Software that we use today are written in various programming languages like Visual Basic, C++, C#, Cobol, Delphi, Java etc. Software developers or programmers use the language to build the primary software structure and then use a number of programming tools to accomplish a particular set of works. These tools are basically small software or programs by themselves designed to perform some specific programming tasks like performance analysis, debugging, application building etc. If a large, complete and versatile software is compared to a large building, software development tools can be compared to smaller building blocks.
Depending on the functions they perform, software development tools can broadly be classified in following major categories:
Some programming tools perform more than one function and are hence act as development multipliers. With the growing popularity of the open source (like Linux etc) platforms; there are hundreds of free open source software tools for programming on the Internet.
Most of today's software are made using C++ programming language. A large number of software development tools are therefore designed to work with C++. C++ software development tools include compilers, debuggers, interpreters and IDE. Some popular free C++ compilers and IDE are: Anjuta, Borland C++ 5.5, CC386, Dev-C++, Intel C++ Compiler, LCC-Win, Lightweight C++, Ultimate C++.
Enterprise solutions for software development are also available for a price. They usually combine several tools into one single development software. Amongst many C++ tools, I found one which makes a programmer's job much easier in making a software. Parasoft's Insure++ is a C++ programming software that features multiple development functions. This tool is primarily designed for identifying and solving memory related issues in C++ of different versions. It analyzes runtime memory access and detects memory leaks and errors. Insure++ has a wide variety of supported configurations of Visual C++, C++.Net, Solaris, Linux, IBM AIX and HP-UX. GUI and command line interface is a major feature that makes this tool easy to use. Other features include uninitialized variable/object detection, tracing of function calls in runtime, 3rd-party dynamic/static libraries' memory error identification, and interfacing ability with debugger of Visual Studio.
Finding a right software development tool is no more a pain especially when open source platforms are becoming increasingly popular. If you want to develop a software using any of the programming languages, you may have to download/acquire a number of programming tools to perform the step-by-step procedures before releasing its final distribution.
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