Questions about development tools and other tools that are useful especially to programmers.

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0
votes
5answers
367 views

What is the most effective approach to learn an unfamiliar complex program? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do you dive into large code bases? I have quite a bit of experience with different programming languages and writing small and functional programs for a variety of ...
10
votes
5answers
259 views

Is there a version control system that can show changes to a specific method or function?

Sometimes it would be nice to be able to say something like: (git|svn|hg|etc) diff Foo.c:main (git|svn|hg|etc) log log Foo.c:main to see the changes made to a specific function within a source file ...
6
votes
6answers
317 views

Requirement, architecture data capture tool

Are there any tools available for the following use case: I am planning to write a complex application and now I just know about the basic functional requirments. I am refining the functionality with ...
-2
votes
1answer
144 views

Task management tool needed [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: How do you manage your todo.txt? I am looking for some application like GoPlan, but free. Something i can manage a little programming team, so i can give them tasks to ...
6
votes
2answers
767 views

How can I practice ARM assembly on a Windows PC?

I'm interested in finding software that will allow me to play around with ARM assembly instructions on my Windows PC. Ideally I'm imagining something like python's command shell. I'd like to type in ...
4
votes
3answers
562 views

What it the best programming/developer productivity tool … you have coded youself? [closed]

Well, the question is in the subject, but I would repeat - what is the best programming/developer productivity tool you have coded yourself. A small console application or a script you hacked in a ...
151
votes
18answers
16k views

What does SVN do better than git?

No question that the majority of debates over programmer tools distill to either personal choice (by the user) or design emphasis, i.e., optimizing design according to particular uses cases (by the ...
4
votes
4answers
371 views

How much time should I devote to my toolchain?

I'm a bit of a tool nut and I'll often spend as many as 6-8 hours a week finding new tools, improving my existing tools by writing plugins or adapters or playing around with new tools to see if I like ...
11
votes
7answers
444 views

Methodologies/tools for when developing on your own

Suppose you have to develop a medium+ sized software, fully on your own. Like if it was a personal project you want to accomplish. What methodologies/tools would you use to define what needs to be ...
2
votes
2answers
177 views

Robust way to keep records of software releases?

We release a number of small plug-ins that go along with our software. Each plug-in allows our software to talk to a single manufactuer's hardware. I would like to devise a system for keeping track ...
-2
votes
2answers
166 views

Looking for a Task/Bug Management Tool - working with subcontractors [closed]

I'm a web developer who recently went freelance this year, and I'm begining to subcontract out some of the work on my projects. I'm looking for some guidance on picking the right tool(s) to help me ...
3
votes
1answer
381 views

The role of monitor screen size for a software engineer / developer / programmer [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Monitor screen size and programming ease Is the screen size of a laptop/desktop is directly proportional to the productivity of a developer? How? Is it the real estate ...
9
votes
2answers
193 views

Are there any good tools for visualizing refactoring work?

Many of my co-workers take pride in writing complex algorithms and programs, ones which take significant time to completely grok. I (strongly) tend towards the opposite end. I'm proud when I write a ...
7
votes
5answers
5k views

How can I perform sentiment analysis on extracted text from online sources?

I'm working on extracting the sentiment from YouTube comments, blogs, news content, Facebook wall posts, and Twitter feeds. I'm looking for an automated way to do this: the two third-party solutions ...
1
vote
3answers
230 views

How can I configure my programming environment to enable rapid switching between projects?

It often happens that I develop multiple different projects at once, so I need a solution to switch from one environment to another. I have created batch files to do the job but as this thing grows, ...
0
votes
1answer
602 views

Study guide for learning JavaScript programming from scratch [closed]

Recently my girlfriend decided to switch career and invest on programming. (Wow, I must admit I was a good influence to her). I suggested her to learn JavaScript as this language evolves a lot and ...
6
votes
4answers
777 views

Best tool to privately share code with members of a team?

