Getting ready for a Bocoup JavaScript training

README.md

Getting ready for Bocoup training

Install the latest version of Node.js

Node.js is a platform built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine that can be run via the command line.

Install v0.8.11 or newer using a package manager or by downloading an installer from nodejs.org.

You can test to see that Node installed correctly by running both node --version and npm --version via the command line. The npm (Node package manager) version will be different than node's version.

Also note that running node by itself will enter into an interactive mode where you can type JavaScript to be executed. Pressing Ctrl-C twice will exit. Running node file.js will execute the code in file.js.

Accessing the command line

Windows

Open cmd.exe (From the Start Menu, search for "cmd"). When installing npm modules globally, you may need to "Run as administrator," which you can do by right-clicking the cmd name in the programs list.

OS X

Open Terminal.app in /Applications/Utilities.

Linux

You already know how to do this.

Install grunt globally via npm.

Grunt is a task-based command line build tool for JavaScript projects. Learn more about grunt at gruntjs.com.

Install grunt v0.3.16 or newer. Via the command line, type npm install -g grunt to install grunt globally. If installed correctly, running grunt --version should output the grunt version.

Windows

If you don't have permission to install grunt globally, cmd.exe may need to be run as administrator.

OS X / Linux

If you don't have permission to install grunt globally, you may need to install grunt with sudo npm install -g grunt. Type your password when it asks (you'll need to have administrator access for this to work).

Test with the "test_deps" project.

This very basic sample project will test that Node.js, npm, grunt and all dependencies have been installed correctly.

1. Download the test_deps.zip file.
2. Unzip this file somewhere you have write access.
3. Via the command line, cd to the test_deps directory (if you don't know how to do this, google it). This directory should contain a package.json npm manifest, a grunt.js gruntfile and this README.md file.
4. Run npm install to install all the dependencies listed in package.json.
5. Run grunt (Windows users run grunt.cmd) to test that all dependencies were installed correctly.

Everything was successful if grunt exits with the message "Dependencies appear to be installed correctly." In that case, you may delete the "test_deps" directory. Upon receiving class materials, you will follow these same steps to initialize them.

If errors were encountered, ensure that you have write access to modify the current directory and that the previous npm installs didn't have any errors. In some rare cases, it may be necessary to clean npm's internal caches with the npm cache clean command.