5 software tools no engineer should be without

By Warren Miller, contributing writer

Engineers need tools. Lots of tools. And there are lots of types of tools available for just about every engineering discipline. The trick is to sort through all these tools and find the ones that are general enough to help out in a variety of disciplines or customizable for specific tasks. Some tools are hardware and some software, and some are a combination of both. Right now, let’s look at software tools specifically.

Python

Some software tools are useful for a wide class of problems. One of the most basic and useful software tools is the Python programming language. It is very easy to learn, fast and efficient to program with, and has a very large community involved in expanding and supporting it. Many task-specific Python libraries are available to speed development.

Image source: Pixabay.

MATLAB

Another software tool that is generic and powerful because of its customizability is MATLAB. MATLAB from Mathworks is a programming tool, but it operates at the level of algorithms, using familiar mathematical equations and matrices. It also offers a wide range of prebuilt toolboxes used for machine learning, communications, signal processing, and everything in between.

GIT

If you are doing any kind of software development, you need a source control tool. A source control tool helps organize your code development and makes it easy for multiple developers to work on the same project while avoiding overlapping or conflicting edits. Multiple branches can be created and stored either in the cloud, locally, or both. A robust source control tool also encourages experimentation without confusing the ‘main line’ of development. One popular choice for source code control is GIT.

AutoCAD

One software tool that is critical for many engineering disciplines is a Computer Aided Design (CAD) tool. These tools help with the design of just about anything that an engineer would create — things like printed circuit boards, semiconductor devices, mechanical devices, structural design, and 3D-printed objects. Current CAD tools have a variety of options (extensions, libraries, or apps) for specific engineering tasks. AutoCAD is one popular CAD tool with extensive support for a variety of engineering disciplines and tasks.

Excel

As much as you try to get away from using it, sometimes a simple spreadsheet is the right tool for the job. For storing and organizing data, sorting, categorizing, and doing simple analysis, sometimes a spreadsheet is all you need. Often, a spreadsheet can also be an intermediate format used by a Python program, a MATLAB algorithm, or a CAD tool. Generating charts and graphs is a snap with Excel, so it can also be a good choice for analyzing results from other programs. Of course, Excel seems to be the popular choice for most engineering tasks.

These are just a few of the most useful software tools available for engineers and are primarily focused on electrical engineering and software development. Hopefully, these tools are general enough to appeal to a wide variety of disciplines and can help you improve your productivity at your own engineering tasks. After all, that is what tools are all about — making tasks easier, more efficient, and maybe even a bit more fun.