Code 102: Class 2 - The Coder’s Computer

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Read: 02 - The Coder’s Computer

Choosing a text editor

A text editor is a piece of software located on your local machine or operated in a broser that allows the user to write and manage text.

Four primary features that make for a good text editor

• Code completion allows you to begin typing and editor will display possilbe suggestions
• Syntax highlighting changes the color of text based on whether the text is an attribute, element, or copy
• Variety of Themes allows the user to change the overall appearance of the editor
• Avalability of Extensions *allow the user to add “plugins” to improve coding efficiency.

Emmet is a shorthand language that is built into some text editors that allow the user to code in HTML and CSS much more quickly.

Preinstalled Text Editors (Typically very bare bones.)

• Mac = Text Edit
• PC = Notepad
• Linux = Will depend on the particular distribution

3rd Party Tex Editors (Most provide some or all of the desirable features.)

• NotePad++ For Windows only
• TextWrangler/BB Edit For Mac only. Text Wrangler has become BB Edit, free for 30 days then $50
• Visual Studio Code Made by Microsoft for Windows, Mac, and Linux. Has Emmet built in.
• Atom Created by GitHub for Windows, Mac, and Linux. All the necessary features.
• Brackets All OS, but only HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Has Live Preview which updates after every change.
• Sublime Text This is a full service text editor. It has a free version, but the full version costs $70.

IDE = Integrated Development Environment *a suite of software including text editor, file manager, compiler, and debugger

The Command Line

• The Terminal allows the user to control the comupter through text input.
• It is possible to have multiple Terminals open at the same time, performing different functions.
• A typical command has the form command arguments example: ls -l. This would list the contents of the current directory in long form (one item per line).
• To open a Terminal
  1. Mac = Applications --> Utilities --> Terminal
     1. “Command + Space” will open Spotligth, then start typing Terminal
  2. Linux = Applications --> System or Applications --> Utilities
• Shell Defines how the terminal looks and behaves. Most common is “bash”
• Up and down arrows can be used to select previously used commands to save time

Basic Navigation

• All directories and files are paths
• Paths provide location information for an item
  • Absolute Paths provide a location that is not dependant upon the current directory. Commands using them will allways return the same result
  • Relative Paths provide a location that depends on the current directory, output of a command may change depending on the current directory
  • Hierarchical Structure top level is known as the root directory and is denoted /
• Shortcuts
  • ~ (tilde) home directory
  • . (dot) current directory
  • .. (dotdot) parent directory
  • Tab Completion pressing the “tab” key will invoke the auto complete

About Files

• Everything is a file
• Linux is not concerned with file extensions to determine file type
• Linux is case sensitive
• Spaces are used to seperate commands, so file names that have spaces should use quotes to combine terms or a \ before the space to nullify it
• Hidden Files any filename that starts with a . is a hidden file. To hide or unhide simply add or remove a . at the begining of a file name.

Commands and their function:

• ls (Lower case L before the s) Lists the contents of the current directory
• ls -a Lists the contents of the current directory including hidden files
• echo $SHELL Displays the current shell
• pwd Print Working Directory outputs the current directory
• cd Change Directory run by itself will return you to your home directory. With an argument takes you to the argument path location
• file Outputs the file type of a path

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