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Posted on • Originally published at docs.appseed.us

Minimal Programming Kit

Hello coders,

This page aims to help beginners to set up their PC for programming. All recommended tools are free, stable, and widely used even by experienced programmers and designers. In the end, we will build a popular open-source project using the downloaded tools.

Thanks for reading! - Content provided by App Generator.


The Short-list

  • A modern editor - VSCode
  • Nodejs - used in Javascript-based products and tools
  • Python - a modern script language used for many types of projects
  • GIT - a command-line tool used to download sources from Github

VSCode

We need this software to visualize and edit the sources, execute our projects and investigate the issues that might occur during the programming process.


Programming Kit - VSCode editor.


NodeJS

Installing NodeJS unlocks access to a huge ecosystem that exposes
many tools and libraries we can use in our projects:


To get started with NodeJS please access the official website and download a version compatible with your operating system


Programming Kit - NodeJS.


Python

Python is a general-purpose coding language—which means that, unlike HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, it can be used for other types of programming and software development besides web development. Python is interpreted, easy to learn surrounded by a huge ecosystem, actively supported and used in many industries and domains. Can be used for things like (starting from the simple ones):

  • Basic programming: using strings, adding numbers, open files
  • Writing system scripts (creating instructions that tell a computer system to “do” something)
  • Back end (or server-side) web and mobile app development
  • Desktop apps and software development
  • Processing big data and performing mathematical computations

Python can be downloaded from the official website. Choose the installer for your operating system, download, and click a few times.

$ python --version
Python 3.7.2 <-- All Good
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Programming Kit - Python Interpreter.


GIT

Git is a free and open-source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Using GIT we can clone/download and manage projects from Github and BitBucket with ease.

  • GIT - official website
  • GIT - download page

To check the installation, feel free to open a terminal and type git --version:

git --version
git version 2.28.0.windows.1 <-- All Good
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Programming Kit - GIT versioning tool.


Build a Sample Project

To make this short tutorial useful, we will build in the local environment a popular open-source project from Creative-Tim: Material Kit (free version) with a few commands typed in the terminal. Material Kit is a Free Bootstrap 4 UI Kit with a fresh, new design inspired by Google's material design.

To build locally this amazing product, we will follow up a simple setup: clone the sources from the public repository (Github), install modules, and start the template. Let's go!


Step #1 - Clone the sources

$ git clone https://github.com/creativetimofficial/material-kit.git
$ cd material-kit
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Step #2 - Install project dependencies (this might take a while)

$ npm install
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Step #3 - Start the project

$ npm run start
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If all goes well, we should see Material Kit starter running in the browser:


Programming Kit - Sample Project.


Thanks for reading! For more resources, please access:


Top comments (26)

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Atom is a great editor.
VSCode seems to have more plugins.

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herondarkin profile image
herondarkin

As essential as coffee!

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admindashboards profile image
admin-dashboards

Funny ...

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Ty! 🚀

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crearesite profile image
WebsiteMarket

Nice & slim-fit tutorial.

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

:) ..

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aalphaindia profile image
Pawan Pawar

Keep posting!

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke
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mccurcio profile image
Matt Curcio • Edited

Nice article. I usually have a trove of packages I load on my linux machines.
Like GIMP, Bleachbit, & Calibre

PS. Have you tried loading all this software using a script?
;))

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Nope. Your idea is really good.

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

🚀🚀

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

For sure the community will provide feedback.
Dev is a great place to learn.

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Sounds like a good idea.
Other devs might use your settings.

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Pretty sure Atom has all the essential features.
Thanks & Happy coding! 🚀🚀

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uithemes profile image
ui-themes

Ty!

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

You're welcome! .. <('_')>..

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sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Ty @mrdanishsaleem !
Feel free to suggest your preferred tools.

 
sm0ke profile image
Sm0ke

Hello,
I'm not using anything custom. If you have the time, take a loot at this cheat sheet:

code.visualstudio.com/shortcuts/ke...