I'm getting into freelance web design and I have a team of several people. I was wondering what is the best tool (preferably free) to share code with other members of the team, allow them to edit it ...
-11
votes
8answers
680 views

Do the scattered tools and lack of rich IDE makes Ruby and Python only suitable for hobbyists? [closed]

I am not against Ruby and Python, but this question evolved from my own experiences with these languages. There are a lot of commonly needed tools scattered everywhere and there is no center stage of ...
1
vote
3answers
696 views

Best tool for keeping and organizing code snippets and code templates [closed]

I was wondering what is the best tool for keeping a collection of code snippets and code templates that you use most often or just want to organize. The tool must be IDE/Editor agnostic. Desktop ...
4
votes
7answers
224 views

How can I get the team that I work with to communicate synchronously?

Okay, so I work on a team of 4 people. We're spread all around the country, and when we communicate, it's either through email or our issue tracker. That's okay most of the time, but I feel like I ...
6
votes
4answers
387 views

Does unit test increase productivity? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: TDD vs. Productivity In most computer science books such as Clean Code we are told to write good unit test in order to increase productivity when updating project or ...
2
votes
2answers
147 views

What tools can be used to get a reference like document.frames.item(0).document.innerhtml?

I want to scrape things from a web page. The way I want to do this is to extract the text of a DOM element (I believe this is the correct description). This means that I will to retrieve the text of ...
4
votes
4answers
2k views

What tool do I use to examine a dll's methods?

I am trying to identify differences between two different versions of Citrix, between Metaframe and XenApp. Problem is, because they are intended to solve the same problem, they both have interfaces ...
4
votes
3answers
462 views

Is LinqPad site quote “Tired of querying in antiquated SQL?” accurate?

I was struck by the heading Tired of querying in antiquated SQL? on http://www.linqpad.net/. I am a N-Tier application developer and learnt my trade in a company that worked with a lot of data, ...
3
votes
1answer
416 views

Is it possible to take a binary compiled for ARMv7 architecture and convert it to ARMv6?

Is it possible to take a binary compiled for ARMv7 architecture and convert it to ARMv6 ? Are there any tools that can do this?
5
votes
2answers
129 views

Why would a code analysis tool be priced based on lines of code count?

I heard some static analysis tools are priced depending on how much code they are licensed for. I can think that it's usual segmentation - the more code the customer has the more care he needs and ...
2
votes
2answers
236 views

Taking part in an open source project

I am new to open source development. I want to add some functionality to an open source project PRISM. But I couldn't find any developer guide or code architecture guide sort of a thing for it. How ...
5
votes
1answer
419 views

What implementation of Scheme is good for studying SICP?

I heard about Dr. Scheme but haven't really used it. What is your experience with SICP, what set of scheme tools did you use when learning SICP?
5
votes
11answers
1k views

Decent tool for building and testing regular expressions [duplicate]

I'm in need of a decent tool for building and testing regular expressions, what does everyone use? I would download expresso but in my last place it turned out to be laden with adware - any clean ...
4
votes
3answers
343 views

How should I develop an unusual user interface?

Say I have an idea for a desktop application with unusual interface requirements. I need: Pixel-level control over the look and feel. Finely specified custom controls. Platform-independence. My ...
3
votes
3answers
1k views

Open Source Static Analysis tool for C?

I see there are many proprietary lint lookalikes with typical "enterprise" price ranges. But is there any point in paying the money they ask for a static C source analyzer instead of using an open ...
4
votes
9answers
852 views

Project Management Software / 1 maybe 2 developers

I am looking for software that I can use to "manage" multiple projects (5 - 10). Here are the features I would like but any recommendation is welcome. Bug/Feature tracking on a per project basis. ...
7
votes
4answers
338 views

How can I learn libraries and stuff faster? [duplicate]

As a programmer, it seems like I spend half my time figuring out how to use various libraries/frameworks/tools. First Javascript, then Jquery, then canvas, then Backbone, etc, etc. Every tool has ...
4
votes
4answers
732 views

Subversion Tools To Help With Branching and Merging

Our shop is about to release a major rewrite of our application. And, we are going to need to do bug fixes on versions out in the field while developing new features for the next version. Frankly, ...
9
votes
3answers
388 views

Does FitNesse improve product quality and collaboration?

