Professional ASP.NET 3.5 SP1 Edition: In C# and VB

Appendix B. ASP.NET Ultimate Tools

I've always believed that I'm only as good as my tools. I've spent years combing the Internet for excellent tools to help me be a more effective developer. There are thousands of tools out there to be sure, many overlapping in functionality with others. Some tools do one thing incredibly well and others aim to be a Swiss Army knife with dozens of small conveniences packed into their tiny toolbars. Here is a short, exclusive list of some of the ASP.NET tools that I keep turning back to. These are tools that I find myself using consistently while developing ASP.NET-based Web sites. I recommend that you give them a try if they sound useful. Many are free; some are not. In my opinion, each is worth at least a trial on your part, and many are worth your hard-earned money as they'll save you precious time.

These tools can be easily searched for in your favorite search engine and found in the first page. For those that are harder to find, I've included URLs. I also encourage you to check out my annually updated Ultimate Tools List at www.hanselman.com/tools and you might also enjoy my weekly podcast at www.hanselminutes.com as we often discover and share new tools for the developer enthusiast.

Enjoy!

–Scott Hanselman

Debugging Made Easier

"There has never been an unexpectedly short debugging period in the history of computers."

—Steven Levy

Firebug

There are so many great things about this application one could write a book about it. Firebug is actually a Firefox ...