Tools

Tools I've (Cr)eated/(Co)ntributed to

  • OpenSees - (Co) UC Berkeley
  • ShakerMaker - (Cr) UC Berkeley
  • RealESSI Simulator - (Co) UCD Earthquake-Soil-Structure Interaction simulator system. 
  • FEI-Syntax-n-Snippets - (Cr) - Syntax highlighter and snippets for the Finite Element Interpreter (A domain specific language for FEA modelling within ESSI Simulator).
  • visitESSI - (Cr) - A plugin for visualizing ESSI Simulator HDF5 output.
  • gmshtranslator - (Cr) - A python parser for gmsh .msh format. I use it to create ESSI/OpenSees/whateverelse models.

3rd. Party tools

I strive to stay as open source/free as I can with the tools I use. Every now and then, though, I will pay for a useful tool.

Here is a set of apps I love to use day to day. Special thanks to their creators.

  • Sublime Text - A very cool text editor. (Free to try, but have to buy to keep using)
  • SciPy - Scientific computing for Python. The reason I switched from Matlab to Python!
  • Mendeley - Oh how would I ever manage references without you dear mendeley?
  • Code::Blocks - Open source, very powerful IDE for C++ projects.
  • gmsh - Need to generate 3D FEM meshes? gmsh will do that and more.
  • STLfilt - A filter for compiler output. Very useful when dealing with STL and template metaprogramming. Makes reading error reports very easy.
  • LTensor- A high performance C++ library for dealing with tensors (up to rank 4) based on templates. Deal with tensors in C++ using natural notation !
  • ARM Forge - A parallel-debugger/profiler suite. There is really no open-source alternative that can provide the productivity these guys provide. Costly though.
  • Inkscape - My dark alternate identity, a designer. Useful vector graphics editor to create beautiful illustrations.
    • I also (cr)eated a syntax highlighter and "snippets" package for this editor for our FEI Finite Element simulation program (ESSI) [here]. Can be installed easily into sublime with Package Control plugin (FEI-syntax-n-snippets).
  • Spyder - A very cool, Matlab inspired, python editor for scientific computing. I don't use this anymore, it was a catalyst for my transition from matlab to python. I do recommend it to my students and matlab-based colleagues.
  • GIMP - The Gnu Image Manipulation Program. My designer side flourishing again.
  • Blender - Used for cool 3-D viz and random art I do.

As far as OSes go

  • Ubuntu - What? There are other Linux distributions out there?
  • elementary OS - Interesting and pretty Ubuntu-based linux distro. Inspired by mac.
  • Virtual Box - Because sometimes you just need windows

Some useful commands.