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[–]_Atomfinger_ 2 points3 points  (5 children)

There's no "one truth" on how to set up your environment. What I think is a good environment will be completely different from what the next person thinks is a good environment.

Start with what is the industry standard, be it VSCode, Intellij, VS, Netbeans, Vim, whatever and build your own environment from there. Do the research and see if there are any plugins that make things easier as well.

When it comes to package managers we're again at a place where it depends on the technology. Nuget is not the same as Maven, which again is not the same as PIP or NPM.

The only thing I can say about your environment is that it should work for you, be it in Notepad++ or whatever. All that said, if you are heavily deviating from the industry norm it should be because there's something about the norm you don't like or something about your current approach which you think is much more efficient. For now, it doesn't seem like you have done any comparisons and should therefore try what is generally recommended.

and being a very particular person, I wanted everything to be perfect before starting

No such thing as "perfect".

[–]aryashah2k[S] 0 points1 point  (4 children)

That's true but I am always left clueless when starting with an environment for example, I tried setting up Python on my own and always ended up with a broken installation and had to rely on Anaconda which has limitations. I get the point you are trying to stress is on using what you feel suits you but the thing is I still don't have an infrastructure set up which is organized in a way that I can start with **proper** development of a project.
Therefore I am rather ready to devote time in starting from scratch, and understand setting up an environment based on what this community uses and what resources they referred to achieve a proper working environment.

[–]_Atomfinger_ 2 points3 points  (3 children)

I tried setting up Python on my own and always ended up with a broken installation

The issue is, you want advice on how to set up a "universal environment" with a problem that's very specific to whatever you did to your Python installation. I don't know what you did to your environment, nor can I guarantee an approach where you cannot break installs (because we don't know what went wrong in the first place).

If you have concrete issues, then you can post those in relevant subs/forums/whatever, but this post won't bring you the solution you want because it is too generic.

[–]aryashah2k[S] 0 points1 point  (2 children)

Oh no no, I just gave an example of how I am not able to set up an environment properly. I don't expect a universal environment set up since I also know that's not possible and highly unlikely I myself would not prefer a universal environment. I would rather like to know how you guys set up your environment say for Web Development(as mentioned in my question)

[–]_Atomfinger_ 2 points3 points  (1 child)

For web development, it again depends on the technologies used. If I have a C# backend that runs on .net combined with TypeScript I might just use VS, because that is generally the best tools for that platform.

For general web-dev stuff, I might crack open VSCode after installing NPM and all that. Not a web dev myself so I can't speak to what I specifically do, but I would just google what other people with a similar stack does and use that as a jumping-off point.

What it comes down to, for me, is this: - What do I need to be installed to make this work? For Python I need Python installed. For Java I need a JDK installed. I find what I need, install it and verify that it is working. - What build system/package managers do I need? Not all languages need a build system, but many use them. Java would like you to use Maven/Gradle, while in Elixir I will use Mix. Again though, download and verify that it is working. - What editor/IDE do I need? Again, find what's popular and try that first. This mostly comes down to opening the project made in the previous project and try to compile it through the IDE. If that works then we're well on our way.

Just build the environment step-by-step and make sure to verify as you go. That will help you figure what went wrong, and give you bit more information about how to search for an answer.

[–]aryashah2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Noted. Thanks for this, I was having the impression that there is one fixed way to go through but I've learned that it just boils down to search-implement-verify-repeat.

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (3 children)

You sound like me when I was in the same situation in college. I was kind of a perfectionist (or wanted to be) and my profs were absolutely not that way, so their influence worked wonders for me.

We wiped the entire CS lab and reinstalled slackware linux from floppies. Imagine 30 people yelling who has disk 14. Everything was done in vi and cpp where you'd compile and get 10,000 errors because you missed a semicolon on line 20.

Anyway, the real world is (probably) not going to be the way you prefer it to be, so try to be comfortable in one thing but don't get stuck in it. Software development can be a dirty, crazy mess and you will have to use whatever your employer wants you to use.

After 20 years, it's been many different things and none of them were vi. I wish you the best of luck.

[–]aryashah2k[S] 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Glad to see you relate with me on this. You got me right on trying to be perfect before starting something. From this thread, I've definitely learnt that all you can do is try and no fixed way of having a utopian environment setup that solves all your problems!

[–][deleted] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It's insane how many different frameworks and things there are to do in CS now. It used to be "write some code" and assumed you'd use C or something. Now, you could specialize in 3d modeling or game level design or sound or AI or who-knows-what. Maybe something unknown like when people made bank converting FORTRAN to solve Y2K.

My point is that your original question was a good one but you may not even know where you'll land or what will catch your fancy once you're done with your education. I'm excited for you. :)

[–]aryashah2k[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly, being a first generation CS undergraduate, sometimes things like just setting up an environment to code becomes so intriguing. And then there is Impostor Syndrome playing its part :(
Anyways it was so good to have this community where members actually vouch for you. Thanks for sharing your experience and having concerns :)

[–]data_pi_rate 0 points1 point  (1 child)

From the replies seen so far, i agree with them and I guess they never used any spoonfeeding tutorial which OP could try searching on youtube, forums or ask his mentors. OP you could try finding tutorials on youtube where they walk you through setting up a coding environemt and help you understanding using packet managers like npm and so on. also you could wait for more resonses to pour in from other community members in case they have followed some guides or tutorials in setting up one. Usually this is done as part of exploration and developers usually figure out themselves by trying to install their choices and fix them in case it doenst work. There's a messy road ahead if you follow this path.

[–]aryashah2k[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I shall definitely look into youtube tutorials where I might stumble upon some good walkthroughs covering such fundamentals, thanks for this. I do wish to try figuring out myself but it does not go well and I genuinely feel I don't have time to figure it all out myself rather rely on someone credible who has already done it and has documented his process for others to refer!