Did you ever just want to test a quick piece of code? Prove an idea? Or even just wanted to see the name of a property to answer an email/forum/support request? Here are a couple of free tools which can make it very easy and convenient.

I have been a long time fan of Jeff Key’s Snippet Compiler. I guess I missed the announcement, but it looks like there was a nice update in December.

If you have never used Snippet Compiler, in a nutshell, it gives you the ability to execute and test code without the need to create a dummy VS.Net project. In provides templates, intellisence, managed references, and a near instant start up. As the site says, “Snippet Compiler compiles snippets.”.

What actually made me thing to check on an update to Snippet Compiler is another similar tool called LinqPad (by Joseph Albahari).

LinqPad has quite a bit of functionality, but as the name implies what it really specializes in is quickly writing Linq queries.

Tired of querying in antiquated SQL?
Well, you don’t have to! LINQPad lets you interactively query SQL databases in a modern query language: LINQ. Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio!

Added Bonus: If you want to take your testing code in Snippet Compiler to a new level Travis Illg has published a template that will enable you to write your test code using NUnit.