Web Development Tools

Free Programmer's Editors, Integrated Development Environment (IDE), ASCII Text Editors

This page lists free programmers' editors, Integrated Development Environment or IDEs, ASCII text editors or plain text editors, syntax highlighting code editors, and the like that are useful to programmers and web designers for writing the source code of a program or writing the HTML/PHP/Perl code for a website.

Disclaimer

The information provided on this page comes without any warranty whatsoever. Use it at your own risk. Just because a program, book or service is listed here or has a good review does not mean that I endorse or approve of the program or of any of its contents. All the other standard disclaimers also apply.

Free Programmer's Editors, ASCII Text Editors (Plain Text Editors), IDE

Anjuta is a programmer's IDE for Linux with an editor that has syntax highlighting, code folding (or code hiding), automatic code formatting, autocompletion of code, line number display, text zooming, calltips for Linux/GNOME function prototypes, automatic indentation, etc. It also has an integrated debugger (gdb), application wizards to create GTK, GNOME and terminal applications, dynamic tags browsing, project management, etc.

This is the freeware sibling of the commercial Notepad Standard. It has lots of features, and can handle multiple files up to 2GB in sizes, if your memory permits. One handy feature it has is the ability to display a tab for each document you have open under the toolbar, which makes it convenient if you are navigating around with a mouse. In spite of the fact that there is no source code syntax highlighting, it's one of my current favourites. (To get the free version from the above link, click the "NoteTab Editors" link on the side panel.)

CUTE is a text editor that is extensible using Python. It supports projects, syntax highlighting of various programming languages (C, C++, C#, Java, Python, JavaScript) as well as HTML (etc), multiple documents (tabbed or child frame), ctags, auto-completion, search and replace with regular expressions, bookmarks, undo/redo, has an integrated file browser, themes, key macros, etc. Binaries (executables) are available for Linux. The source code is released under the GPL.

Notepad2, subtitled by the author as "yet another Notepad replacement", is a lightweight text editor that comes with syntax highlighting, undo, redo, a toolbar, handling of favourites, support for Unicode, UTF-8, Unix, Mac and DOS/Windows files, the ability to handle different code pages, and numerous other functions. It comes with source code.

mi is a text editor for Mac OS X, Mac OS 7.x, 8.x and 9.x. (There are versions for PPC Macs and 68k Macs) It has syntax highlighting for C, HTML and others.

Open Perl IDE is an integrated development environment for Windows that allows you to write and debug Perl scripts. It has a syntax highlighting editor which you can customize and it also allows you to debug your Perl scripts from within the IDE (for example, you can insert breakpoints, view and edit variables, etc). Open Perl IDE is open source and released under the Mozilla Public Licence.

#develop is a free Windows IDE for C# and VB.NET programs. It is released under the GNU GPL.

Jedit is a programmer's editor written in Java , so it runs on platforms that support Java, like Windows, Unix, Mac OS X, VMS, Linux, etc. It has syntax highlighting, a macro language, extensible plugin architecture, autoindent, word wrap, etc.

syn is a syntax highlighting programmer's editor that supports numerous programming languages. It has autocomplete facilities, drag and drop editing, customizable shortcuts, unlimited undo and redo, highlighting of matching braces, etc. You can also extend its features using Microsoft's Active Scripting. This is a Windows editor.

Visual MinGW is an IDE designed specially for use with the MinGW compiler. The editor has wizards to create skeleton code for things like dialog boxes, SDI and MDI applications. It also has a project manager. The IDE is open source.

RHIDE is an IDE for the GNU family of compilers that runs on MSDOS, Linux and Windows.

Eclipse is an open source extensible IDE. At present, it works well as a Java IDE, and includes Java development tools. It requires that you have the Sun Java runtime environment (JRE) installed. The IDE supports Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows 98, Windows ME, Linux, Solaris, QNX, AIX, HP-UX, Mac OS X, and possibly other systems as well.

