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Top Tools, Utilities and Resources

A useful collection of tools, utilities and resources.
13 Videos on C++ Programming
A set of 13 videos on C++ programming for particle physicists by Paul Kuntz of Stanford University. The lectures cover types and operators, functions and pointers, classes,simple arrays and inheritance. You will need the Real Player to watch these. They also include a web version of the lecture slides.
Add Command Prompt to the Windows Explorer Right Click Menu
Learn how to add the command prompt short cut to the Windows Explorer right-click menu.
A List of Ten Programming Contests
This is a list of ten programming contests that take place annually or more frequently where C, C++ or C# programs can be entered.
AsmXML - Fast XML Parser in Assembler
AsmXml is a very fast XML parser and decoder for x86 platforms. It is written in pure assembler, has optimized memory access and performs parsing and decoding at the same time. All this combines to make it an exceptionally fast parser.
C++ Cross-platform Rapid Application Development Suite
Ultimate++ is a C++ cross-platform rapid application development suite focused on programmers productivity. It includes a set of libraries (GUI, SQL, etc..), and an integrated development environment.
Chris Sells .Net Utilities
Link to author Chris Sells free tools for .Net, COM and Win 32.
C# to JavaScript Decompiler
JSC is a Sourceforge hosted project for taking C# compiled applications and generating a working web application from them. There are some excellent demos, many with source code.
Eclipse C/C++ Development Tools
The CDT (C/C++ Development Tools) Project provides a fully functional C and C++ Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for the Eclipse platform. The Eclipse IDE is part of a family of open source projects.
Free Database Models
This is a free site where there are over 500 different database models for all sorts of industry. The models are given as data diagrams though if you ask nicely (by email) Barry will send you it in an Access database. there is also a video explaining how the models work.
FXCop - A utility to inspect .NET dlls and exes
FXCop is a GUI .NET compliance tool that checks assemblies of exes and dlls for best practices. It inspects the .IL code and then reports what it sees are problems. This is under continual development and a useful (free) tool for any C# or .NET developer.
Google C++ Style Guide
This is the style guide that Google expects all of its C++ development to match up to. It specifies all sorts of dos and dont's with regard to header files, classes, naming rules, source code and lots more. A good model to work from.
How to Debug Windows Applications Without a Debugger
Learn a simple debugging technique for those awkward bugs that only occur in release code.
IMEC CleanC Analysis Tools For C
The IMEC CleanC Analysis tools analyze C code for a variety of coding patterns that make the C code hard to understand by humans and very difficult to analyze by tools. The tools are integrated into the Eclipse development environment, and available free of charge. You must have Eclipse 3 or higher installed.
Nullsoft Scriptable Install System
NSIS (Nullsoft Scriptable Install System) is a professional open source system to create Windows installers. It is designed to be as small and flexible as possible and is therefore suitable for internet distribution. It adds just 34KB to your executables.
Mercurial - a Distributed Version Control System
Mercurial is a distributed version control system for Linux, Mac, Windows and others that works across the Internet with developers each having a copy of the repository on their pc. Synchronization is done by P2P technology.
Microsoft Robotics Studio - Create Robotics Applications
Microsoft® Robotics Studio is a Windows-based environment for hobbyist, academic and commercial developers to create robotics applications for a variety of hardware platforms. It's free for non commercial or academic uses.
Microsoft XML Notepad
A handy editor for XML files that provides editing, validation and a Diff Utility for XML files. Note- this requires .NET Framework 2 (or higher).
Top Websites and Resources for Developers
A list of the best resources, tools and useful websites for developers that will be updated over time.
The Stony Brook Algorithm Repository
A comprehensive collection of algorithm implementations for over seventy of the most fundamental problems in combinatorial algorithms.
UPX - Executable Compressor for Windows, Linux and other OS
UPX is a free, portable, extendable, high-performance executable packer for several different executable formats. It achieves an excellent compression ratio and offers very fast decompression. Executables suffer no memory overhead or other drawbacks for most of the formats supported, because of in-place decompression.
Windows Gpg4win - Free Software for Email Security
Gpg4win is a installer package for Windows (2000/XP/2003/Vista) with computer programs and handbooks for EMail and file encryption. It uses GnuPG encryption.

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