).  It's a project communication app with integrated SVN.  It fills a gap that BaseCamp misses, providing "tickets" for tracking bugs, change requests, etc.  However, there are still some things BaseCamp is better at.

  • MbUnit, my xUnit testing framework of choice.  I really like MbUnit, though R# support has been weak.  (I think it's was R# 3.0's fault though).

  • NHibernate, the darling object-relation mapper (O\R M) for .NET. This really simplifies data access a lot.  However, getting started can be a barrier. Our own Billy can help you out though.

  • Rhino.Mocks, a mocking framework for doing TDD/BDD.  I have really enjoyed using this (after I was able to grok it).  I will confess though that all of the controversy about TypeMock has peaked my interest.

  • Castle\MonoRail, we had our first big MonoRail project.  So we spent about 3 months really working with MonoRail.  I don't care to ever see an ASPX page again. We have also been using Windsor in a complicated WPF application.

  • Prototype and Scriptaculous, two related JavaScript frameworks.  MonoRail has some built-in support for these, and they are prevalent in the RoR community.  I have been very impressed and pleased with both, though some recent reading is leading me to consider jQuery.

  • EditPlus, I'm wandering if maybe I am stuck in my old ways here.  I know that there are lots of text editors out there.  I've been using this one for about 8+ years.  It's fast, and easy though.  Any suggestions?

  • Adobe Flash CS3, try as I might, I always seem to end up with a Flash project. So while I'm making this confession, I should also list...

  • FlashDevelop, a free, open-source IDE for ActionScript written in .NET.  This along with some related tools has made Flash\ActionScript much less painful.

  • .NET 3.0, we made heavy use of WPF and WCF on a major project. We were really excited about the results, and fortunately the client was pleased and they are bring us back for more in 2008.

  • Expression Blend 2.0, for editing XAML for WPF.  Even though 2.0 isn't released I found it superior to 1.0.  I can't say that I am ecstatic with this tool, it has its flaws, but think it is headed in the right direction.

  • Draco.NET for continuous integration.  I found it much easier to setup that CC.NET.  See my post about it here.  I am recently interested in TeamCity

  • Lutz Roeder's Reflector, I've solved a lot of problems though decompiling (even my own assembly once!)

I could go on, and on, but this list is getting pretty lengthy.  So now, contribute! What are your tools?


Posted 01-25-2008 9:52 AM by Christopher Bennage
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Comments

Brennan’s Blog » Blog Archive » Top “must have” Tools for Software Development wrote Brennan’s Blog » Blog Archive » Top “must have” Tools for Software Development
on 01-25-2008 12:10 PM

Pingback from  Brennan’s Blog  » Blog Archive   » Top “must have” Tools for Software Development

Basecamp » My Development Tools wrote Basecamp » My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 12:14 PM

Pingback from  Basecamp » My Development Tools

Wayne wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 1:26 PM

One indispensable tool I use daily that you didn't mention:  Textpad - http://www.textpad.com/

It's the best plain text editor I've ever used.  

El Guapo wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 1:42 PM

Assembly comparison tool : http://www.bitdiffer.com

Carlos Arango wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 2:03 PM
Instead of Unfuddle, I like assembla: http://www.assembla.com/ An for text editing I use notepad++: http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/
» Recommendations From My Developer Toolbox (January 2008) Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links, development, gadgets and raising rugrats. wrote » Recommendations From My Developer Toolbox (January 2008) Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links, development, gadgets and raising rugrats.
on 01-25-2008 2:34 PM

Pingback from  » Recommendations From My Developer Toolbox (January 2008) Alvin Ashcraft’s Daily Geek Bits: Daily links, development, gadgets and raising rugrats.

Gopinath wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 4:23 PM
I've been using EditPlus for over 5+ years now and it is a great tool. Fast and easy when Visual Studio chokes on opening some big log files. I've been addicted to HTTP Watch for IE. One of the best in that area.. like Firebug.
Christopher Bennage wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-25-2008 4:43 PM

@Gopinath, yeah, that whole "fast and easy" bit is hard to beat.  I was even using EditPlus to play with Boo.  I downloaded the syntax file for Python and that got me enough color coding to feel at ease.  :-P  It's an addiction isn't it?

Justin-Josef Angel [MVP] wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-26-2008 3:37 AM

Hi Christopher,

Great Post.

Two quick recommandations:

You should have a look at Expression Web for your CSS Editing needs. It's a very solid and helpful product.

As for FireBug, take a look at the IE Developer toolbar and DebugBar. The combo  between the two IMHO makes them superior then FireBug.

Justin-Josef Angel [MVP] wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-26-2008 3:37 AM
Hi Christopher, Great Post. Two quick recommandations: You should have a look at Expression Web for your CSS Editing needs. It's a very solid and helpful product. As for FireBug, take a look at the IE Developer toolbar and DebugBar. The combo between the two IMHO makes them superior then FireBug.
Mind Gravy » Blog Archive » links for 2008-01-26 wrote Mind Gravy » Blog Archive » links for 2008-01-26
on 01-26-2008 7:31 AM

Pingback from  Mind Gravy  » Blog Archive   » links for 2008-01-26

Jeff Brown wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-28-2008 2:21 AM

All told, that's quite a nice list up there.  I use most of those tools myself also.

I did notice you mentioned R# support for MbUnit as a sticking point.

Albert Weinert wrote a R# plugin for MbUnit which you can get here: der-albert.com/.../mbunit-plugin-beta-2-for-resharper-3.1-and-mbunit-2.x.aspx

Also MbUnit v3 now has native fully-featured R# support bundled in.  This support also extends to MbUnit v2 and other frameworks supported by the Gallio platform.  Expect to see this in the upcoming MbUnit v3 Alpha 2 release soon.

Cheers.

P.S.  Your CAPTCHA gave me a hard time in FireFox with NoScript.

Christopher Steen wrote Link Listing - January 27, 2008
on 01-28-2008 2:40 AM

MSBuild MSBuildContrib January Release [Via: Scott Dorman ] Sharepoint SharePoint Lists as DataTables...

Christopher Steen wrote Link Listing - January 27, 2008
on 01-28-2008 2:40 AM

Link Listing - January 27, 2008

Ahmed wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-28-2008 7:24 AM

I use plugin RGreatEx for the ReSharper for moving strings to resource. It's very helpful ReSharper extension.

Christopher Bennage wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-28-2008 10:00 AM

@Jeff, thanks I hadn't checked on it in several weeks. Prior to R#3.1, it was a bit more troublesome.

@Ahmed, cool, I'll check that out.

Tom Opgenorth wrote re: My Development Tools
on 01-28-2008 1:23 PM
I keep a list of my toolbox here: http://www.opgenorth.net/softwaretools.aspx
http://devlicious.com/blogs/christopher_bennage/archive/2008/01/25/my-development-tools.aspx wrote http://devlicious.com/blogs/christopher_bennage/archive/2008/01/25/my-development-tools.aspx
on 03-26-2008 4:52 AM

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