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https://github.com/drvinceknight/list-of-dev-things

A repository containing lists of concepts, tutorials etc to be able to do development: aimed at beginners.
https://github.com/drvinceknight/list-of-dev-things

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A repository containing lists of concepts, tutorials etc to be able to do development: aimed at beginners.

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README 

        
# List of things to learn



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A repository containing lists of concepts, tutorials etc to be able to do

development.



I often take on students at the beginning of their coding 'careers' and this

repository is meant to be a list of things that they should learn/take a look at

before getting started. **Pull

requests welcome**.



In general the development I do is either for [python](https://www.python.org/).



## General concepts



Here are some basic language agnostic things:



### Text editor



Get a good text editor.



- Here are some great options:

    - [atom](https://atom.io/) - has a bunch of plugins and can be hacked easily

      using css etc...

    - [sublime](http://www.sublimetext.com/) - a favorite of many. I can't say

      I've used it myself.

    - [geany](http://www.geany.org/) - friendly though mighty and cross-platform.

    - [VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) - an open-source editor released

      by Microsoft. Built in support for git, [good selection of extensions](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/vscode).

- Students often ask what I am using: I like to use [vim](http://www.vim.org/)

  but this has been historically referred to as having a steep

  learning curve. The plugins and ability to work right in the terminal are a

  huge strengths.



There are various other options (please do add them via pull request).



**Choose a good editor and most importantly realise that it is a very powerful

tool that (if you have chosen a good one) will do far more than just edit

text.**



### Terminal



The terminal is an interface to your computer that allows you to do a variety of

things through text based commands. This might seem archaic but once you are

used to it you will not want to use anything else. Developing a graphical user

interface is a step that a lot of great software has not taken so you would be

surprised by the amount of great tools available to you on the _command line_

(another word for terminal).



If you are using a linux machine you are probably familiar with a good terminal

tool. If you are using Mac OS then take a look at

[iterm2](https://www.iterm2.com/).

If you are using Windows take a look at the section at the end of this file that

is about [using Windows](#windows).



[Here](http://cli.learncodethehardway.org/book/) is a good tutorial.



### Git and github



When doing software development you need to use a 'version control' system.

This allows you to keep track of what you're doing and also to 'merge' your

changes in to the changes of others.



The most popular version control system at the moment is one called

[git](https://git-scm.com/). It comes with a bit of a learning curve but here

are some videos/tutorial to get you started.



This is probably worth reading first (it gives an overall description of what

version control is):



- [The git parable](http://tom.preston-werner.com/2009/05/19/the-git-parable.html)



Here are some tutorials:



- [Pro Git](https://progit.org/)

- [What's so good about git](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiiZIVb-rZ4)

- [Advanced git](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EOZvow1mk4)



Although you'll want to become proficient at driving Git via the command line,

it can often be useful to have a graphical tool for those occasions when you are

uncertain of the correct command.

[SourceTree](https://www.atlassian.com/software/sourcetree/overview) is a free,

cross platform desktop Git client which you may find useful.



When using git it is helpful to have 'remote repositories' a good place for this

is a website called [github](https://github.com/). This is used by coders all

over the world to share code (and easily contribute to other's code). Another

good option is [gitlab](http://gitlab.com/) (although I generally mainly use

github).



It is worth setting up an account on github. Here are a few things that might be

helpful:



- [Don't be afraid to

  commit](https://dont-be-afraid-to-commit.readthedocs.org/en/latest/)

- [Contributing to the Axelrod

  library](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kOUVdktxAo)



If you are a student then sign up for github's [Student

Pack](https://education.github.com/pack)



### Testing



When writing code it is very important to write automated tests. This is a good

book that takes you through the concepts for Django and Python:

[http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000000754](http://chimera.labs.oreilly.com/books/1234000000754)

but I need to find some better (smaller tutorials).



When using tests and github it's great to also use

[travis](https://travis-ci.org/).



### Markup languages



Markdown is a language worth learning to be able to neatly write on github

issues etc...



- [This video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6A5EpqqDOdk) is probably the

  easiest way to do this (note that you will just write markdown in your

  preferred editor).

- You can also read the [github flavoured markdown

  documentation](https://help.github.com/articles/github-flavored-markdown/).



There are various other markup languages (html, LaTeX, rest etc...) but I do not

consider them to be fundamental (they will be listed where relevant in this

repository).



### Windows



If you are using Windows, here are some basic things I recommend:



- Install the [windows git client](https://git-scm.com/download/win).

- Install [Anaconda](https://www.continuum.io/downloads#_windows) (for

  Python) this will also give you `Anaconda prompt`. Which is a sufficient

  command line tool for all python development and git interfacing.

- The original Command Prompt runs commands and scripts in the MS-DOS scripting

  language. It's old, but there's lots of material online to help you

- Windows Powershell is built into all modern versions of Windows and gives you

  a far superior, modern, object-oriented scripting language and a far better

  terminal.

- [ConEmu](https://conemu.github.io/) is a very powerful, free and open source

  terminal program.

- If you want to use a Linux based interface to your Windows machine, you can

  install [Cygwin](https://www.cygwin.com/) which will give you most of the

  common Linux tools and commands.



See [windows/README.md](windows/README.md) for more details about Windows

software.



### Using the cloud



If you are using Windows and/or have other reasons you can do a lot of

development right in your web browser.



There are a variety of options but I am a big fan of

[cloud.sagemath](https://cloud.sagemath.com/). In particular if you want to

develop for [sagemath](http://sagemath.org/) this is an excellent option.



### Communication



There are various tools I like to use for communicating during a project.



- Quick text based messages:

    - Slack is slowly becoming an industry standard:

      [slack.com/](https://slack.com/).

    - Another great option is [gitter](https://gitter.im). Again, has a mobile

      app and also interfaces very nicely with github repositories. You can find

      the gitter room for this repository

      [here](https://gitter.im/drvinceknight/list-of-dev-things).

    - [irc](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Relay_Chat) is very popular

      in the open source world. I can't say I'm the

      biggest fan but it's a great place to drop in and speak to people.



- github issues. When using github for a project it comes with a nice interface

  to raise a so called 'issue' which allows for a public record of a

  conversation. This is very helpful and worthwhile in a development process as

  at some point down the line it might be helpful to remember why something was

  decided. It's always good to open an issue for a feature before starting to

  work on it.



- Emails (they do a job).



- Virtual meetings: Very rarely are face to face meetings a regular requirement.

  I like to use hangouts for these but again there are a variety of options.



- urls: when working remotely it's very helpful to be able to just paste links

  to

  something that brings it up in the receivers browser. There are various tools

  for this:

    - Github (just grab the link from the particular file)

    - [Gists](https://gist.github.com/) (for throw away pieces of code)

    - Dropbox (if you have something in a dropbox folder you can use the 'share

      a link feature' - this is partcilarly helpful and quick for screenshots)



## Contributing to this repository



I would be delighted for contributions to this repository:



- If you are a student who has worked with me and feel that I am leaving

  something out or indeed that there are useful tutorials/videos etc then please

  do add them via pull request.

- All other contributions are of course welcome, please keep in mind that I am

  attempting to build a fairly generic list for students assuming only a very

  basic knowledge of writing code.



Please do raise an issue if you're not sure if something is worth having.