Getting started in web development and programming can be daunting. There are so many languages, tools, and opinions that it can seem like you’re never going to find your way to something productive. My friend Tri (Hi Tri!) asked me where to start, so I decided to make a quick post on some tools you can use to get started. Every tool I will mention is free.
NodeJS
NodeJS is a JavaScript runtime that you can use to run your web apps on. The piece of this that I like the most is Node Package Manager, npm. You can install so many useful tools via npm. The best part is that it is super easy to use.
Git Bash
Git is a open source version control system. This means that you are able to keep working clean versions of your code separate from the messy, half-baked version of code that you put together at 2 AM. I wish I would have started using it when I first started.
GitHub is actually a cloud based wrapper around Git. Sign up for an account and learn how to use if from the command line through git bash, and you will save tons of time.
*Students: You can get a free private repository account. Sign up here https://education.github.com/pack
Yeoman
This is a brilliant web application scaffolding tool. I love yeoman! It has saved me tons of time, and it has helped me to learn the structure of certain types of applications in web development. I have used it since early in it’s development. Some of the packages are in need of some updating, but it’s not that big of a deal. The benefit still outweighs the complications. You can use Yeoman to generate web applications, latex documents, Chrome extensions, etc. The best part is you can create your own generators.
MinGW
If you program in C/C++, you need a compiler. I recommend using GNU Compiler Collection (GCC). If you are running Windows and you want to use GCC, then you can use MinGW to install GCC. This tool set is a great way to understand what is really going on when you create a program. It is not intuitive, but it is incredibly useful to understanding how programming works.
Summary
There are more tools and useful resources, but it would take far to long to go over all of them in one post. I will do some future posts on other tools and resources that are great too. Hope this helps. Please let me know in the comments if you found it helpful.
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