Your Software Engineering Student Toolkit

Professional / Certification • Linux

Editors, version control, testing, databases, APIs and containers for software engineering students.

Who this toolkit is for

For software engineering students working on individual and team projects.

What level are you studying?A-Level / College Undergraduate Postgraduate Professional / Certification Other

What computer do you use?Windows macOS Linux Chromebook Not sure

Which Linux distribution?Ubuntu Debian Linux Mint Fedora Arch Linux Manjaro openSUSE Kali Linux Other / Not sure

What are you studying right now? (optional)Testing Mobile Development

Choose any modules to see the tools for them. Without a module, module tools appear under Specialist / Optional.

Essential (5)

Core tools that are broadly useful.

Code Editor / IDE

Visual Studio Code
Free
Why you may need this: A flexible code editor for programming assignments, scripting and web modules.
Flatpak (verified)
```
flatpak install flathub com.visualstudio.code
```
Details

Programming Languages

Python
Open Source
Why you may need this: A common first language, used across programming, data and AI modules.
APT (verified)
```
sudo apt install python3
```
Details

Version Control

Git
Open Source
Why you may need this: Track changes to your code and submit work through Git-based workflows.
APT (verified)
```
sudo apt install git
```
Details

Research / Citation

Zotero
Open SourceAlso on iPhone/iPad
Why you may need this: Organise research sources and generate citations for coursework and dissertations.
Flatpak (verified)
```
flatpak install flathub org.zotero.Zotero
```
Details

Office / Documents

LibreOffice
Open Source
Why you may need this: A free office suite for essays, spreadsheets and presentations.
APT (verified)
```
sudo apt install libreoffice
```
Details

Recommended (4)

Useful for particular parts of the work or course.

Database

DBeaver Community
Open Source
Why you may need this: Work with project databases.
Flatpak (verified)
```
flatpak install flathub io.dbeaver.DBeaverCommunity
```
Details

API Development

Bruno
Open Source
Why you may need this: Test the APIs you build.
Flatpak (verified)
```
flatpak install flathub com.usebruno.Bruno
```
Details

Containers

Docker Desktop
Freemium
Why you may need this: Run services and reproducible environments.
View official installation instructions
Details

Documentation

draw.io Desktop
Open Source
Why you may need this: Draw UML and architecture diagrams.
Flatpak (verified)
```
flatpak install flathub com.jgraph.drawio.desktop
```
Details

Specialist / Optional · Show specialist tools (1)

Consider these for particular modules, tasks or environments.

Testing

Node.js
Open Source
Why you may need this: Run JavaScript test tooling.
For the Testing module
APT (verified)
```
sudo apt install nodejs
```
Details

Course requirements vary. Software requirements differ between schools, colleges, universities and modules. Check your course materials before purchasing software.

Build your student setup

Build My Setup lets you add or remove apps, see why each is included and, where verified packages exist, get one install command. Nothing is installed automatically.

Build my Software Engineering setup