Getting started

Your primary tool is a computer. It doesn't need to be the latest model or even particularly powerful, but it should be reliable and capable of running a modern operating system like Windows, macOS, or Linux. This ensures compatibility with various programming tools and languages.

For starters, you only need:

• A computer,
• An internet connection,
• A firm grasp of the English language,
• An IDE

What is an "IDE"?

Assuming that you have the first 3, let's get you the tools you will need.

An IDE is a software application that provides efficient, modern tools to programmers for software development.

Beginners may start with user-friendly IDEs like Visual Studio Code. There are many out there and Visual Studio Code, even after many years of development and trying out quite a few of them, still remains one of my top favorites. It's also free and very capable.

The advanced ones may spook you in the beginning, they have way too many buttons and options, so I will use Visual Studio Code (further mentioned as VSC) to keep things simple.

Installing Visual Studio Code

You can get VSC from their website (opens in a new tab). There's also guides for each of the modern operating systems, like Windows (opens in a new tab), macOS (opens in a new tab) and Linux (opens in a new tab).

I suggest that you check the "Add "Open with Code" action ..." for files and folders, for convenience during setup. This allows you to simply right-click any file or folder and open it in VSC directly.

Once it's installed, I recommend to take a brief look at the documentation (opens in a new tab) for it. Just to know it's there whenever you want to find out more about this IDE.