Before we begin
The instructions in this page are only for students and not for professionals. The instructions are written in order to help you prepare a basic setup before our first meeting.
For professional setups the steps usually are much more complex and also highly dependent on the specific company. You should consult your network/system administrator.
Steps
For a very basic setup, follow the instructions below:
Install/upgrade the operating system
Before installing any software development tools its better to verify that you have an updated version of a modern operating system. It is very frequent that a beginner starts writing code before first ensuring that the tools he/she is going to use are upgraded.
If you don’t have any OS installed then the recommended operating system for the beginners is the latest LTS version of Ubuntu Desktop from the official site. If you do have something installed, make sure it is up to date. Additionally, you should install any patches or upgrades that are available for your version.
These are also some advices you may also find useful:
- avoid using pirated operating systems and generally pirated software. There are many free options available so there is no need to risk running compromised software.
- it’s better to setup a dual boot machine instead of using virtual machines unless you have a very good system. As a general thumb of rule, a dual boot system with Windows and Ubuntu desktop covers you for everything you will ever need as student.
Check that your system is stable
Verify that your system is stable and everything is working properly.
Before our meeting verify that:
- No blue screens occur.
- Your WiFi is working properly.
- Your USB ports are working properly.
- Your headset and your microphone are working properly.
- Preferably check that if have an Ethernet port it is working properly.
All of those issues should be solved before we start writing code.
This post might help you if you have stability problems.
Prepare your system for programming
You may have to install appropriate software (like JDK, IDE etc) based on the specific programming language you want to write.
There are many preparation articles. You can review them here.
You may also view all the setup guides instead.
Install additional software for productivity
You may install additional software that you help you to be more productive.
Install optional software
Nowadays there is a ton of quality software you can install completely free.
This article contains a recommended list of optional software you could use