Jul 22, 2009

My Top-10 Favorite Development Tools

The other day I got a question about which are my favorite tools, i.e. what is in my Java developer toolbox. I was asked to list my top-10 favorites. This gave me the inspiration to write a blog article on the subject. So here goes my top-10 list of favorite tools.
  1. Eclipse
    The basic tool in any Java developers toolbox. The IDE to use.
  2. Beyond Compare
    This is the best comparison tool that I have ever used. There are some open source comparison tools, but they do not match up against Beyond Compare. I think that Beyond Compare is worth every penny.
  3. FindBugs
    FindBugs is used for finding bugs or potential bugs in your Java code. I use the plug-in version in Eclipse and use it from Maven as well.
  4. Microemulator
    An Open Source Java ME emulator. Lets you test your Java ME applications. The drawback is that some JSRs are not implemented yet. Most notably is JSR-205 and JSR-211.
  5. Virtual Box
    This lets me run Ubuntu Linux inside Windows Vista. No more dual boot configurations.
  6. Subclipse
    Lets you use Subversion inside Eclipse. The Subversive plug-in is a better tool, but the Subclipse tool works better with the Maven plug-in-
  7. Tortoise SVN
    Whenver you are in the Windows file explorer it is nice to have access to Subversion. I have set it to use Beyond Compare when doing file comparison.
  8. Maven
    I did not really like Maven from the beginning. At the time I was a big fan of Ant. Maven contains some functionality that is not available in Ant, such site generation. I
  9. Eclipse Maven plug-in
    The name speaks for itself, it gives the ability to run Maven from Eclipse. There is also the pom and Doxia editors that are really good.
  10. Eclipse MTJ plug-in
    The Mobile Tools for Java lets you perform the necessary Java ME tasks.

This it is. Do you think that I have missed some tool? Is something on the list that in your opinion that should not be there? Looking forward to her

3 comments:

Jarle Hansen said...

Excellent list, a few tools I need to check out myself.

Here are a few of the tools I use regularly:
1.Structure 101, the best tool I have found to get an overview of your system design/architecture.

2. Gradle, a build tool that uses Groovy instead of xml syntax. In addition it gives you a lot of the same benefits of Maven without the pain.

3. VMware Fusion, run Ubuntu or Windows on you Mac without double/triple booting.

4. Hudson,very good continuous build server.

My Open Source Software Development Blog said...

I think that Structure 101 is a good tool, that I use regularly. So it did nearly make the list.

I have just tested the Hudson build server. It was very easy to setup. Maybe it will make the list next year.

Moshik said...

Excellent i was looking for few tools for some time. Thanks a lot to you and also to blogspot for providing it.