12 Software Development Tools to Build Successful Products

Do you plan to undertake a strategic software development project? You need the right software development tool. Which software development tools should you use? How to choose them?

We, at DevTeam.Space, have the right experience in complex software development projects to guide you.

Join us, as we describe important software development tools.

Why and how to choose the right software development tools?

Software development is a large sector, and it’s growing. Various reports underline this, e.g.:

• An IBISWorld report indicates that this sector experienced a 3% growth in the UK in 2021.   
• An InfoWorld report states that the global software developer population grew by 500,000 in 2020.

Naturally, the demand for effective software development tools is growing today too.

The right software tools can help you in many areas, e.g.:

• Managing cloud IT resources like web servers, operating systems, etc.;
• Coding;
• Source code management;
• Data management;
• API development and documentation;
• Code review;
• Testing;
• Deployment.

Consider the following factors while choosing software tools:

• Strategic aspects, e.g., a decision to use a hybrid cloud;
• Organizational constraints like compliance requirements;
• Organizational preferences, e.g., open-source vs proprietary software;
• Integration requirements in your organization;
• Learning curve;
• Cost-benefit analysis.

Important software development tools to build successful products

We now describe a few important software development tools across different categories. Consider using the following:

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1. AWS (Category: Cloud platforms)

If you need a cloud platform, consider AWS (Amazon Web Services). Gartner consistently categorizes AWS as a leader in its magic quadrant for cloud infrastructure and platform providers.

AWS provides a wide range of cloud platforms, e.g.:

• Amazon EC2 is its IaaS (Infrastructure-as-a-Service) offering;
• AWS Elastic Beanstalk is its PaaS (Platform-as-a-Service) offering;
• AWS Amplify is its MBaaS (Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service) offering;
• Blockchain on AWS is the BaaS (Blockchain-as-a-Service) offering from AWS.

AWS offers robust cloud capabilities. If you want availability, scalability, performance, security, and ease of use, then AWS is a good choice.

AWS provides a wide range of services, e.g.:

• Serverless computing;
• VPC (Virtual Private Cloud);
• Storage;
• Software programming tools;
• CDN (Content Delivery Network);
• AI/ML tools for software development;
• IoT (Internet of Things) services;
• Relational databases;
• NoSQL databases;
• Analytics;
• AR/VR engines;
• Security, identity, and access management;
• DevOps tools.

You can access extensive AWS documentation and tutorials for all AWS platforms and services.

2. Eclipse IDE (Category: Integrated Development Environments)

The Eclipse IDE is a popular open-source Java integrated development environment. The Eclipse Foundation has developed it. This organization also offers IDEs for C, C++, JavaScript, PHP, etc.

The Eclipse IDE offers the following advantages:

• You can find many plugins and integrations, and the Eclipse Marketplace is extensive.
• Various plugins allow you to use Eclipse as an IDE for other programming languages like Python, C, C++, Scala, PHP, etc., with a code completion feature.
• You can use this IDE easily. It enables you to organize your project and code efficiently.
• It offers a robust debugging tool.
• The Eclipse Foundation offers extensive documentation, and you can get community support.

3. Android Studio (Category: Integrated Development Environments for native Android development)

Android Studio is the official IDE for native Android development. Google and JetBrains developed it on IntelliJ IDEA, the popular IDE from JetBrains. This open-source IDE offers the following advantages:

• Native Android development becomes easier with it since it’s specifically designed for this purpose.
• You can code and iterate quickly using Android Studio.
• Android Studio offers an Android emulator that installs and starts your app quickly. This helps with your prototyping activities.
• This IDE includes useful code templates and sample apps.
• Android Studio includes a powerful static analysis framework named Lintelligence.
• This IDE includes useful testing tools and frameworks like Espresso Test Recorder.
• The project structure and Gradle-based builds in Android Studio provide flexibility to configure builds.
• You can use Android Studio to develop apps for all Android devices.
• Android Studio includes useful Google Firebase and cloud integration.
• It enables you to eliminate tedious tasks.

4. Xcode (Category: Integrated Development Environments for native development on Apple’s platforms like iOS)

Apple developed Xcode. It’s freeware with open-source components. You can download it for free from the Mac App Store. You can use Xcode to develop applications for Apple’s platforms like Mac, iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple TV.

Xcode offers the following advantages:

• It integrates all the development tools that you need for developing apps on Apple’s platforms.
• The easy-to-use UI (User Interface) of Xcode makes tasks like coding, compiling, and debugging easier.
• Xcode offers a simulator to test your app.
• You can submit your app to the relevant app store from Xcode.
• Apple offers comprehensive documentation for Xcode.

5. Collaborator (Category: Code review tools)

Smartbear, an American company created Collaborator. This proprietary software is for peer code review and document review. It offers the following advantages:

• Collaborator offers comprehensive review capabilities. You can review the code using it. It helps you to review project documents, e.g., MS Word, MS Excel, PDF, Visio, etc.
• It supports all popular version control software like Subversion, Git, CVS, Mercurial, Perforce, etc.
• Collaborator integrates with popular project management tools like Jira. It integrates with popular IDEs like Eclipse.
• You can use collaborators for enterprise-scale requirements. It supports GitHub, GitLab, BitBucket, and Azure DevOps.
• Collaborator enables you to report the key metrics related to code review.
• You can get proof of review. These have digital signatures and detailed reports. These help you to meet audit requirements and regulatory standards.

