The University of Aberdeen
The Computing Science Department

MTP Software: Other

Zip Utility

Windows has a built-in zip utility, but this doesn't work on the wide variety of compressed file formats that you might encounter, so get 7-Zip instead. This can be configured to open jar, war and ear files, which you will repeatedly build and deploy during the year.

Webserver

You probably will not need a standalone web server for any of your coursework, but if you feel you do, then useApache Download a 2.x binary version and let it pick the defaults to set up the Windows version on your machine. If you want to use Apache as a way to manage MySQL, instead of using MySQL Workbench, then you can find a guide to installing PHP and phpMyAdmin for Apache in the setup page.

Telnet/ssh Client

Putty is the tool of choice for obtaining shell control on remote servers. You'll need this for logging into your network space in the department, and dealing with remote servers.

Editors

There are a number of text editors to choose from. One cross-platform option is Xemacs, a highly configurable editor and console window, ie you can edit and run scripts, commands, etc all from within the same application.  It may take a little while to get used to the shortcuts, but soon you'll wonder why you ever used another editor. Another cross-platform option is Komodo Edit, which offers many of the features you find in IDEs with code completion, and browsable project files.

Graphics

The Gimp provides a fully functional image generation and editing progamme that is as easy to use and powerful as Photoshop.

Git

We'll use Git as our version code repository. Follow the details here to get it set up and running ok.