This free programmer's editor supports syntax highlighting (HTML, C/C++ , Perl , Java , Matlab, Latex, PHP, Delphi , ASP, Euphoria, Ada 83 , etc), multiple documents (tabbed interface), multi-level undo/redo, word wrapping, spell checker, ability to execute user-defined tools and macros, edit remote files via FTP, find and replace, multi-byte support, auto-indent, etc.

Leonardo IDE is a Macintosh-based IDE, compiler and debugger for C programs. The Windows and Linux ports are said to be under development. It has a syntax highlighting editor, an ANSI C compiler, a compiler for the ALPHA visualization language, a graph editor, a reversible virtual CPU, etc. Note that the programs are not compiled to native code but to code to be executed for the virtual CPU. The virtual machine and debugger allows you to execute code forwards and backwards and supports multitasking. The IDE comes with animated algorithms, plus example source code for games like Tetris, Checkers, etc. The IDE is useful for checking and debugging your source code, search for memory leaks, etc.

This editor, written in Visual Basic supports the syntax highlighting of a number of programming languages, including Visual Basic , ASP, etc. Other features include find and replace facilities (including searching and replacing in files), multiple undo/redo, auto-indentation, templates, etc.

The MinGW Developer Studio is an IDE for the MinGW compiler. It features a multiple document interface, syntax highlighting, code folding, help integration, project management, debug and release project configuration support (like Visual Studio), debugging support, code calltip, makefile support, smart indent, etc.

This editor features syntax highlighting (C, C++ and probably others), the ability to search in all opened files and in the current path and subdirectories, bookmarks, project management, macros, etc.

This programmer's editor comes not only with the usual syntax highlighting support for programming languages, it also supports Control Structure Diagram (CSD) - that is, it displays control structures which allow you to understand and follow the program logic more easily. Ada , C , C++ , Java , and VHDL are apparently supported, and there are versions for Windows 95/NT, Linux and various Unix systems. There is also a Java version, called jGRASP, which is currently the only version that is still under active development.

In the days of bloated software, this editor is a real marvel. It's only about 400Kb in size in a single executable. It has the usual features (multiple files, tabbed document interface, etc) although not the advanced features of some (no syntax highlighting, project management, search and replace in disk files, etc).

This integrated software development environment for Windows allows you to generate native Windows applications using Oberon-2, and it includes an Oberon-2 compiler. The IDE also supports Java and C/C++ . The Oberon-2 compiler is a full implementation of the language and comes with the Oberon-2 library OPAL which allows you to create Windows programs without having to directly access Windows API.

This syntax highlighting editor supports numerous programming languages including C/C++, Delphi, Pascal, Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Perl, HTML, SQL, FoxPro, 80x86 assembler, Python, PHP, Tcl/Tk, etc (you can customize the syntax highlighting). Other features include code templates, customisable help files for each file type, export to HTML/RTF, file conversion (DOS, Unix, MAC), bookmarks, commenting, uncommenting code, capturing the output from console applications, etc. It's a Windows editor.

Nedit is an X Windows text editor with a GUI interface reminiscent of Windows and Macintosh. It has a good support for mouse based actions including dragging selections, etc. Other features include syntax highlighting, for C++, C, Java, Ada, Fortran, Pascal, Yacc (the parser generator), Perl, Python, TCL, csh (C shell), awk, HTML, LaTeX, VHDCL, Verilog, etc; auto-indent; programmable language-sensitive smart-indent; block indentation adjustment; parenthesis flashing and matching; compiler errors matching to source lines; tab emulation; ctags support; C-like macro language; etc. Precompiled binaries are available for Silicon Graphics, Sun (Solaris and SunOS), HP-UX, Digital Unix, Ultrix, IBM AIX, Linux and VMS. Source code is also free, for those who want to tinker even further with it. You will need either Lesstif or Motif on your system to run the editor.

Yudit is a Unicode text editor for Linux that has direct True Type support. The website claims that you can easily edit Unicode text without having to learn a new keybinding. It also supports the older non-Unicde character sets like ISO 8859, KOI8, JIS, GB, BIG5, KSC, EUC, and HZ. UTF-8 is its default encoding. You can enter any language's characters either by configuring your keymap, or by Unicode number, SGML name or RFC 1345 mnemonic.

