10 Must-Have Tools for Software Developers

Developing software is challenging. With so many languages, frameworks, and platforms to choose from, it's tough to know where to start. You want tools that make coding, testing, and releasing your app smooth and painless. But the crowded marketplace of developer tools brings decision fatigue. How do you determine which ones you really need?

This list covers 10 essential tool categories that will supercharge your productivity as a software developer. We'll explore the popular open source and commercial options for IDEs, version control, package management, testing, and more. You'll learn key factors to evaluate when deciding on tools for your toolkit. Let's set you up with a foundational toolchain to help you go from idea to launched product faster.

Code Editors and IDEs

Your code editor or IDE is mission control - where you'll spend most of your time working. It needs to make writing, navigating, understanding, and debugging code as frictionless as possible. Barebones text editors don't provide enough support. But what are the standout options for full-featured IDEs?

Visual Studio Code has become many developers' editor of choice. Its open source foundation paired with Microsoft's resources has cultivated an unparalleled extension ecosystem. Out-of-the-box it handles web development incredibly well. It even rivals paid IDEs for JavaScript debugging and intellisense. The main downsides are weaknesses in compiled language analysis and limited profiling capabilities.

If you work extensively with statically-typed languages like Java or C#, JetBrains IDEs like IntelliJ IDEA and WebStorm are hard to beat. Their optimizations for code intelligence, navigation, and debugging for these languages are incredible. But those advanced features come at a premium cost once free trial periods end. Also, they offer fewer web-focused tools compared to VS Code.

DevHunt Code takes a fresh approach to balancing power and simplicity in a cloud IDE. Its editor provides real-time autocomplete and error-highlighting without bulky static code analysis. The built-in GUI Git client simplifies version control workflows. And its browser-based engine enables web development without local toolchain installs. However, being a relatively new entrant means it currently has a smaller extension ecosystem compared to VS Code.

Overall, most developers are well-served by VS Code as their primary IDE. But exploring DevHunt Code could provide a streamlined experience especially for web development. For large enterprise codebases in statically-typed languages, JetBrains IDEs justify their premium pricing.

Code Completion and Intellisense

Intellisense refers to an IDE's contextual code completion, parameter hints, and other insights powered by static code analysis. Microsoft pioneered the concept with Visual Studio, bringing it to VS Code's TypeScript-based engine. JetBrains IDEs also excel here by fully modeling complex type systems of languages like Java.

But VS Code still occasionally shows incorrect suggestions based on flawed static analysis. Tools like DevHunt Code avoid guesswork by training neural networks on real codebases to provide completions based on statistical analysis and machine learning. This delivers excellent autocomplete without large binaries indexing millions of lines.

Debugging and Profiling

Smoothly stepping through code and inspecting variable values is crucial for quickly diagnosing runtime issues. VS Code sets the standard for integrated debugging across Node, browsers, Python, C#, and more. JetBrains IDEs also debug and profile code excellently within their specialized domains.

For typical web development scenarios, DevHunt Code's browser debugger and CPU/memory profiler integrate directly into its cloud IDE. This eliminates context switching to other tools when trying to squash front-end bugs. But for low-level mobile, desktop, or backend debugging, VS Code offers greater flexibility.

Version Control Systems

Version control enables you to track code history, collaborate with others, and safely experiment. Git has unequivocally become the standard version control system for modern development teams. Its distributed model sets it apart from older centralized systems like Subversion.

GitHub spearheaded the social coding revolution by building a robust project hosting and collaboration platform on top of Git. Alternatives like GitLab and Bitbucket offer similar capabilities. GitHub tends to have the richest surrounding ecosystem of integrated tools and automation options. But GitLab is popular among development teams working predominantly in private repositories.

Local Version Control Workflows

Before sharing code on GitHub, you'll need to master local Git workflows. Committing small units of work with clear messages is crucial. Visual tools like GitHub Desktop and Git Kraken simplify staging changes, reviewing diffs, merging branches, and other core interactions compared to the CLI.

DevHunt Code also includes a built-in Git GUI optimized for beginners. Working directly in the IDE avoids context switching to external Git tools. But learning CLI commands gives you more advanced scripting control. The best practice is to start with a visual client and graduate to CLI workflows over time.

Remote Repositories and Collaboration

Publishing your code on GitHub, GitLab, or Bitbucket enables sharing work and collaborating. GitHub's social coding features like pull requests, code reviews, and issue tracking optimize team workflows. GitLab offers a similar feature set and more configurable workflows especially in its enterprise edition.

