It's time to install all of the things! It's here we'll show you all the apps you'll want to use that will be helpful through the duration of the course.
- How to make your developer life a little more enjoyable
Firefox is another browser. When releasing software, it is important to test all of its distribution channels, or how the users will be interacting with it.
Firefox also has a great extension FireBug that we will use through the course. We will switch between it and the Chrome Inspector based on which tool is best suited for the job.
Dash can be installed via the Mac App Store. Search for "Dash" there or navigate to the url.
The docsets available to you are in the "Downloads" section of the preferences window.
Hint: Preferences for Mac applications can typically be accessed by pressing cmd + , when using the program. They can also be accessed by clicking on the name of the application in the menu bar and selecting "Preferences".
Here are some docsets that we recommend:
- CSS
- HTML
- JQuery
- PostgreSQL
- Ruby 2
- Ruby Installed Gems
- Ruby on Rails
- SASS
You will read more code and documentation than you will write. Having the documentation at your fingertips will make it easier for you to refer to Ruby core documentation as well as the Rails Application Programming Interface (API).
Quicksilver has some great utilities for shortcuts and easy access to programs. We will use it primarily for navigating from program to program without having to reach for our mouse.
For consistency across machines, and because we're doing a lot of pair programming through the course, set the following triggers:
Every trigger should include ctrl+alt+cmd. So for Chrome the trigger would be ctrl+alt+cmd+b.
- b - Chrome (b is for browsing)
- e - Atom (e is for editor)
- t - iTerm2 (t is for terminal)
- g - Github for Mac
- f - Firefox (if you prefer it)
- m - Flowdock (m is for messaging)
- h - Dash (h is for help)
Hint: Also update Quicksilver's preferences to start Quicksilver when you log in.
Programming is not just about writing code! You'll be moving from browser to terminal to editor to browser all day long. You have to be able to switch to those contexts without thinking or moving the mouse. The hotkeys will be hard to use at first, but be disciplined about using them! After a while, you'll feel out of sorts if you're unable to use them.
Also notice that we do not assign hotkeys to Mail or Instant Messenger applications. This is because we want those things to be hard to access. A focused energy and mind is required to be an effective developer.