More Toolbox Fun

Posted At : October 10, 2007 8:28 PM | Posted By : Jeff Fleitz
Related Categories: Tools

A couple weeks ago, Neil Middleton began creating an Ultimate CF Tools List, followed by a post today by Dana Kowalski, encouraging CF developers to share the list of tools / utilities they can't live without. Since I haven't posted in eons, I decided to post some of the tools I use to get the ball rolling again.

Eclipse as my main IDE, along with the more popular plugins in use by everybody (CFEclipse, Aptana, QuickREx)
Firefox, with all the toys, including ColdFire and Firebug.
FusionDebug as a debugger for CFMX6/7 work. I am using the CF 8 debugger for all new projects now.
TopStyle Pro- By Nick Bradbury of HomeSite fame. I have been spending more time working with Aptana for CSS editing lately, but TopStyle is still one of the better CSS/HTML editors out there, although it is going to die after one more release.
Beyond Compare - There are many diff tools out there, this is my favorite
e Text Editor - TextMate for Windows; a nice little configurable editor that is still a little rough in some places, but works with a variety of languages.
PrimalScript - This used to be my main IDE/Editor, and I still use it occasionally. It is mainly used for Monad scripting nowadays, but supports CF, ActionScript and MXML, in addition to .NET language support. Very pricey nowadays and hard to justify unless you are in a hardcore Windows shop.
xplorer2 - A Windows explorer replacement, which has a ton of features. What the Windows Explorer should have been.
Process Explorer - Windows task manager on steroids. Will show you everything about every process running on your computer. Free.
WinRAR - Compression/archiving utility
Timeless Time and Expense - Project Time and expense tracking
CSS Tab Designer - Free utility for generating css menu sets
SnagIt - Capture Utility
TaskSwitchXP - A better Windows alt-tab manager

If you develop on Windows, you owe it to yourself to check out Scott Hanselman's annual Ultimate Developer and Power User's Tool List, which may keep you busy for hours.

I am curious as to what the Mac users have in their tool kits?