Programmer's Tools
If you want to become a programmer, or even if you are an experienced programmer, choosing the right programming langage and the best tools can save you 50% of programming time. Using Speedy Make rather than make for example, while one is still trying to understand how to do make working, a better informed programmer has already achieved its makefile for Speedy Make...
Programming languages and (free) compilers
On Scriptol.org all popular
languages are described with reasons to choose each of them.
You can found also an history of languages, and cards about the most used
ones.
You may choose a classical language as C++, Java or Pascal...
C++
I use it through Scriptol, for its portability: once the Scriptol program
converted to C++, it works under any existing platform.
I know six free compilers for C and C++. To download them, see at the Compilers
page.
Under Windows, Visual C++ is probably the most used. It has a better error
recognition than BCC
5.5 from Borland, under Windows also.
But the compiler of Borland works also under Linux, integrated into the Kylix
development interface.
Visual C is included into the .NET SDK, and into Visual
Studio C++ Express.
The GCC compiler is available under Linux (included in each distribution)
and has a version for Windows: MingW.
Java
Java is often used to build web applications.
The most used development IDE is Eclipse,
that requires the Java SDK
provided by Sun.
This tools is not easy to learn, NetBeans
is more conventionnal and supports C++ too.
Some other development tools that were previously sold by Sun to enterprises,
are now provided free of charge for all, on the Java's website.
Pascal
Kylix Open under
Linux is a development interface from Borland for Pascal and C++. Apart in
this tools and the Windows counterpart, Delphi, that is not free, Pascal is
rarely used.
New programming languages
Most of modern language are easier to use than the older ones above. The syntax
is simpler and intuitive, and they have more poweful control structures.
They are Python, Ruby and
Scriptol. Ruby is used
mainly for web programming with "Ruby On Rails", Python and Scriptol
are universal. Using these new languages will probably save you 50% of time
in writing programs.
But the most important language now is JavaScript, as it is used both to program
Web page, but also for Web application or applications running both on the
Web or the desktop, through environment as XAML and XUL.
Web programming
The PHP langage works under
any system. It is an untyped scripting language. Scriptol is a typed front-end,
and helps you with errors recognition at compile time.
For Windows only, ASP, from Microsoft, is similar to Basic.
Java is also another server side language.
On the client side, JavaScript
is embedded into the HTML code of your web page, and it is a part of the most
promising technology for web programming: Ajax.
Text editors for programmers
PSPad is a complete text
editor under Windows with syntax-highlighting for any programming language.
XML is now essential as file format, Xin
is a simple XML editor under Windows.
For more info about XML and related format, see at xul.fr.
Making the documentation
To make the user manual of Speedy Make, I use Open
Office that allows to save it as Word document, HTML page or printable
PDF file. Unlike previous versions, or other word processors, the version
2 of Open Office produces lighweight HTML code.
For more technical documentations, see the Docbook
article.
To document the sources of your program, you don't need to write a description
of each function, Doxygen
(W/L) and similar tools can do the work automatically.
Distributing the software
Before to build an archive, I prefer to compress the binary executable of
my software, with UPX
(W/L). The size is reduced to 40%, and this allows to include Speedy Make
into other software a few cost.
There are several free archiving tools, 7-Zip
(W/L), IZArc, or TugZip
and each one has its advantages and drawbacks.
You can also build an installer for Windows with Inno
Setup. It has a un wizard to help you in building the script.
Before to submit your zip file to a distributor, prepare:
- a screen shoot, 640x480 sized in jpg format,
- a 32x32 pixels icon in gif format,
- a pad file (XML) that
describes your software.
The screen may be captured with MW
Snap. For the icon, it is created with The
Gimp. Converting from a graphical format to another one is easy with XnView.
The list of software
distributors will provide you a sufficient number of adresses to spend
some days in registering your work, even with a pad file...
Websites about programming
Code project
Source codes.
Wotsit
File formats.
NewsForge
Magazine.