This XWindows C/C++ IDE has project management; a dialog editor which will generate the dialog box source code for you; a class browser; an integrated debugger; application wizards that can generate menu bars, toolbars, status bars, a mini KDE application, a Qt-only based application, a C/C++ terminal application; integrated editor with syntax highlighting; integrated Unix tools; a powerful help system; a class generator; etc.

V IDE works with GNU g++, Borland C++ 5.5 and Java and runs on Windows and Linux. It includes a syntax highlighting editor for C/C++, Java, Perl, Fortran, TeX and HTML. It has a built-in code beautifier, macro support, ctags support, project manager, integrated support for the V applications generator and icon editor, integrated support for the GNU gdb and Sun's jdb (for Java), etc.

This syntax highlighting editor (for many languages and HTML) comes with source code and supports the Linux, Win32 and OS/2 platforms. It handles large files, has multiple levels of UNDO, support for an external spell checker, regular expression searching, support for executing a compiler, etc. It handles multiple documents but it loads them in split windows: the current version (at the time of this writing) does not support overlapping windows.

A programmer's editor complete with syntax highlighting. The program is currently still under development, and it lacks documentation. I also could not get certain keys (such as Ctrl-O) to work and other keys (such as Alt-C to invoke the Command menu) does other things (it restores the window size to its original size). Latest note: The software appears to be abandoned.

Elvis is a VI clone with syntax highlighting, multiple files in multiple windows, integrated support for FTP and HTTP, etc. It has ports to Windows, Linux, Solaris, OS/2, MSDOS

This is the well-known GNU Emacs editor. Some swear by it, others detest it and many flame wars have been fought by its adherents and its detractors. There are binaries for a multitude of operating systems (including the various flavours of Unix, Macintosh, and, would you believe it, DOS). It is supposed to be very configurable, and supports a number of computer languages.

A programmer's editor that can be used even on remote terminals. The editor is supported on Linux. I'm not sure about other systems.

A terminal text editor for Linux that has syntax highlighting, the ability to edit both Linux and DOS text files, and a configurable keymap. It runs on Linux and probably other Unix systems.

A console mode editor intentionally designed to be lightweight and devoid of frills. It runs on the Linux platform and is released under the GNU GPL.

A notepad replacement for Win32 and Win16 system, with the ability to edit multiple files in one go, spell check, etc.

VIM, or VI Improved, is an editor in the spirit of the Unix "vi" editor. It has many extensions and has a special mode that allows it to mimic the Unix "vi" exactly. There are versions for a multitude of operating systems, including Win32, Unix, DOS, MacOS, OS/2, VMS, etc.

Free Windows Resource Editors, Resource Compilers, Resource Hackers, Icon Editors

The free resource editors listed on this page allows you to create and edit Windows resources. They may either generate binary Windows resource files (.RES or .OBJ), bind them directly to an executable or DLL, or they may create Windows resource script files. The free resource compilers on this page will compile those Windows resource script files into binary resource files and bind them to your executable or shared library (DLL). The free icon editors allow you to create Windows icons (.ICO files).

Free Windows Resource Editors, Resource Compilers, Icon Editors

PixelToolbox allows you to design icons, wallpapers, patterns and cursors for Windows.

This is a free resource compiler for Windows that produces RES or OBJ files from Windows resource files (.rc files).

This software allows you to create both icons (.ico) and cursor (.cur) files with icons of different sizes (16x16, 32x32, 48x48) and colour depths. You can also import bitmap files to form the basis of your icons or cursors, as well as export your image to bitmap files.

Icon Studio is a free program that allows you to create and edit Windows icons. It has drawing facilities like rotate, flip, flood fill, colour picker, zooming, inversion of colours, etc. You can create 16 colour icons or 256 colour icons with this software, and 32 X 32 or 16 X 16 images. Although it is free, you need to register to obtain an activation code.

