Development Environment Setup
A development environment is the set of tools you need to write and run code. After learning the basics of the terminal, the next step is to build your development environment.
With the right setup, you can develop with code completion, auto-formatting, and error detection support.
What You Will Learn
Section titled “What You Will Learn”Compare the types and characteristics of shells that receive commands in the terminal. Learn the strengths and trade-offs of Fish, Zsh, and Bash, and how to choose based on your needs.
Learn the initial setup for VS Code, the most widely used code editor in 2026, along with the extensions you need for AI-assisted development. The guide covers GitHub Copilot and Settings Sync.
VS Code Insiders - Try the Latest Features Early
Section titled “VS Code Insiders - Try the Latest Features Early”Learn how VS Code Insiders differs from the stable release. This guide covers how to get early access to the latest GitHub Copilot features such as Agent Mode, how to install Insiders, and how to use the stable version and Insiders side by side.
VS Code Insiders - Fixing Shell Recognition Issues
Section titled “VS Code Insiders - Fixing Shell Recognition Issues”Learn how to fix the code-insiders command when VS Code Insiders cannot register it correctly in the shell. The guide covers permission errors and PATH-related workarounds.
Recommended Learning Order
Section titled “Recommended Learning Order”I recommend following this order:
| Order | Topic | Estimated Time |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Check and configure your shell | 15 minutes |
| 2 | Install and configure VS Code | 30 minutes |
| 3 | Check VS Code Insiders (optional) | 15 minutes |
| 4 | Fix VS Code Insiders shell command issues (optional) | 15 minutes |
After finishing this section, your editor environment will be ready. Next, install programming languages in Node.js & Python.
Prerequisites
Section titled “Prerequisites”Before starting this section, make sure that:
- You know the basics of terminal commands. See Terminal Basics.
- You are using macOS or Windows with WSL2.