Computer Science Tools: PART - 1

  What ever is the career of an individual, a good professional is in need of the right tools to excel in his work. So what are the tools required by a Computer Science professional? Well, we need good Hardware and Software as tools to perform our duty in earnest. Obtaining costly hardware may not be a viable option to many. But the case of obtaining good software is different, it is often very cheap and some times free. But there is a lack of knowledge regarding good technical tools in Computer Science. Here in this post I have given links to a few useful Computing tools which are useful to both students and practitioners of Computer Science. Most of the tools I suggest are Open Source Software and the rest are Freeware. If you know any better alternatives, please suggest them.

• Code::Blocks - This is the best I come across in 2012. It is an IDE for C/C++. It can be used on both Linux and Windows. This is especially useful for students working on Windows OS. The usual Turbo C++ IDE by Borland is a bore and will not work on Windows 7 and Windows 8. The last updated version of Turbo C++ was released on 1994. So it is high time to adopt a tool like Code::Blocks. If you are using Code::Blocks on Windows please install MinGW and set the path in Code::Blocks. Click here to download Code::Blocks. 
• MinGW - MinGW (Minimalist GNU for Windows) is a gcc like compiler for C/C++ in Windows. If you are running Code::Blocks in Windows OS first you need to install MinGW in your system. Click here to download MinGW.    
• Scilab -  Scilab is an open source tool for numerical computation. It is a free software alternative of MATLAB. If you are good with MATLAB, it will be very easy to shift to Scilab. Click here to download Scilab.
• MikTex - Miktex is an excellent implementation of TeX/LaTeX and related programs for Windows. Miktex is available for all versions of Windows. Click here to download Miktex. 
• Texmaker - Texmaker is a free cross platform Latex editor. Before installing Texmaker you should install Miktex in your system. Click here to download Texmaker.
• TrueCrypt - If you want to hide some sensitive data in your system TrueCrypt is the best. It is a free open source disk encryption software for Windows, Linux and MacOS. Click here to download TrueCrypt.