I am on Microverse working with a lot of people new to Software Development with Linux (I use this word to refer to and all his derivatives or distros), and in web development we use certain tools and pipelines that are more difficult to set up in Windows. So I found that most of the people new to Linux struggle to set up the tooling and basic commands for the first time. Linux OS This article tries to provide my dev environment as an example (I am not affiliated or related to any site or tool mentioned or linked here). I am using Debian 9, but most of the commands are similar in derivative distros as Ubuntu, Elementary, Mint or LinuxMX, e.g. all the ones that use ` ` or packages ` `. I'll assume the one reading this article will just copy-paste the commands. apt .deb To me a great develop environment needs: An IDE or good text editor version control system the programming languages for you to develop some useful tools and utilities I will concentrate myself in web development, so I'll go installing the following stack: text editor, along some extensions for web development vscode: version control standar, and some functions, aliases and tricks git: git JavaScript runtime nodejs: for web developers (screenshots, GIMP, VLC, Slack, teamViewer and dev fonts) some useful tools If you found some commands to be outdated or wrong for you, please comment the command that worked for you, along with your specs. I must note this is my actual machine, kernel and specs: Prerequisites Please be sure you have access running sudo sudo whoami Must return , if not visit this . From now on, when you type you must enter your password on the terminal. root link sudo Check if system is updated: sudo apt update sudo apt upgrade -y When you are ready, install these packages for develop in Linux: sudo apt install make curl build-essential openssl libssl-dev unzip A nice editor: Visual Studio Code The easiest way to install it is using the precompiled package from Microsoft (press the button that says ). You'll get in your folder (or the place the browser put the file) a package. But double click it won't do any help, you must install it using your terminal. Go ahead and open a terminal, then type (don't forget to changes the "x" in the command to the numbers in your file) : here .deb Debian, Ubuntu ~/Download .deb sudo apt install ./code_x.xx.x-xx_amd64.deb Also you can use tab for auto completion, learn . will auto magically set up everything and when all is finished you can open from your terminal (typing ), menu or launcher. here apt vcsode code Extensions for VSCode VSCode have a lot of extension on their , but filtering only web development extensions we found a great selection. The following are my favorites: Marketplace Auto Complete Tag Bracket Pair Colorizer 2 Color Manager Path Autocomplete Prettier <Your choices here> How to install them? One way is searching those on the marketplace and copy the command for install, for example: Then inside of VSCode press or in the menu go to then and you'll get: Ctl+P View Command Pallete Paste and and the extension would be installed. More info . Enter here A standard version control system: git Luckily for us, git is super easy to install: sudo apt install git git --version You must be greeted with your git's version. But we have to make an extra setup: identify yourself. For this you need to create an account. Provide your name and email address, Git embeds this information into each commit we do, like this: git config --global user.name git config --global user.email "Your Name" "your.name@domain.com" Remember to put your name (or nickname) and your email. Now you should have Git installed and ready to use on your system. functions, aliases and tricks git As git is so important in modern development, its great to know that we have several utilities and helper for manage git. And most of them are available for Debian. One way is to use ` ` terminal commands, like ` `. Talking about config you can use ` `to get info about certain repository, like the GitHub/GitLab repository or the branches you had worked on. git git config git config -l As you can notice on the last screenshot I use some aliases or helper functions. In the aliases dept I like to use short versions of normal commands. For example instead of ` i can use only ` ` or even ` `, is up to you. You can find a good guide about what aliases are people recommending and how to set up. git checkout` git check git ch here Did you commited something that was not supposed to commit (like secret keys!) or messed up working code? I found helping where you found a comprehensive guide for fixing bad commits/push/merges. this guide Do you want to learn the gory details? is your friend! This free official book Developing for JavaScript: install NodeJS I found difficult to install in Windows in comparison to install it on Linux, and this was one of the main reason I fully embraced Ubuntu and later Debian as my main OS. If you want to program for the web you will need sooner or later. node NodeJS To install the current LTS version (other versions ) you must use your terminal: here curl -sL https: sudo apt install -y nodejs //deb.nodesource.com/setup_12.x | sudo bash - From here you can use all the packages and helpers from node and npm. Here is for getting started. a quick guide Now you can use VSCode for making scripts and code to run over NodeJS, save it in a repository using Git and share it to the world. Go out there and find ! some great resources to learn Some useful tools for web developers in Debian : all Debian variants have support for using Print key, but if you want something more let me recommend you . Screenshots OBS For manipulate (raster) images you have The GIMP, but if you prefer something easy but powerful try . Pinta If you want to be in touch with your team you can install or , but of them using your terminal. Slack Teamviewer I recommend for your terminal or VSCode, another good choice is . Jetbrains Mono Fira Code Do you have more useful tools for web developers on Debian? Any comment or suggestion? Feel free to comment and share! Lets use Debian at full capacity!
