Getting started!

Hi,

Everyone has their favorite, you'll get lots of options from people, here are the code editors I use:

http://sublimetext.com/ Sublime text is awesome! Windows + Mac http://brackets.io/ Windows + Mac

Oh and Codekit https://incident57.com/codekit/ if your on a Mac

Treehouse does have Workspaces, which is their own built in code editor. They use it for a lot of their courses and since it is browser based their is no need to install anything. As far as coding on your local machine goes, you usually don't need anything besides a basic text editor. I believe Treehouse normally recommends Sublime Text, but their are other editors out there. So if you find a different one that you like, go ahead and use it. I personally use SublimeText. Technically, you could also use built in text editors like notepad or TextEdit to code, but this is very difficult and I wouldn't recommend it.

That being said different programming languages do have different requirements. You can work with HTML, CSS, and Javascript without installing anything else besides the text editor on your computer. However, if you want to work with Python on your local machine, you do need to install the Python framework on your computer. If you ever need to setup anything on your computer, there is usually a video explaining how to do it.

Edit: One other thing I might add. The first thing you should do after creating a new file in your text editor is to save the file with the extension of the language you are working with. For example, if you are working in Javascript. Save it with the extension .js . This will allow your text editor to know what language you are working with and give you more useful feedback on your code.

Hi Amanda!

I would recommend Sublime Text because it has huge amount of plugins to use with. It's probably the most used editor for programming therefore having a large community to help you with any problems you might face. It also suites for large variety of different languages. It has many syntax highlights for different languages and if it doesn't (I highly doubt) you can always make your own or download a pre-made one.

That's pretty much all you need to get started. Of course you need a browser to render your code but I'm sure you already know that :)

If you have any further questions, please ask them. I'll be more than happy to help you on your way!

We actually have a group in Slack that has many people who are learning HTML and CSS (also other languages). So if you want to join, just send me your email and you are welcome to the group.

Hi Amanda,

I recently switched from Sublime Text 2 to Atom and haven't looked back. ST2 is still great, but I made the switch because I really wanted markdown preview - otherwise, they both share many similarities.

Edit: Also, this package atom-pair looks really exciting and I can't wait to pair program with it.

Wow! Thanks everyone! Seriously! I certainly did not expect to the amount of response I did!

:)

Personally, I love brackets (http://brackets.io). The live preview feature is great; no reloading the page every time you make a change. It's free, so I'd advise you to check it out!