diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonAPI/CMakeLists.txt b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonAPI/CMakeLists.txt
index 26d0981e59f12dd182df501d9971edd70b5e358b..8ba281ca1f29dabfbf9da51efc4f7ef089fbe628 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonAPI/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Framework/PythonAPI/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -133,3 +133,25 @@ if (PYUNITTEST_FOUND)
   add_dependencies ( VanillaPythonTest.py PythonAPI Algorithms )
   add_dependencies ( FrameworkTests VanillaPythonTest.py )
 endif ()
+
+###########################################################################
+# things to put together a main program
+###########################################################################
+find_program( GEN_TEST_MAIN generatetestmain.py
+              ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/TestingTools/ ${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/../TestingTools/)
+if (GEN_TEST_MAIN)
+  # generate a default "main.cpp" file
+  add_custom_command ( OUTPUT ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/main.cpp
+                       COMMAND ${GEN_TEST_MAIN} ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/main.cpp )
+  add_custom_target( russellcpp
+                     DEPENDS ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/main.cpp )
+
+  # build an executable
+  add_executable(russell EXCLUDE_FROM_ALL ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR}/src/main.cpp )
+  target_link_libraries ( russell ${MANTIDLIBS} Algorithms DataHandling )
+
+  # run the executable
+  add_custom_target ( russellhappy
+                      DEPENDS ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR}/russell 
+                      COMMAND ${CMAKE_LIBRARY_OUTPUT_DIRECTORY}/${CMAKE_CFG_INTDIR}/russell )
+endif ()
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/TestingTools/generatetestmain.py b/Code/Mantid/TestingTools/generatetestmain.py
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000000000000000000000000000000000..cc6487e00de1e965ecbbb06db5dd17a2bb1caffa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/Code/Mantid/TestingTools/generatetestmain.py
@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env python
+VERSION = "1.0"
+
+import os
+import sys
+
+FRONTMATTER = """// If you get the message  "This application has failed to start because MSVCR80.dll was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem."
+// when running to run this main.cpp in debug mode then try to uncomment the line below (see also http://blogs.msdn.com/dsvc/archive/2008/08/07/part-2-troubleshooting-vc-side-by-side-problems.aspx for more details)
+//#pragma comment(linker, "\"/manifestdependency:type='Win32' name='Microsoft.VC80.CRT' version='8.0.50608.0' processorArchitecture='X86' publicKeyToken='1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b' \"")
+
+#include <iostream>
+#include <iomanip>
+#include "MantidAPI/FrameworkManager.h"
+#include "MantidAPI/IAlgorithm.h"
+#include "MantidAPI/Workspace.h"
+#include "MantidDataObjects/Workspace1D.h"
+#include "MantidDataObjects/Workspace2D.h"
+#include "MantidDataObjects/EventWorkspace.h"
+#include "MantidKernel/Memory.h"
+#include "MantidKernel/Timer.h"
+
+using namespace Mantid::API;
+using namespace Mantid::Kernel;
+using namespace Mantid::Geometry;
+using namespace Mantid::DataObjects;
+
+void printMem(MemoryStats &mem, Timer &timer)
+{
+  mem.update();
+  std::cout << "*** at " << timer << ": mem "<< mem << std::endl;
+}
+
+int main()
+{
+  FrameworkManagerImpl& fm = FrameworkManager::Instance();
+  IAlgorithm *alg;
+  MemoryStats mem;
+  mem.ignoreFields(MEMORY_STATS_IGNORE_SYSTEM);
+  Timer k_timer;
+  printMem(mem, k_timer);
+
+  // ADD YOUR CODE HERE
+"""
+
+BACKMATTER = """
+  printMem(mem, k_timer);
+  std::cout << "total time ";
+  fm.clear();
+  exit(0);
+
+}
+"""
+
+class Writer:
+    def __init__(self, filename=None, overwrite=False, debug=False):
+        if debug:
+            self.__handle = sys.stdout
+        else:
+            filename = os.path.abspath(filename)
+            if os.path.exists(filename) and not overwrite:
+                raise RuntimeError("To overwrite file use '--overwrite' flag")
+            print "Creating file '%s'" % filename
+            self.__handle = open(filename, 'w')
+
+    def write(self):
+        self.__handle.write(FRONTMATTER)
+        self.__handle.write(BACKMATTER)
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+    import optparse
+    info=[]
+    parser = optparse.OptionParser("usage: %prog [options] <outfile>",
+                                   None, optparse.Option, VERSION, 'error',
+                                   " ".join(info))
+    parser.add_option("-d", "--debug", dest="debug", action="store_true",
+                      help="print the file to stdout rather than write it to disk")
+    parser.add_option("", "--overwrite", dest="overwrite", action="store_true",
+                      help="Whether or not to overwrite existing main.cpp file. Default=False.")
+    parser.set_defaults(overwrite=False, debug=False)
+    (options, args) = parser.parse_args()
+    if len(args) <= 0:
+        parser.error("Must specify an output file")
+    if len(args) > 1:
+        parser.error("Can only produce a single ouput file")
+    filename = args[0]
+    if not filename.endswith(".cpp"):
+        parser.error("Filename '%s' must end with '.cpp'" % filename)
+
+    writer = Writer(filename, options.overwrite, options.debug)
+    writer.write()
\ No newline at end of file