Tools

[Last updated: 2026]

Here is what I have in my professional toolkit as a software engineer that I always have on my system. Everything here is free (many also being open source) and generally multi-platform so they are available on Linux, Windows, and OSX. 

I originally published this list about 15 years ago and what I discovered was that open source projects are more likely to have survived the test of time.

See my posts on recommended books

Programming Languages

• Go Programming Language - Open source programming language that makes it easy to build simple, reliable and efficient software (Quoted from the Go site but is pretty accurate). This is my favorite language as it blends the compile nature of C with the practical aspects of a scripting language.
  • Check this post on setting up Vim for Go development.
• GNU GCC - Open source C/C++ compiler supported on so many platforms now that I can’t list them on. There’s even ports of it so that you can compile games to run on the GBA. C is the foundation language of enabled the growth of our profession and is a must learn of every software engineering.
• Perl - One of the great scripting languages although admittedly I rarely use it now. In many instances, Python has taken the mantel of Perl, but for me Go replaces both.  
• Scheme - I don’t really do much with Scheme, but I believe it’s worthwhile for engineers to have exposure to this form of programming.

Programmer’s Editor & Development Environment

• Vim - My editor of choice.  Vim's availability and flexibility enables me to do whatever I needed to do as a programmer.  Even in the age of AI and IDEs such as Cursor, Vim continues to be relevant especially as we're moving towards agentic coding.  What is old is new again as terminal-based tools are getting another chance to shine. 
• Tmux - Combine this terminal multiplexer with VIM and get an development environment rivaling any IDE with its power, configurability and even how it can work with agentic tools such as Gemini CLI and Claude Code.

Web Browser

• Google Chrome

Databases

• PostgreSQL - Top notch standards-compliant RDBMS
• SQLite - Unless I really need a stand-alone RDBMS, I will fall back on SQLite for my work.

Multimedia

• VideoLAN VLC - Open source media player that can play just about any format without the hassle of installing a bunch of codecs individually.
• Handbrake - Allows conversion between different media formats.

Graphics and Diagramming

• Excalidraw - Open source hand-drawn style diagramming tool.  
• Blender - Open source 3D modeling software.
• GIMP - Photoshop-like graphics program.
• Inkscape - Vector graphics editor.

Source Control

• Git

Operating Systems

• Fedora Linux - My preferred Linux distribution.

Cloud

• Google App Engine
• GitHub
• Google Drive

Windows/DOS

• PowerToys 
• IrfanView (Windows) Fast graphic view that’s small, fast, but loaded with features.
• Microsoft Windows Debugger (WinDbg) - Microsoft’s stand-alone debugger.
• SysInternals - Provides a large set of very useful and free utilitles for Windows.
• Visual Studio Express - Now free from Microsoft for developing native Windows software.
• Visual Studio Code - This is a separate open source IDE from Microsoft.
• DJGPP [DOS] - 32bit C/C++ for DOS.
• VueIcon - Let’s Window display graphic files as icons (much like the way the Mac shows it)
• Cygwin - Linux-like environment on Windows.
• Putty - Windows SSH client and tools.