Initial setup #
Welcome to CS! These instructions will help you get your computer set up for the class. If you get stuck or are unsure what to do, send a screenshot of your error to Ms. Brown or Ms. Genzlinger.
Visual Studio Code #
This is the editor that you will use to write your code.
(0) Download and Install. Open this link, click “Download for macOS,” or click on “other plaforms” to choose your operating system. Follow the installation instructions.
(1) Drag to Applications Folder. Open up the Finder
application on your Mac. On the left hand side, click on Downloads
. Drag Visual Studio Code
to the folder named Applications
.
(2) Install Shell Commands. Open up your freshly installed Visual Studio Code
application. From the top menu, select View > Command Pallete
.
In the prompt, type Shell Commands
and click on the first option to install the code
command in your PATH.
Opening the Terminal #
For most of the remaining setup, you will be using your Terminal
. This is an application that lets you type commands directly to your computer. You can access it through any of these ways:
Using your
π spotlight search
(pressβ
+space
then type “terminal”)Or, you can find it using your computer’s
launchpad
One you have it open, it should look something like this:
Installing Xcode #
π» Copy and paste the command below into your Terminal to install Xcode.
Then press Enter/Return
. Make sure you have a strong internet connection, this may take up to 2 hours to complete. Don’t worry, you can still use your computer and have it running in the background.
xcode-select --install
π» Enter your password when prompted. You won’t see any letters appearing as you enter the password. This is a security feature.
πΎ π¬If you already have this installed, you will see the following message instead:
xcode-select: error: command line tools are already installed, use "Software Update" to install updates
Installing Python #
Python is the language we will be coding in
(0) Start by installing the latest version of Python. Open this link, click “Download Python,” and follow the installation instructions.
(1) Once the installation finishes, you will see a Finder window showing what was installed. (If you closed the window, open Finder, click on “Applications,” and then “Python 3.12” (or whatever version of Python you just installed).
(2) Check Python installed successfully by typing python3.12 --version
into the Terminal. You should see a version number above 3.12
.
(3) Double-click on “Install Certificates.command”. This will will open a Terminal window and run a bunch of commands. Once you see [Process completed]
, you may close the window.
(4) Double-click on “Update Shell Profile.command”. Each of these will open a Terminal window and run a bunch of commands. Once you see [Process completed]
, you may close the window.
Here is a video that walks you through the steps.
πΎ π¬If you see a red “Permission denied” error message when running “Install Certificates.command”:
- open a Terminal window and run
sudo "/Applications/Python 3.12/Install Certificates.command"
- You will be asked for an administrator password; you won’t see any letters appearing as you enter the password. This is a security feature.
Installing Homebrew #
Homebrew helps you install different libraries and packages
π» Run the below command to install homebrew. This will install homebrew onto your computer. This may take up to an hour to complete. Don’t worry, you can still use your computer and have it running in the background. If you already have homebrew, then this step will be quick.
You may want to follow along with this youtube video (watch 1:30 - 3:00)
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"
π» As the installation runs, follow all the instructions, such as:
1. Type your password - you won’t see any letters appearing as you enter the password. This is a security feature.
2. Press return
to continue
It may ask you to press Enter
a few more times throughout the process.
You will know it is finished when you see your username and a $
or %
once again. For example:*
bgenzlinger~/Documents$
echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
Installing Poetry #
Poetry makes sure your coding environment is set up to work for all your coding projects
π» Run the below command to install Pipx with Brew.
You MUST install pipx
after installing homebrew
.
brew install pipx
pipx install poetry
pipx ensurepath
Testing your Setup #
π» Run each of the following checks one at a time to check your setup. If you do not see an version number
, there was an error with the install.
βοΈ Checks Visual Studio Code
code --version
βοΈ Checks Xcode
xcode-select --version
βοΈ Checks Python
python3 --version
βοΈ Checks Homebrew
brew --version
βοΈ Checks Poetry
poetry --version
β‘β¨ Fill out the Install Formβ Fill out this form to notify your teachers if your install was successfull: forms.gle/xSKm6Xv7G3NYQ4EF7
A successful setup will look something like this:
Debugging #
If code --version
showes EACCES: permission denied, unlink '/usr/local/bin/code'
- First double check
VS Code
is in your βApplicationsβ folder - In the top menu click
View > Comannd Palette...
- Type
uninstall code
, click the option - Type
install code
, click the option - In Terminal, try
code --version
. - If you do not see a version number, run this command:
sudo chown -R your_user_name /usr/local/bin
- In Terminal, try
code --version
. - If still does not show a verison number, ask a teacher.
If poetry --version
does NOT show a version number.
- Copy & Paste this command into the Terminal:
pipx ensurepath
- Try
poetry --version
again. - If still does not show a verison number, ask a teacher.
If brew --version
does NOT show a version number.
- Copy & Paste the commands below into the Terminal. Be sure to paste them one at a time. Each time, pressing
return
to run the command.echo 'eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"' >> ~/.zprofile
eval "$(/opt/homebrew/bin/brew shellenv)"
- Try
brew --version
again. - If still does not show a verison number, ask a teacher.