Development Environment Setup: Windows

This document explains how to get your computer ready for development at Startup Institute. Code or commands you’re supposed to type are highlighted. Ex: $ ls -la

Note: It is strongly recommended that you type out the commands instead of copy-paste them (unless where noted). You will remember much better than if you copy and paste from this document.

Ruby

Step 1: Download Ruby 1.9.3 and run the .exe

http://rubyinstaller.org/ Make sure to check all three checkboxes

Step 2: Add Ruby to PATH

Open: My Computer → Properties → System Properties → Advanced → Environment Variables → Highlight the PATH variable in System Variables → Edit. It should look like the window below

Type ;C:\Ruby\bin;. Remove the first semicolon if there is nothing in your path already

Version Control with Git and Github:

Step 3: Create a GitHub account

Go to www.github.com and make an account. Keep your username and email professional; if you have a handle that you use other places, use it here too. If you don’t, it’s a good idea to use some combination of your first name and last name. GitHub is an extremely popular company that makes it very easy to host git repositories (ie, this is where you put your code so that many people can work on it together). “git” is a VCS (Version Control System).

GitHub Explained

Almost all major open source projects are hosted on Github, which makes it an important tool for your toolbelt. Because so many developers use Github, your public Github profile is often viewed as a professional portfolio. It’s a good way for employers and community members to see what projects you’ve contributed to, what you’re interested in, and your skill level. It’s often the first place employers will look when beginning the interview process, and it can serve as a résumé replacement.

Git Explained

Understanding version control, and using it well is a very valuable skill. You’re Git knowledge will affect your ability to a" collaboratively create web applications, b) communicate with your team, b) track the history of your work, c) and revert mistakes. Git is a challenging tool, but worth the battle. A great way to start is “Understanding Git Conceptually”.

Step 4: Configure GitHub

Follow these

Step 5: Set up SSH access to Git

Now we’ll set up SSH keys for GitHub. Go here and follow those instructions.

SSH Explained

Before you can use GitHub, you must first enter in your basic credentials, and then setup a way to securely communicate with their servers.

SSH (Secure Shell) is a network protocol for secure data communication. You’ll hear people say “I shelled into that server.” What they mean is, “I used the SSH protocol to securly connect with a remote computer so that I could run commands on it.” We won’t get into SSH much during this course, but it’s good to understand the basics.

Heroku

Step 6: Set up a Heroku account and install the Heroku tools:

Follow the instructions here: https://devcenter.heroku.com/articles/quickstart

Sublime

Step 7: Download the Sublime 2 install for Mac from here

Sublime Explained

Sublime is the recommended text editor. You don’t have to use Sublime. If you have another editor you like, you can stick with that. Sublime provides a lot of cool community plugins that can make you more efficient as a coder.

Step 8: Add Sublime’s command line tools (copy-paste this)

$ ln -s /Applications/Sublime\ Text\ 2.app/Contents/SharedSupport/bin/subl /usr/local/bin/subl This allows you to run sublime from the command line by running subl.