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Spencer Lepine

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Setting up a new laptop? Here is a walkthrough of the tools and software I use as a developer. This applies to both Windows and Mac.

Software​

  • Chrome: preferred browser; supports running in no-CORS mode which can be useful during development
  • VSCode: my go-to IDE. Features/copilot. Read this article
  • Postman: highly recommended app used for testing APIs (local or production).
  • GIMP: photo editor (free version of Photoshop). Not as beginner friendly, but useful for creating graphics/logos.

Command Line​

  • NodeJS: NodeJS binaries (I highly recommend setting up nmv as well, which allows you to switch between Node versions for different projects)
  • Homebrew: package manager for MacOS
  • Git: make sure to install git (note: it is included with MacOS)
  • GitHub: login to your GitHub account and configure email/username

Visuals​

Need to create diagrams or thumbnails? The following online tools are perfect for just that:

  • Excalidraw: user-friendly graph drawing software
  • Draw.io: advanced graph drawing software with image search

Conclusion​

That concludes our minimum developer laptop setup, I hope you found this article useful. Feel free to reach out with additional suggestions as well!

If your interested in my VSCode setup, find more information in this article: “My Ideal VSCode Setup”

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