A painter with out a brush can't paint. A carpenter with out a hammer can't build. So too a developer with out the right tools can't do his/her job.
I have tried quite a few tools, some were good and some just didn't pan out. Here is a list of tools I have found useful when building software.
As a side note most of this is portable software (no install). I didn't want to spend all day installing stuff to a new machine, or have privilege
issues. I wanted to dump it off a USB drive and use it. With portable software you could also put it in a cloud storage and run it from anywhere with
internet access. This gives a lot more options to fit the users needs.
First on my list is the toolbox it's self. I know some people like to search in a mess of folders for what they need. I like my tools organized and
easy to get to. In this area there's a few good choices out there. My personal favorite is Portable Apps
App managers
There are a lot of choices for app managers out there. Some are more customizable then others. You will have to experiment to see what one works the best for you.
This is not an extensive list. There are a lot more less popular ones out there. This is just to get you started.
Note: the software from portableapps.com can be downloaded and installed right from the Portable app manager.
Some launchers come pre loaded with apps and some are empty, I tend to go with an empty launcher because I find there's a lot of apps in packages I don't use or dislike in some way.
The other reason I like empty app managers is that I have USB drives for different jobs. I have a USB drive for repairing PC issues. I have USB drive for development tools, and I have a USB drive for general use such as browser with all my bookmarks for example.
An empty app manager lets me choose the tools I want for the job I want to do.
now that we have a toolbox lets fill it with development tools. Below are some resources to find portable apps
Where to get portable apps
Here is a list of popular portable app sites. I often brows the sites to see what new apps are there and try them out.
Now for the list of apps in my toolbox.
Editors
ATPad
Simple text editor, real basic but sometimes that's what Is needed to say strip all the fancy colors and fonts from some text
for use elsewhere.
Notepad++
Very powerful editor that can do many things. There's a lot of plug-ins that can even let you compile and run your programs
right from the editor. It also can highlight syntax for many languages. I use this app on a daily bases.
Frhed
This is a niche tool. I don't use it very often but if you need to edit a hex file you have to have a hex editor. So that's why I
included this in my tools.
Portable IDE's
I have a couple IDE's that I like to build simple programs in. there also good for training in a language such as C++. It lets you
focus on the code and not learning all the buttons on the IDE.
Decimal BASIC
simple basic coding, clean simple interface. Its not marked as portable but you can unzip the file and drop it in the portable apps
folder and its now portable. Its that easy (other app managers may require different ways to add this to there list).
QUINCY
this like the basic editor is not from a portable apps page, but after install it can be dropped in, like the decimal basic program.
This one uses C++ and comes with a compiler, I have used it to build simple games and it works quite well.
KompoZer
quote from the portable apps web page.
"Nvu is an easy-to-use web editor similar to Microsoft Frontpage or Dreamweaver. It is based on the same Gecko engine that powers Firefox
and Thunderbird and features an FTP site manager, color picker, tabbed interface, CSS editing, standard-compliant markup, fully customizable
interface, a built-in spellchecker and more."
I grabbed this thinking I would use it for building web sites, has a lot of built in tools and nifty stuff. But I have yet to really use it.
I find my self using notepad++ for building my web pages. But I keep this guy around. I may still use him.
Graphics and Pictures
I have a couple IDE's that I like to build simple programs in. there also good for training in a language such as C++. It lets you focus on the code and not learning all the buttons on the IDE.
FotoSketcher
This app lets you take a image and redraw it with a style, such as pencil, or oil paint, and many others. Its an easy way to give that
sketch a finished look.
IrfanView
I found this app over 10 years ago. I was in need or changing a weird picture format to a common jpg file. This app can open most any picture file and can save it as almost any picture file. Not only can you convert the file format it also has color filters and some effects it can do the the pictures.
With this app and MS-paint I did all the art work for my college final project, its that good. I was so excited to find in on the portable apps web page, I grabbed it right away.
Krita
I have found this program to be very useful for more complex image builds. It has layer systems so you can stack your pictures and change there opacity to give a fading effect. Its one of the more complex tools I have in my kit, and I have not figured out how to use all its cool features.
IcoFX
Icons are everywhere, and sometimes you with you could grab one and use it somewhere else. Or maybe draw your own. IcoFX is that tool. You can draw your icon right in the editor or load a icon and edit it. Or even turn a picture in to a icon. It also lets you pile icons in to one icon file.
PicPick
Ever wonder what color that is used on the screen? Need the hex value of a color for your web page? Need to get a screen capture? This guy can do all that and more. Very useful tool don't leave home with out it.
SmillaEnlarger
I picked up this app mainly to alter picture sizes, it also has some edit features the other picture editors don't have.
GIMP
open source Photoshop replacement. Need I say more?
Miscellaneous tools
This category is tools I found useful but there not creating stuff. There more support tools to help get the images or interact
with other parts of the development job.
Firefox portable
Its handy to have all your bookmarks close at hand. This version of firefox will let you take your browser, bookmarks, and logins with you anywhere.
Palemoon portable
I know having 2 browsers can sound redundant but I find it useful to have my environment split up a little. So I can organize my work space. I also setup the palemoon browser to start with the developer tools open, by editing the start up file to have -devtools appended to the name
7-zip
a zip package utility that can handle most zipped software. You never know when the file you recive needs unzipped.
Rapid Environment Editor
If you havent run in to this issue before, I am sure you will. Some software updates and now nothing can find it, because its changed a folder name or the file name, or what ever reason. Now your left trying to read a mess of environment variables trying to fix it.
This handy tool can show you all of the system environment variables and lets you set them correctly. This app does not come from a portable app site (I wish it was, and it should be) but once installed, just drag and drop the filder on a USB drive and its now portable.
WinCDEmu
this little guy will let you mount a CD image as a folder. This lets you get access to files, icons, pictures, and all the content of the CD image with out the need to burn it first.
SmillaEnlarger
I picked up this app mainly to alter picture sizes, it also has some edit features the other picture editors don't have.
GIMP
open source Photoshop replacement. Need I say more?
