Learning to code can have you in for one of the most exciting periods of your life, particularly if you have a bright idea you want to get off the ground and you’re all psyched-up after watching movies such as The Social Network.
If you’re a beginner, it can be quite a challenge making some headway and even just kicking things off as there seems to be so much to consider, but here are some tools which will put you well on your way and keep you on-track.
Notepad++
Well any jazzed-up version of your built-in notepad will do actually, but Notepad++ has become an industry standard which pretty much all developers use to hammer out some primary code. It’s available for free download as well and is great because it supports so many different programming languages, highlighting elements such as semi-colons, braces, etc. and even allowing you to set the document you’re typing in to look like one of those cool ones hackers usually use in movies.
An IDE
If you’re a beginner you should definitely use an IDE (Integrated Development Environment), which is basically just a nifty little piece of software which allows you to work side-by-side with the code you’re typing and a simulation of how it will run when compiled and deployed. Some popular IDE options include NetBeans and Eclipse and they’re really great because they have built-in debugger modes.
Testing Environment
Once you’ve typed up your code and it assumes the form of a complete programme or module, you’ll want a real environment on which to test it, so this could simply be your primary machine on which you typed the code or something like Wampserver which simulates a web server environment installed right on your machine. Some IDEs have built in testing environments as well, such as an engine which simulates the mobile phone environment for apps development.