Testing… Testing… Testing… is this thing on??

Been far too long since I posted anything, and I feel like crud for that since I have been keeping up on emails and know how many people have been asking if I died or something … nope.  No deaths, alien abduction, undercover spy operations or world saving.  Just a ton of work and barely enough time left over to sleep let alone post anything on the blog.  Since at work they seem to be a bit behind the times (and our department below the budget) I’ve had to come up with inexpensive ways to design, develop and test stuff.  So in keeping with my on going mantra here on the blog of showing you how to do more with little or no cash I thought I’d share a few of the free testing and dev tools I’ve been playing with of late.

The first of which is a little beauty called the WaitN Test Recorder.  It’s an awesome tool for recording and playing back tests.   And it will set you back a cool bupkiss.  A big Nada.  Zero.  Zilch.  Zippo… totally free – which your boss will love. If you do any work on the web … this is your baby for testing.  Combine it with the rest of the WaitN line of toys and you’re good to go for most web based tests.

 

Next “Thing You Gotta Have that’s Free…” in my toybox of free tools are … the Microsoft Visual Studio Express tools.  Now… I know, I know, I know these are “kiddie” versions are what you’re  going to tell me.  Now – let me tell you… I’ve coded a ton of apps in these for work because, well, my department isn’t going to pay for a full blown MSDN Universal Subscription… heck, they probably wouldn’t pay for a copy of VS Pro… but these are FREE.  And that’s free as in FREE BEER free – you pay nothing for them.  All of the code that I’ve written in them is as good or better than the full blown Visual Studio.  No, you don’t have all the cool features – but you have enough of them that you’re using probably one of the slickest IDEs on the market even in it’s free version it’s still light years ahead of everything else out there.

So… if you need to whip up an app quick and easy – or even a somewhat complicated application, or if you’re just starting out and want to learn a language or two… this is the way to go.  Now… for those who are saying “Yeah but why can’t I get the FULL Visual Studio IDE for free?” – got a surprise for you… you can.  In fact you can get that and your choice of RUBY or IronPython along with it … for free.

So… for those who don’t do VB.NET, C#, etc., and you want to try the new stuff out there… you’re going to love this – RUBY with a Visual Studio IDE.  Yup… RUBY.  Say no more … and it’s also free.  SaphireSteel Software makes an awesome free version of it’s RUBY editor for Visual Studio, which, btw, just happens to include a copy of the Visual Studio IDE free if ya don’t happen to have one lying around, as well as RUBY, and MYSQL if you need a database.  So… how’s that?

What’s that you say?  You want something … to handle subversioning?  (What’s subversioning you say?  hmmm… Do I need to take you to an ER to have you checked for head trauma???)  A subversion tool is a tool used to track versions, revisions to code, and provide a source control system for software development. 

How many times have you written code… then had a brilliant Idea that was just so awesome that you didn’t back up your code… and accidentally wrote over your code?  C’mon… show of hands… fess up… everyone’s done it. 

Wouldn’t it be cool if there was a magic fairy that would come down and allow you to see previous versions of the code you’d written – allow you to compare it or even revert back to a previsous version?  As if by magic? 

Well there are several tools for this…  and once again… they’re FREE.  The first one I wanted to talk about is called TortiseSVN.  Now … straight off the box it says TortiseSVN is “A Subversion client, implemented as a windows shell extension. TortoiseSVN is a really easy to use Revision control / version control / source control software for Windows. Since it's not an integration for a specific IDE you can use it with whatever development tools you like. TortoiseSVN is free to use. You don't need to get a loan or pay a full years salary to use it. “.

There are a ton of free development tools out there that can really help your projects and give you the quality and degree of professionalism you’re looking for – that are free and that can free up your cash for other things.  Which if you’re a small shop or a struggling but scrappy start up shop trying to create the next Google – you’re not forced with the choice of doing things half-way or the wrong way because it would cost you an arm and a leg.

  So what’s that mean to you?  It means you can now track your changes to the code.  You can now auto-revert to a previous version.  It means that when you screw up… and we all do… you can fix the problem faster and more efficiently – like a professional.   You reduce your costs, increase your efficiency – and you provide yourself with a safety net.   Good times.  :D

But… but… but… what about better support for all those cool MS Visual Studio Express tools and the free Visual Studio IDE that came with your spanking new RUBY editor from SaphireSteel?  You go into VS Express editions and you don’t have subversion?  Well actually you do – but it’s not integrated nicely into things like you’d like.  Truth is – there are some featurFor that… you want AnkhSVN.

  AnkhSVN integrates directly with the Visual Studio 2008 IDE.  You get the familiar looking blue / green / red check marks on the files you’re working on in the Solution Explorer.  You get the very nice docking panel which provides details on files.  And best of all – it’s all built in.  No need to kill yourself trying to jump back and forth and open up new windows to work in.

 

 

Now… those are just a few of the toys you need to make a yourself into a professional operation for free.  But … what other goodies do I have for free???   Well there is this cool tool you probably never considered… the Microsoft AdCenter Demographic Analysis tool…  really.  If you really need to understand why this is handy you should probably not be reading this.  Demographics for a website are a key to selling it.  For example – this site is meant for a very wide demographic, and this handy little gizmo gives me some proof of that.  It shows that the site is very evenly distributed amongst the various demographic types it’s meant for namely the 25-35 age group.  You’ll find several very use tools over at the AdCenter for web sites so be sure to check it out.

I’ve got tons more… but this should get you started for this week and keep people from asking me if I died or was kidnapped by aliens.