Tools

Visual Studio
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment from Microsoft that supports a wide range of software development including desktop, websites, web apps, web services, and mobile apps. For new projects, we use Visual Studio with the C# language. For older existing clients, we use VB.Net when updating applications.

Visual Code
Visual Studio Code (commonly referred to as VS Code) is an integrated development environment from Microsoft. VS Code is a free code editor that uses the free and open-source Electron Framework that supports for Windows, Linux, and macOS. VS Code is full of helpful features and supports a wide array of programming languages.

Arduino IDE
The Arduino IDE is a free and open-source development tool used for programming microcontrollers like the Arduino, ESP8266, and ESP32. It primarily uses the C/C++ programming language. Although the IDE has a relatively simple design, it allows for the development of customised code to meet specific microcontroller requirements.

B4X RAD Tools
B4X is a set of cross-platform Rapid Application Development (RAD) tools developed by Anywhere Software. These tools include IDEs for creating real-world business applications such as B4A for Google Android, B4i for Apple iOS, B4J for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS, and Linux, and B4R for Arduino, ESP, and other microcontrollers.

MS SQL
Microsoft SQL Server is a relational database management system with the primary function of storing and retrieving data requested by 3rd part software. We can use MS SQL Server as the back-end system for database solutions if specifically requested to do so by our clients.

MySQL
MySQL was founded by Michael Widenius in 1995 and is the worlds largest free and open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS), MySQL is widely used in enterprise database solutions. We use MySQL as our main database engine for most of our desktop software or mobile applications.

MariaDB
MariaDB is one of the worlds largest free and open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) and is widely used in large organisations. Just like MySQL, MariaDB was also founded by Michael Widenius. If requested to do so, we will setup and deploy MariaDB as the main server for our clients database solutions.

PostgreSQL
PostgreSQL is a free and open-source Relational Database Management System (RDBMS) emphasising extensibility and standards compliance. PostgreSQL is designed to handle a large range of workloads and was created by Michael Stonebraker. We only use PostgreSQL Server if specifically requested to do so by our clients.

MongoDB
MongoDB is a cross-platform, document-oriented database engine that is designed for storing and querying data quickly. As a non-relational database, MongoDB uses a JSON document format called BSON (Binary JSON) to store and retrieve data. BSON encodes data in a binary format that makes it highly scalable. As a NoSQL database, MongoDB provides a flexible and efficient way to manage unstructured data.

SQLite
SQLite is a free and open-source lightweight file-based relational database created by D. Richard Hipp. Unlike many other database management systems, SQLite is not a client-server database engine. databases are designed to be embedded with the end application. Google recommends SQLite as the storage engine for storing data on Android devices.

Firebase messaging
Firebase is a mobile and web application development platform developed by Firebase which is now owned by Google. Firebase Cloud Messaging (FCM) is a cross-platform cloud solution for messages and notifications for Android, iOS, and web applications. FCM is a free service offered by Firebase.

GIMP
GIMP is the world's largest free and open-source raster graphics editor used for image retouching and graphic editing. It was originally created by Spencer Kimball and Peter Mattis. GIMP is a popular tool for creating or editing graphics for desktop software and mobile applications.

Photoshop
Photoshop is a raster graphics editor, it is part of the Adobe suite of graphical development tools which is created by Adobe. Even though we have Photoshop, we don't really us it as we prefer to use GIMP.

HeidiSQL
HeidiSQL is a free and open-source, multi-platform database administration tool for managing various database engines, such as MySQL, Microsoft SQL, and PostgreSQL. The codebase for HeidiSQL was initially sourced from Ansgar Becker's MySQL-Front 2.5. We use HeidiSQL as our primary database management tool for client databases.

DBeaver
DBeaver multi-platform database tool for database administrators and application developers is used for managing databases. DBeaver uses JDBC to connect with relational databases via its IDE, for Non-Relational and NoSQL Databases, it uses proprietary database drivers. We use DBeaver alongside HeidiSQL to manage client databases.

MySQL Workbench
MySQL Workbench is a visual database design tool that integrates database design and maintenance into a single integrated development environment (IDE). Additionally, MySQL Workbench provides data modelling and comprehensive administration tools for server configuration, user management, backup, and many other functionalities.

pgAdmin
pgAdmin is free and open-source, it is the most popular feature rich administration and development tool for PostgreSQL databases. pgAgent is a job scheduling agent for Postgres databases, capable of running multi-step batch or shell scripts and SQL tasks on complex schedules, which may be managed using pgAdmin.

MongoDB Compass
MongoDB Compass is an interactive tool used for creating, querying, optimising, and analysing MongoDB data. MongoDB Compass is simple to use but extremely flexible and powerful. With live, real-time data performance metrics and sophisticated querying abilities, MongoDB Compass is our IDE of choice when it comes to managing MongoDB data.

Postman
Postman is an Application Programming Interface (API) client that developers use when working with external data sources. Postman helps us simplify each step in the process of building, testing, deploying, and maintaining API solutions for our clients. APIs are middleware applications that sit between the end-user application and the server storing the required data.

XAMPP
XAMPP is an open-source cross-platform web server solution and the world's most popular PHP development environment, developed by Apache Friends. The name XAMPP is an acronym for Cross-Platform (X), Apache (A), MariaDB (M), PHP (P) and Perl (P). XAMPP can be used to test and serve both MariaDB and MySQL database formats for third-party desktop software or mobile applications.

Notepad++
Notepad++ is a free open-source text editor designed for Microsoft Windows. Notepad++ supports tabbed editing which allows working with multiple open files in a single window. Notepad++ also allows plugins which makes this text editor a must for most developers.