Key Points

• Programmers sometimes overlook some of the most powerful tools for years before discovering them.

• Good tools can make your life a lot easier.

• Tools are readily available for editing, analyzing code quality, refactoring, version control, debugging, testing, and code tuning.

• You can make many of the special-purpose tools you need.

• Good tools can reduce the more tedious aspects of software development, but they can't eliminate the need for programming, although they will continue to reshape what we mean by "programming."