Essential programming utilities

Below are a few direct links (not all are free programs) which are pretty useful:

Visual Studio Express editions free from Microsoft
program in visual basic : Visual Basic Express by Microsoft
program in visual c++ : Visual C++ Express by Microsoft
open source programming tools http://theopencd.org/download
program in visual j# : Visual J# Express by Microsoft
tiny and useful alternative to notepad: http://www.flos-freeware.ch/notepad2.html
create installation programs : Inno Setup
create installation programs : QuickInstall 2