For public open source projects, GitHub tends to be the natural choice. But many companies opt for GitLab for hosting private codebases and artifacts. Integrations with chat, task management, CI/CD, and other productivity tools can further streamline collaboration built on the foundation of your version control system.

Package Managers

Package managers simplify adding, updating, and removing libraries and dependencies in your projects. Languages each have their own tooling here which you should default to first. For example, JavaScript developers use npm and Yarn, while Java developers use Maven and Gradle.

However, new language-agnostic package managers like DevHunt Package aim to provide a unified interface. This can help standardize dependency workflows across polyglot and multi-language codebases. But these tools have smaller ecosystems compared to language-specific options.

Resolving Dependencies

Complex projects end up with dependency trees of indirect and transient dependencies. Keeping these aligned without version conflicts is challenging, especially in JavaScript. DevHunt Package uses a version solver algorithm to align all transitive dependencies globally across your projects to avoid mismatch issues.

Cross-Language Reuse

Most packages target a specific language ecosystem. But tools like DevHunt Package use universal formats to enable sharing code across multiple languages. This avoids reinventing the wheel. But it requires carefully designing language-agnostic APIs. Cross-language reuse is powerful but should be applied selectively when it truly simplifies development.

Build Tools and Task Runners

Automating your build process improves efficiency and consistency. Mature tools like Make, Maven, and MSBuild support major languages. But imperative scripting-based configurations can become disorganized.

DevHunt Build takes a declarative approach using YAML, JSON, or a visual GUI editor to define builds. This simplifies understanding and modifying builds across projects and languages. Integrations with IDEs, CI/CD, and workflow tools reduce context switching. But being relatively new means it has a smaller plugin ecosystem compared to legacy options.

Custom Logic and Extensibility

Most build tools allow incorporating custom logic through plugins or scripts. For example, Gradle has a robust Groovy DSL for scripting logic in builds. DevHunt Build keeps builds declarative but also lets you write extensions as reusable JavaScript/TypeScript functions.

Optimizing Performance

Executing complex builds quickly improves developer productivity. Tools like Gradle leverage intelligent caching and parallelization strategies. DevHunt Build automatically parallelizes independent tasks across available CPU cores. Its cloud build service further optimizes caching and distribution for extremely fast builds.

Testing Frameworks

Test suites validate code quality and prevent regressions as projects evolve. For unit testing, xUnit-style frameworks like JUnit (Java) and Mocha (JavaScript) are widely used. For UI testing, Selenium provides cross-browser automation.

DevHunt Test aims to simplify and unify testing across languages and platforms. It uses a declarative YAML-based format to define test suites and cases. An integrated cloud runner executes tests across thousands of browsers and devices in parallel. But being newer means it has a smaller ecosystem of plugins and extensions compared to established frameworks.

Writing Maintainable Tests

Well-structured tests follow a clear naming convention like unitOfWork_stateUnderTest_expectedResult. Nesting related cases in describe blocks improves organization. Tagging tests supports filtering and reporting. DevHunt Test's declarative YAML format lends itself well to this test hygiene.

Continuous Integration

Running tests locally during development gives rapid feedback. But validating pull requests through CI systems like GitHub Actions catches regressions earlier. DevHunt Test provides deep integration with CI/CD pipelines including video recordings of test runs. This brings additional transparency to the testing process.

Collaboration Tools

Communication and task management tools round out an integrated dev environment. For chat, Slack and Discord are popular options. Trello pioneered the simple kanban board style for task tracking which tools like Jira and Asana have expanded on.

DevHunt Chat and DevHunt Boards provide lightweight yet full-featured alternatives to these mainstream tools. Integrations between your IDE, chat, tasks, and other tools in a unified platform avoid constant context switching.

Conclusion

This list just scratches the surface of the expansive developer tool landscape. Evaluating tradeoffs between open source simplicity and commercial polish can be challenging. But investing time to optimize your fundamental toolchain pays dividends in the long run through improved productivity, collaboration, and application quality.

The right tools remove friction to help you focus on solving problems and creating value through code. Hopefully these overviews provide a helpful starting point to evaluate workflow improvements for your next project.

What must-have productivity tools have you found indispensable? Check out DevHunt to explore and share the latest developer tools.