Setup

Setting Up Your Environment for Learn.co

You need a proper development environment to learn to code. Whether you're learning Web Development, with a focus on Ruby, Python, or Javascript; or Mobile Development, with a focus on Objective-C & iOS or Java & Android; this guide is going to go through the manual steps you can take to set up your environment to work with Learn.co .

Automating the Setup with Environmentalizer

Normally we setup your computer using the Learn OSX Companion application. That is definitely the easiest way to set up your computer.

If you use that app, a Github account is all you need (and you presumably already have one, since you're reading this document!).

If you use the Learn Companion App, you don't need to continue reading this guide; you are done!

If you're curious, or want more control over your environment, feel free to continue on for manual instructions.

About the Learn App

That application actually just uses a BASH script called Environmentalizer.

You can either choose to run that script manually or proceed with this guide to install the requirements as you see fit.

Manual Requirements

In general the list of requirements for using Learn are:

A GitHub account. You can use the free account on GitHub—you won't need private repositories at this point.
You should have your GitHub account tied to your shell preferably via SSH but you can use OSX Keychains.
You'll need a way to compile software. If you're on OSX, the best thing you can do is use XCode and XCode Command Line Tools download for 10.10 XCode 6.3.1 to get GCC.
You'll probably need a package manager of some sort. We love Homebrew on OSX.
You're going to need git. It generally comes with most modern operating systems, can be installed via Homebrew, apt-get, and most package managers easily.
A Ruby Interpreter. Having a working interpreter is a great idea because so much tooling is built in Ruby. This is true for Web Development with Python or Javascript, and even for Mobile Development with iOS & XCode. If you can type ruby -v and not get an error, you probably have enough of a Ruby environment. If you are studying Web Development with Ruby (such as the Rails framework) you definitely need a great Ruby environment. We love RVM for managing Ruby versions and environments.
The learn gem. Simply type: gem install learn-co or if you get a permissions error, sudo gem install learn-co. Then type in learn to configure it with your github account and you'll be all set.
A Text Editor. For iOS, XCode is a great IDE. But you'll find the free editors Sublime Text and Atom useful anyway so go ahead an install them.

Those are the absolute requirements.

Additional Requirements for Ruby on Rails

If you're planning on working with the Ruby on Rails framework. We additionally suggest you setup at least:

The easiest free database to use with Rails is SQLite. You can install it with brew install sqlite or an equivalent package manager, or install it yourself from the source.
Postgres is a great idea to have set up too and the Postgres.app makes it easy.
You probably want to install LibXML2 via Homebrew (brew install libxml2) and then test it by trying to install the gem Nokogiri with gem install nokogiri.
The Rails gem gem install rails.

Help and Advice

Since you're reading this guide you probably have some experience with environment setups, if not, please use the Learn Companion app to automate your setup. We also think the RailsApps Install Guides are great. InstallRails isn't bad either.

Good luck!!!

View Setup on Learn.co and start learning to code for free.