Resource Hacker allows you to view, modify, add, delete and extract resources from Win32 executables. It has a built-in resource compiler and decompiler and works with Windows 95, 98, NT and 2000.

The Watcom C/C++ and Fortran compiler (now called OpenWatcom) comes with a resource compiler for Windows resources as well as a few fairly decent resource editors. There are resource editors for you to create icons, menus, dialog boxes, and so on. The resource editors create RES files (or ICO files if you are creating icons) directly.

The LCC-Win32 C Compiler also comes with a resource editor and compiler for you to create Windows resources. If I recall correctly, the last time I checked, it can create dialog boxes, but not binary resources like icons.

The MinGW32 compilers come with a fairly decent resource compiler for Windows resources. There is no visual editor though, so you will have to your own resource scripts and have some other means to create ICO files and the like.

The Digital Mars C/C++ compiler comes with a resource compiler. The free downloadable versions do not include any resource editor so you will have to write your own resource scripts and create your ICO files elsewhere. At the time I wrote this, the resource compiler (rcc.exe) is located in their dmXXXutil.zip package (where XXX stand for the digits of the current version).

Borland's resource compilers are available with their free C/C++ command line compiler package. There is no visual editor though, so you will have to write your own resource scripts and have some other means to create ICO files and the like.

Free Disassemblers, Decompilers, Hex Editors & Hex Viewers

Ever encountered a situation where you needed to view, disassemble or decompile a binary file, such as a data file, an object file, a library archive, a shared library (or DLL in Windows) or an executable image? Assembled on this page are several hex viewers (hexadecimal viewers), hex editors, disassemblers (loosely speaking, "assembler decompilers") that will allow you to do precisely that.

Free Disassemblers, Hex Editors & Binary Viewers

This is a binary (hex) file editor for Windows. The program is released under the GNU GPL.

REC is a decompiler for reverse engineering 386, 68k, PowerPC and MIPS R3000 binaries, including ELF format binaries (Linux, System V Rel 4, Solaris, etc), COFF (System V Rel 3), PE (Win32 EXE and DLL), a.out (BSD systems, SunOS 4), Playstation PS-X (MIPS only), and raw binary data. It produces a "C-like representation" of the program's code and data. It is able to handle symbolic information in various binary formats (ELF+STAB, COFF, a.out+STAB). REC is available for Windows, Linux, Solaris SPARC, Solaris i386, and SunOS.

PEDasm is a Win32 command line utility that disassembles Win32 binary files, producing the asm source, def and include files that are needed to recreate the executable. It is distributed under the GNU GPL.

This is a command line utility that disassembles Win32 EXEs and DLLs. It comes with source code which may be compiled and used on both Windows and Linux.

Debuggy is a Windows debugger, disassembler, Windows resource extractor, file hex editor, window sniffer and API spy all rolled into one.

This is a PC program that disassembles 68k binary code. It handles code for the 68008, 68000, 68010, 68020.

This is a multiplatform binary viewer with "a built-in editor for binary, hexadecimal and disassembler modes". It supports disassembly of Pentium III, AMD K7 Athlon, and Cyrix M2 as well, and the ability to handle the following executable formats: MZ, NE, PE, LE, LX, DOS, SYS, NLM, arch, ELF, a.out, coff32, PharLap, and rdoff.

This is a hex editor (binary editor) for use on X Windows systems. According to the author's documentation, it is designed to be integrated with the KDE environment but can be used without it, as long as the KDE libraries are installed on the computer.

This is an extensible and extremely versatile hex or binary editor that can has unlimited undo; macro support; bookmarks; encryption and decryption; ability to patch, merge, and split files; disassemble code; compare files; etc, etc (the list is too long). It even has a built in hex calculator!

Borg is a non-interactive disassembler that handles Win32 executables and shared libraries (DLLs), writing the disassembled listing to a file.

This disassembler is a console mode program (at least the version that I checked at the time of this writing) that disassembles Win32 PE executables and shared libraries (DLLs). Source code is provided. Supported platforms include Win32 and Linux.