My Development Workflow (2023)
· 2 min read
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.
Development
- 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).
Command Line Tools
- Node.js: Node.js 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:
- GIMP: photo editor (free version of Photoshop). Not as beginner friendly, but useful for creating graphics/logos.
- 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!
Follow my journey and connect with me here:
- LinkedIn: /in/spencerlepine
- Email: spencer.sayhello@gmail.com
- Portfolio: spencerlepine.com
- GitHub: @spencerlepine
- Twitter: @spencerlepine