6. jQuery (Category: Web development library/frameworks)

jQuery is a highly popular JavaScript library. John Resig created this open-source library. A team of developers named the “jQuery team” now maintains this free library.

jQuery offers plenty of advantages to web developers, e.g.: 

• It offers a wide of range functions.
• jQuery supports Ajax, which helps to develop templates.
• Many programmers already know JavaScript, and they don’t have a steep learning curve to work on jQuery.
• Software developers can keep their code simple, reusable, and clean.
• jQuery eliminates many repetitive programming tasks, which improves productivity.
• Programmers find jQuery easy to use. They can use plugins available for this open-source library.
• A vibrant community of software developers supports jQuery. This community has created excellent documentation and tutorials.

7. React.js (Category: Web development library/frameworks)

React.JS, a free and open-source JavaScript framework for web development is popular. Jordan Walke, a software engineer at Facebook created it. Facebook and a community of developers maintain it.

React.JS provides the following advantages to developers:

• It’s easy to learn. Many developers know JavaScript, therefore, they don’t have a steep learning curve.
• Developers can use React.js easily.
• React.js offers many reusable components. It makes it easy to reuse code.
• React.js offers robust performance and user experience.
• A vibrant community of developers has created many useful tools for React.js. These improve productivity. React.JS has a rich ecosystem.
• You can use the extensive documentation and tutorials for React.js, and there’s good community support.

8. React Native (Category: Cross-platform mobile development frameworks)

Do you want to develop a cross-platform mobile app? Keep factors like user experience, performance, and security in mind. React Native, a cross-platform mobile framework delivers a near-native user experience.

Facebook developed this free framework. The company maintains this open-source framework along with a community of developers.

React Native offers the following benefits:

• You can reuse code to a considerable extent. React Native allows you to reuse 90% of the code between Android and iOS. This delivers significant cost savings.
• The “live reload” feature of React Native allows you to see the results of the latest code changes immediately.
• React Native offers good performance.
• JavaScript developers don’t have a steep learning curve.
• It has a modular architecture. That makes life easier for developers.
• A vibrant developers’ community support React Native. You can get robust open-source tools and components. The community support is good too.

9. Cypress (Category: Testing tools)

Cypress is a popular testing framework for web application test automation. Developers of this free open-source framework used JavaScript to create it. Cypress uses Node.js when running in browsers.

This framework offers the following advantages:

• Most web developers use JavaScript or JavaScript-based frameworks to create web apps. With Cypress, tests can also be written in JavaScript.
• Cypress allows cross-browser testing. You can use it to run tests on Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Electron.
• You can set up Cypress easily.
• Cypress offers debugging capabilities.
• You can execute your tests fast with Cypress.
• An active community of developers supports Cypress. You get good documentation.

Note: Cypress has a paid version with advanced features.

10. Jenkins (Category: DevOps tools)

Jenkins is a CI (continuous integration) server written in Java. This free and open-source tool is very popular for CI and DevOps. Jenkins offers the following advantages:

• Not only is Jenkins free and open-source, but it also helps to implement CI/CD and DevOps at scale.
• A vibrant developers’ community offers hundreds of plugins for Jenkins. They make it easier to build and deploy applications, furthermore, they facilitate automation.
• You can install and use Jenkins easily.
• One can easily configure and extend Jenkins.
• Jenkins is platform-independent.
• Project teams save time since most of the integration work is automated with Jenkins. Testing and deployment are faster with Jenkins.
• Jenkins has good documentation and community support.

11. TensorFlow (Category: Machine Learning frameworks)

TensorFlow is a very popular ML (Machine Learning) framework. Researchers at Google developed it. They used C++ to write the core of this framework. They also used CUDA, a language from NVIDIA to program GPUs (Graphics Processing Units).   

TensorFlow offers the following advantages:

• It’s free and open-source.
• TensorFlow is a comprehensive framework for ML. You can use it for many purposes, e.g., regression, classification, neural networks, etc.
• It runs on both CPUs and GPUs.
• TensorFlow is versatile. Junior developers can use this simple framework. Senior developers find it useful since it has many advanced features.
• This framework has a wide range of tools.
• TensorFlow helps with data visualization.
• You can use TensorFlow with many popular programming languages, e.g., C++, JavaScript, Python, C#, Ruby, and Swift.
• TensorFlow is scalable.

12. Ethereum (Category: Public blockchain application development platform)

Ethereum is the second-most popular cryptocurrency, however, it’s also a robust platform for developing public blockchain applications. Vitalik Buterin, Anthony Di Iorio, Charles Hoskinson, Gavin Wood, Joseph Lubin, and a few more people founded it. 

From the standpoint of public blockchain application development, Ethereum provides the following advantages:

• It’s a well-known and large public blockchain network. You can potentially attract many users to your Ethereum-based application.
• You can develop DApps (Decentralized Applications) using EVM (Ethereum Virtual Machine), the development platform on Ethereum. These are open-source web apps compatible with the Ethereum blockchain network.
• You can create smart contracts using Solidity, a proprietary language of Ethereum. Smart contracts are pieces of code that execute autonomously when their triggering conditions satisfy. They transfer cryptographic assets based on predefined conditions. They are open-source, and their execution is irreversible.
• Considerable documentation and tutorials exist to guide Ethereum blockchain developers.

Final thoughts on Using Software Development Tools

Depending on your project, the above software development tools list can help. However, you might need more assistance with complex projects related to web and mobile apps via skilled software development teams.

Contact DevTeam.Space. A dedicated account manager will soon contact you to understand your requirements.

FAQs on Software Development Tools