So I have had a few people ask me, what do I run on my machine or how to get started coding on a mac. This is running, imperfect list, of how to get going. I will add more support and probably some videos later. For now this set up is for MAC ONLY a few of these items will mess up a windows and linux machine. I am hoping to have a windows/linux walkthrough soon, until then please be patient 🥳.
- Sign up for Trello
- Install VSCode - Text Editor (other editors like Atom, Sublime, etc. are fine if that's your preference)
- Install Spectacle for window management
You will need to use your command line interface (CLI) to install the following software. You can reach your command line by opening the Terminal app on your Mac. Press command + spacebar and type 'terminal', then press enter.
- Homebrew
- Update git:
brew install git - Install zsh:
brew install zsh zsh-completions
- Set zsh as your default terminal:
chsh -s $(which zsh) - Install Oh My Zsh
- What are shells and why zsh?
- Install Node Version Manager
- Setup GitHub with SSH Keys
- Install iTerm2 to improve your terminal
- Install Postman (we will use this application later in the program)
Verify that nvm has been installed
$ command -v nvm
You should see an output in your terminal of
nvm
Change directory into your home directory
$ cd ~
Open your ZSH configuration file in your text editor
$ code .zshrc
OR
$ atom .zshrc
Scroll to the bottom of the file. You should see these lines of code
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" # This loads nvm bash_completionIf you do not see these lines of code, go ahead and copy/paste them to the bottom of your .zshrc file Then run this command in your terminal to re-load your .zshrc configuration
$ source .zshrc
Node is a core technology for full-stack JavaScript development. Installing Node also gives us access to NPM, which is a tool that enables us to install 'packages' through the command line.
Warning
The nvm use node command will always update to the latest version of node, this can cause many problems. What I would advise doing is installing a stable version of node and then setting that as the default node env, until you decide to upgrade it yourself.
Usage
To download, compile, and install the latest release of node, do this:
$ nvm install node
And then to ensure you are using node each time your terminal starts, add this line to the bottom of your .zshrc file:
nvm use node