[TheRealDunkirk]

I've spent many, many hundreds of dollars for development software out of my own pocket, because, just like with high-quality hand tools, good software tools pay for themselves over time. Even given what I make in the manufacturing world, these expenses don't account for a lot of my take-home pay, and I make half (or less!) of what hot-shots in tech make. I'm not worried about being reviewed on my productivity, I just want to get the work done faster and better for myself.

[galaxyLogic]

I think you make an interesting point. The employer maybe thinks like this: If those dev-tools are so great then let the programmers pay for them? If it increases productivity like they say and price is small compared to their salary, wouldn't they want to pay for it.

One alternative approach I could think of that the employer should give each programmer a dev-tools -budget per year. That would encourage programmers to experiment with better tools and find the best ones.