My (small) works
Not exactly software in the full sense, more little snippets of code written for a specific purpose at a given moment in time. All are open source (wiki) and GPL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/gpl.html) unless otherwise stated. These programs are distributed here as source code, in good faith, in the hope they will be useful. All have been tested on Windows XP, and compiled successfully with GCC 3.2 and later.
Matrix Multiplication
mmatrix.c
Simple matrix multiplication for small matrices of arbitrary dimension. `Small' because the matrix values must be entered by hand. This was written for a friend who needed it for matrices less than 5x5, but it was just as easy to write a piece of general code.
Alphanumeric passwords
passwords.c
Need a random string of letters and numbers for a password? This program produces 8 character strings, and shows you three to choose from. There's a built in pause, so its not possible to get the same password twice.
Spellchecker
dictcheck.cpp 
web2.dic (zipped)
Check a word against Websters' English Dictionary from 1934 (or something like it). 233608 words! Remember to download the dictionary as well, or use your own wordlist and just rename it to `web2.dic'.
Third-party works
Where possible I make extensive use of open-source software, not only because its often free (as in beer) but also because you can almost always guarantee an enthusiastic developer team that write the code because they want to use it (not just because they're paid to). Of course if you want to check whether a program's kosher or not then its free (as in speech) too! The programs listed here are those I rely on on a day-to-day basis, and actively recommend:
GIMP : Highly regarded open source image editing suite that's also free to download. GIMP's main use is photo editing, but the large variety of included filters and scripts as well as the ability to draw and stroke paths makes it suitable for almost all graphics work. It also has excellent support for a large number of file types, including those from Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and the various formats native to specific operating systems such as Windows icons and tagged image files.
Inkscape : Open source vector image drawing program, fantastically easy to use and a free download too. Dead useful for diagrams and line-drawings. Inkscape specialises in SVG images; an XML based file format recommended by the W3C as the next web graphics standard. Vector files have the added benefit that they can be scaled to larger sizes with no pixelation or loss of quality, but unfortunately at the moment there is no widespread browser support for this format.
EditPad Pro : Excellent and highly configurable text editor, not open source but well written and maintained with good support. If you only write websites then its probably not the best out there, but if you spend most of your time writing computer code of one form or another and want a single text editor for the lot then there are too many reasons to list here for why I recommend it. Recently had a major update. I use the 'Pro' version for which I happily parted with my cash for a license.
Opera : Secure, free web browser with excellent support for web standards thanks to its own rendering engine. Supports the second Acid Test too! Opera is my browser of choice from the messy world of Firefox fanboys and Internet Explorer haters (of which I am proudly neither...). Has an integrated email client (M2) which features an internal engine based on databases rather than on storing your emails in separate folders. This means searches are instant and emails can be sorted on relevance to a particular topic, appearing in multiple places if needed.
PrestoPlot : Simple and fast freeware data plotting program, but seems to be unmaintained now. Written by David Shalloway at Cornell University. I've written a couple of install and uninstall scripts for Windows XP which are included in this zip archive. Windows XP can open zip archives by default, just make sure you extract all the files to their own directory before running `install.bat'. A full readme is available (also in the zip archive). Why use this? Have you ever looked at a folder full of .dat files, containing spectra, but have no easy way of knowing the good ones from the duds? If you have, you'll benefit from this little program like I have...
FileZilla : Open source, stable, efficient FTP client. I've been using it for years and never had problems. Supports sFTP as well as FTP transfers and handles multiple sites easily and intuitively.