I heard about a tool named FitNesse, which is supposed to promote better collaboration between development, testing, and product groups. What are your experiences with it? Does it really improve ...
4
votes
3answers
89 views

Static analysis config and convenience scripts in source control

1) Should static analysis tool config be placed in source control? This config is not needed to compile/run software and some developers can have different preferences (even within coding convention). ...
4
votes
2answers
142 views

Does KISS encourage tools and frameworks that expose complex leaky abstraction layers?

Tools and frameworks make complex tasks simple. This seems like something that would be supported by KISS(keep it simple stupid). Tools and frameworks also have the potential to introduce leaky layers ...
10
votes
4answers
1k views

Tool to manage requirements throughout a software development lifecycle [closed]

I am looking for a tool to manage requirements or features for a software development project. It will be used by a small geographically diverse team of 5-10 people to raise, discuss and track ...
8
votes
5answers
1k views

Are There Any Programming Focused Notebooks?

I know that engineering paper exists, but are there any companies that make programmer-specific notebooks for notes/pseudo-code/designs? Paper is my preferred way of outlining things, so the addition ...
1
vote
1answer
669 views

Best way to create a web interface to query a particular database

I was asked to make a web application to allow users to query a particular database more easily. Simplifying, this database has only two tables, reports and products. The relationship between the two ...
7
votes
3answers
610 views

Are there any tools for testing drag & drop Windows desktop applications?

I need to develop a Windows desktop application (win32 API) which will use drag & drop extensively in many formats, including my own. I need to test it, for example, with CF_TEXT dragging, CF_RTF, ...
8
votes
10answers
276 views

Can you choose your tools or do you take what you get?

I often see questions about what tools to use for a particular problem, or suggesting that one tool is preferable over another, and that it says something about the quality of the programmer who uses ...
62
votes
12answers
6k views

git for personal (one-man) projects. Overkill?

I know, and use, two version control systems: Subversion and git. Subversion, as of now, gets used for personal projects where I am the only developer and git gets used for open source projects and ...
1
vote
2answers
190 views

User interface design tool [closed]

Are there any applications that can help me design a user interface in conceptual way?
6
votes
4answers
314 views

Light-weight visual requirements tool (combination of mockups and use cases)

For my team, mockups are the primary artifact for development and the requirements process. We use balsamiq mockups for confluence. We also write use-cases to point out the workflow and for adding ...
9
votes
7answers
745 views

How do I improve my memory and recall?

How do I go about improving my memory and recall as it relates to Programming? I have a tendency to cache API information short term and then immediately put it out of my head as I move on to ...
4
votes
7answers
372 views

Any good tools for managing list of tasks?

We are changing how we manage low priority admin, support and development tasks. The plan is to have a 'Stack' of tasks, which anyone can pick up if/when they are light on work. We would like a tool ...
7
votes
3answers
7k views

Free and decent GUI mockup tools? [closed]

Are there any decent tools aside from MS PowerPoint to create GUI mockups? I've tried Balsamiq Mockups. It's great but it's not free. Are there any tools just like it, but free?
3
votes
2answers
503 views

Designing tool for C#

I have seen few developers use a tool for designing their application where they simply dragged needed elements (classes, variables, objects) and just did magic work. Then there was a button to ...
1
vote
4answers
403 views

A good tool set for ASP.NET development

What are some good (or must have) ASP.NET development/debugging tools in addition to Visual Studio IDE? So far the only trick in my pocket is .NET Reflector, that has come in handy before. (I would ...