<s>
A	O
programming	B-Application
tool	I-Application
or	O
software	B-Application
development	I-Application
tool	I-Application
is	O
a	O
computer	B-Application
program	I-Application
that	O
software	B-Application
developers	I-Application
use	O
to	O
create	O
,	O
debug	O
,	O
maintain	O
,	O
or	O
otherwise	O
support	O
other	O
programs	O
and	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
most	O
basic	O
tools	O
are	O
a	O
source	B-Application
code	I-Application
editor	I-Application
and	O
a	O
compiler	B-Language
or	O
interpreter	B-Application
,	O
which	O
are	O
used	O
ubiquitously	O
and	O
continuously	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
tools	O
are	O
used	O
more	O
or	O
less	O
depending	O
on	O
the	O
language	O
,	O
development	O
methodology	O
,	O
and	O
individual	O
engineer	O
,	O
often	O
used	O
for	O
a	O
discrete	O
task	O
,	O
like	O
a	O
debugger	B-Application
or	O
profiler	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Tools	O
may	O
be	O
discrete	O
programs	O
,	O
executed	O
separately	O
–	O
often	O
from	O
the	O
command	B-Application
line	I-Application
–	O
or	O
may	O
be	O
parts	O
of	O
a	O
single	O
large	O
program	O
,	O
called	O
an	O
integrated	B-Application
development	I-Application
environment	I-Application
(	O
IDE	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
many	O
cases	O
,	O
particularly	O
for	O
simpler	O
use	O
,	O
simple	O
ad	O
hoc	O
techniques	O
are	O
used	O
instead	O
of	O
a	O
tool	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
print	O
debugging	O
instead	O
of	O
using	O
a	O
debugger	B-Application
,	O
manual	O
timing	O
(	O
of	O
overall	O
program	O
or	O
section	O
of	O
code	O
)	O
instead	O
of	O
a	O
profiler	O
,	O
or	O
tracking	O
bugs	B-Error_Name
in	O
a	O
text	O
file	O
or	O
spreadsheet	O
instead	O
of	O
a	O
bug	B-Application
tracking	I-Application
system	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
developers	B-Application
use	O
simple	O
databases	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
a	O
file	B-Application
containing	I-Application
a	I-Application
list	I-Application
of	I-Application
important	I-Application
values	I-Application
)	O
all	O
the	O
time	O
as	O
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
many	O
years	O
,	O
computer-assisted	O
software	B-General_Concept
engineering	I-General_Concept
(	O
CASE	O
)	O
tools	O
were	O
sought	O
after	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
rather	O
than	O
writing	O
down	O
a	O
program	O
's	O
binary	O
representation	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
will	O
write	O
a	O
program	O
in	O
a	O
programming	O
language	O
like	O
C	B-Language
,	O
Java	O
or	O
Python	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programming	B-Application
tools	I-Application
like	O
assemblers	O
,	O
compilers	B-Language
and	O
linkers	B-Application
translate	O
a	O
program	O
from	O
a	O
human	O
write-able	O
and	O
readable	O
source	O
language	O
into	O
the	O
bits	O
and	O
bytes	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
executed	O
by	O
a	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interpreters	B-Application
interpret	O
the	O
program	O
on	O
the	O
fly	O
to	O
produce	O
the	O
desired	O
behavior	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
programs	O
perform	O
many	O
well	O
defined	O
and	O
repetitive	O
tasks	O
that	O
would	O
nonetheless	O
be	O
time-consuming	O
and	O
error-prone	O
when	O
performed	O
by	O
a	O
human	O
,	O
like	O
laying	O
out	O
parts	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
in	O
memory	O
and	O
fixing	O
up	O
the	O
references	O
between	O
parts	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
as	O
a	O
linker	B-Application
does	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Optimizing	O
compilers	B-Language
on	O
the	O
other	O
hand	O
can	O
perform	O
complex	O
transformations	O
on	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
in	O
order	O
to	O
improve	O
the	O
execution	O
speed	O
or	O
other	O
characteristics	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
allows	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
to	O
focus	O
more	O
on	O
higher	O
level	O
,	O
conceptual	O
aspects	O
of	O
a	O
program	O
without	O
worrying	O
about	O
the	O
details	O
of	O
the	O
machine	O
it	O
is	O
running	O
on	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Because	O
of	O
the	O
high	O
complexity	O
of	O
software	O
,	O
it	O
is	O
not	O
possible	O
to	O
understand	O
most	O
programs	O
at	O
a	O
single	O
glance	O
even	O
for	O
the	O
most	O
experienced	O
software	B-Application
developer	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
abstractions	O
provided	O
by	O
high-level	O
programming	O
languages	O
also	O
make	O
it	O
harder	O
to	O
understand	O
the	O
connection	O
between	O
the	O
source	O
code	O
written	O
by	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
and	O
the	O
actual	O
program	O
's	O
behaviour	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
order	O
to	O
find	B-Application
bugs	B-Error_Name
in	O
programs	O
and	O
to	O
prevent	O
creating	O
new	O
bugs	B-Error_Name
when	O
extending	O
a	O
program	O
,	O
a	O
software	B-Application
developer	I-Application
uses	O
some	O
programming	B-Application
tools	I-Application
to	O
visualize	O
all	O
kinds	O
of	O
information	O
about	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
debugger	B-Application
allows	O
a	O
programmer	B-Application
to	O
extract	O
information	O
about	O
a	O
running	O
program	O
in	O
terms	O
of	O
the	O
source	O
language	O
used	O
to	O
program	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
debugger	B-Application
can	O
compute	O
the	O
value	O
of	O
a	O
variable	O
in	O
the	O
source	O
program	O
from	O
the	O
state	O
of	O
the	O
concrete	O
machine	O
by	O
using	O
information	O
stored	O
by	O
the	O
compiler	B-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Memory	B-General_Concept
debuggers	I-General_Concept
can	O
directly	O
point	O
out	O
questionable	O
or	O
outright	O
wrong	O
memory	O
accesses	O
of	O
running	O
programs	O
which	O
may	O
otherwise	O
remain	O
undetected	O
and	O
are	O
a	O
common	O
source	O
of	O
program	O
failures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Software	B-Application
tools	I-Application
come	O
in	O
many	O
forms	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Code	B-Application
coverage	I-Application
:	O
Code	B-Application
coverage	I-Application
#Software	O
code	B-Application
coverage	I-Application
tools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Code	O
sharing	O
sites	O
:	O
Freshmeat	O
,	O
Krugle	B-Application
,	O
SourceForge	B-Application
,	O
GitHub	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Debuggers	B-Application
:	O
Debugger	B-Application
#List	O
of	O
debuggers	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Memory	B-General_Concept
debuggers	I-General_Concept
are	O
frequently	O
used	O
in	O
programming	O
languages	O
(	O
such	O
as	O
C	B-Language
and	O
C++	B-Language
)	O
that	O
allow	O
manual	B-Application
memory	I-Application
management	I-Application
and	O
thus	O
the	O
possibility	O
of	O
memory	B-Error_Name
leaks	I-Error_Name
and	O
other	O
problems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Integrated	B-Application
development	I-Application
environments	I-Application
combine	O
the	O
features	O
of	O
many	O
tools	O
into	O
one	O
package	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Different	O
aspects	O
of	O
IDEs	O
for	O
specific	O
programming	O
languages	O
can	O
be	O
found	O
in	O
this	O
comparison	B-Application
of	I-Application
integrated	I-Application
development	I-Application
environments	I-Application
.	O
</s>
