Visual Studio Code Tutorial - Getting Started With VS Code

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The fastest way to reach me is via Twitter: https://twitter.com/Todd_McLeod Ask your questions there by (1) tweeting the question and tagging me in it or (2) sending me a direct message.

Things change. The most important thing to learn are principles: a concept, an idea, what is possible. The implementation of a concept or an idea will change. There is the “principle” (what can be done) and there is the “practice” (the way it’s done). If there is a difference between the principle and the practice, if there is a difference between what I show you and how you do it now, the most important thing to remember is the principle: the concept, the idea of what is possible. As the world changes, it is necessary for us to figure out how to do what we want or need to do. Knowing that something can be done is the first part. Figuring out how to do it is the second part. What I show you may have changed since the time when I recorded this video. If this is the case, see if you can figure out the new way to do what needs to be done:

• Google for the solution

• YouTube for the solution

• Tag me in a tweet and ask:

  • @Todd_McLeod

  
  

The exercises are for your benefit. The more you do something, the better you get at it. The exercises are not required.

Sometimes my courses are used in classes at colleges, universities, high schools, and other schools. If this is the case and this course here is being used in a course you are taking at a school, your teacher there might require that you do the assignments. If that is your case, check with your teacher.

Occasionally I will provide personal anecdotes. When learning, it is natural for individuals in a course to connect in a personal way. Research shows that students do better in classes where there is a personal connection. By and large, I will reserve personal anecdotes for the end of a video. By and large, I will let you know that (1) we are done learning what we needed to learn in this one video and (2) now I am going to share a personal anecdote and, if you are in a rush, you can stop watching this video and go to the next video.

• What makes a good life? Lessons from the longest study on happiness | Robert Waldinger

• Smarter Faster Better: The Transformative Power of Real Productivity by Charles Duhigg

  • http://amzn.to/2y4fBED

  • internal locus of control

This section will show you how to set up your development environment. If you are experienced with programming, you can skip this section and any other sections you want. This is your course after all. I am here to help you. As there are a variety of students who will take this course, I believe in providing a clear continuity of curriculum so that even those who are just getting started have a pathway to success.

• terminology

  • GUI = graphical user interface

  • CLI = command line interface - command line

    • terminal = text input/output environment; console = physical terminal

      • unix / linux / mac

        • shell / bash / terminal

      • windows

        • command prompt / windows command / cmd / dos prompt

• https://git-scm.com/

• linux on Windows

  • developer features

    • Linux subsystem for Windows

  • bash

article with steps here and another article

• shell / bash commands

  • pwd

  • ls

  • cd <directory>

  • cd ../

  • cd or cd ~

  • mkdir <directory>

clear or command + k

• shell / bash commands

  • ls -la

owner group bytes last modification hidden & name

d = directory r = read w = write x = execute

rwxrwxrwx = owner, group, world

• shell / bash commands

  • touch <file name>

    • example: touch temp.txt

  • nano <file name>

  • cat <file name>

• shell / bash commands

  • rm <file name>

  • rm -rf <file or folder name>

• shell / bash commands

  • chmod <owner group world> <file or folder>

    • example: chmod 764 temp.txt

  • sudo

    • super user do

• permissions

  • owner, group, world

  • r, w, x, no permission

  • 4, 2, 1, 0

r = read w = write x = execute

rwxrwxrwx = owner, group, world

• Environment variables are a set of variables on a computer. They are part of the environment in which a process runs.

• shell / bash commands

  • env

• “path” environment variable

  • PATH is an environment variable on Unix-like operating systems, DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, specifying a set of directories where executable programs are located. In general, each executing process or user session has its own PATH setting.

  • often executable files will be in a “bin” folder which stands for binary.

• .bash_profile & .bashrc

  • .bash_profile is executed for login shells

    • When you login (type username and password) via console, either sitting at the machine, or remotely via ssh, .bash_profile is executed to configure your shell before the initial command prompt.

  • .bashrc is executed for interactive non-login shells

• shell / bash commands

  • export <environment variable name>=“<path>”

  • $<environment variable name>

examples of setting environment variables:

• export GOPATH=“/Users/toddmcleod/go”

• export PATH=“$PATH:/Users/toddmcleod/go/bin”

Search for “environment variables”

For this hands-on exercise, at the terminal:

• navigate to “Documents”

• create a folder “HappyDog”

• navigate to that folder

• look to see if there are any files or folders in that folder

• navigate back to documents

For this hands-on exercise, at the terminal:

• navigate to the folder “HappyDog”

• create a file “be-happy.txt”

• edit this file to include items that make you happy

• show the contents of this file at the terminal

• navigate to “Documents”

For this hands-on exercise:

• Navigate to “HappyDog”

• change the permissions on the file “be-happy.txt”

  • user: read, write

  • group: read

  • world: nothing

• confirm that the permissions are set that way

• navigate to “Documents”

For this hands-on exercise:

• Navigate to “HappyDog”

• Delete “be-happy.txt”

For this hands-on exercise:

• Navigate to “Documents”

• Delete “HappyDog”

• confirm this directory has been deleted

• navigate to your user’s folder

There are many reasons to use vs code:

• Free

• Open source

• Extensible

• Cross platform

  • Files go back-and-forth between platforms seamlessly

• Powerful

• Popular

• Light weight

• Microsoft

• Supports many languages

• Great with Go

• More benefits:

  • https://code.visualstudio.com/

    • intelliSense code completion

    • debugging

    • built-in git

    • extensions

  • https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/?dv=osx

    • first steps

      • intro videos

      • settings

    • keyboard shortcuts

  • https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/whyvscode

    • why did we build vs code

Downloading and installing vs code is a straight-forward process:

• https://code.visualstudio.com/

• MAC

  • drag to applications directory

• Opening vs code

  • click it in applications

  • spotlight search

    • cmd + spacebar

      • type in “vs code”

Downloading and installing vs code is a straight-forward process:

• https://code.visualstudio.com/

The welcome screen has a lot of useful features. Instead of dismissing the welcome screen, take a moment to look at it. This video covers the features found on the welcome screen. To bring the welcome screen back up, use the menu option “HELP / WELCOME”

The interface overview introduces the different areas of vs code. A lot of great shortcuts are shown in the interface overview:

• file explorer

  • command + shift +E

• find / search across files

  • command + shift + F

• source code control

  • control + shift + G

• debug

  • command + shift + D

• extensions

  • command + shift + E

• command palette

  • command + shift + P

• errors and warnings

  • command + shift + M

• terminal

  • control + back-tick

If at any time your vs code does not look like my vs code, go to the “view” dropdown menu and play with the options.

• Code

  • about

  • check for updates

  • preferences

  • quit

• new files

• auto save

  • saves changes as you work

• creating a github account

• creating a github repo

• the “git” story and Linus, The Patron Saint of Programming

• Nelson Mandela and Invictus

• setting up SSH key using shell / bash / terminal

  • works on Mac, Linux, and Windows

  • ssh-keygen -t rsa

• Putting the SSH pub key on github

• Asymmetric public - private key encryption

• Symmetric key encryption

Connecting a folder on our computer with github

• We’re actually going to start writing code.

• changing theme

• folder

  • open a folder

• workspaces

  • save as a workspace

  • open a workspace

• https://golang.org

• adding the “go” extension to vs code

  • windows potential snafu: if you didn’t allow git-scm to use third-party software, then vs code will not be able to install the “go” extension. To solve this, reinstall git-scm and allow third-party software to use git

• stage changes

• commit changes

• push changes

For this hands-on exercise:

• change vs code’s theme to “high contrast” (or something else)

• enable auto save every 1000 ms

• check for updates for vs code

For this hands-on exercise:

• tweet your favorite poem and tag me in the tweet @Todd_Mcleod

  • https://twitter.com/home?todd_mcleod

For this hands-on exercise:

• generate an SSH key at the terminal / bash / shell

• add the public key (.pub) to github

For this hands-on exercise:

• clone a github repo using ssh

For this hands-on exercise:

• in vs code, open the folder of the repo you cloned in “hands-on exercise #4”

• create a file

• save as a workspace

• close the workspace

• open the workspace