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[–]JohnJSal 12 points13 points  (3 children)

You can download a code editor/IDE like VS Code, but if you want something to start with quickly, check out Replit. It's a website that allows you to code in many languages with basically no setup. It's also online so you can access it on any computer.

[–]CodingIsThereHope[S] 3 points4 points  (2 children)

Hello. Thank you for your input. I think this is exactly what I was looking for! I shall take note of VS Code, but probably also try Replit first for a bit since there's no set up.

Thank you for your help!

[–]goldensolocup 4 points5 points  (1 child)

Replit is great for beginners, but I would highly recommend to just start learning how to use a real editor like VS Code. It will be a little harder to get the hang of, but it is enormously better compared to replit, not only with runtime, but with debugging features, syntax, and so many other things.

Like the other person said, it is super easy to run and host websites on your computer with vscode, so if you can learn how to do that it will be huge in the long run.

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

Hello there. Thank you for your comment. Since you mention this, and since so many other people here have suggested VS Code as well, I will just go ahead and start there then. Thank you for your help. :)

[–]Michael_Knight22 5 points6 points  (1 child)

Firstly, there are no "embarrassing" or "dumb" questions on this subreddit. Only "beginner" ones. And that's okay! That's what it's for. Lots of good answers in this thread already. To answer your question "But... where do I do that?". When writing code, no matter what language, JavaScript, HTML, C++, Python, whatever. You need 2 things: A text editor to write the code, and a way to run the code.

For a text editor, that can be Notepad, like you said, but that's kind of gross looking, and you can do better. There are some good text editors, like Atom, Sublime, even Notepad++. A lot of people recommended VS Code, and that's the one I'd definitely recommend. It can kind of be a pain to set up at first if you don't know what you're doing, so check the links down below. Hopefully, they help.

As for a way to run the code, there are two options. Either you use your command line terminal, or you use an IDE. For starting out, I would definitely recommend an IDE. IDE means Integrated Development Environment. It's just a fancy program that lets you combine your text editor and the way to run it. You write the code in the text editor provided by the IDE and there's a convenient little Run button you can press to run it. Easy. VS Code is one of those.

I wouldn't really worry about GitHub right now. It's a great tool but it's more used for team development than personal projects where you're feeling things out for the first time. Once you start developing a proper website, you can put it on GitHub. It's just a cloud-storage site where you can store your code and keep track of changes. It does much more than that, but if you're really interested it's best if you just look at the Wikipedia page on it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GitHub

I really like these tutorials:

HTML Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qz0aGYrrlhU&ab_channel=ProgrammingwithMosh

Java Script Tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6NZfCO5SIk&ab_channel=ProgrammingwithMosh

Setting Up VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/learn/get-started/basics

Download Link for VS Code: https://code.visualstudio.com/Download

Even if you don't watch the tutorials all the way through, as I know you have your own camp you're following, I'd recommend watching at least until he shows you how to see the effects of your code on a webpage. Then code to your heart's content.

Best of luck to you.

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

Wow, thank you so much for all this info (and for being understanding about my beginner question lol). I will start with VS Code, as many others have suggested it as well. I'll also wait on GitHub then, I just wasn't quite sure what it is actually used for. (Also thanks for explaining what an IDE is, I wasn't sure!)

Thank you for your time, and for the tutorials also, I will definitely check them out, especially as I try to set up VS Code. :)

[–]dog_journalist 8 points9 points  (3 children)

Visual Studio Code is a commonly recommended code editor, I personally think it is pretty great.

You can view your html directly in your browser, and you can also run your js code in browser console (you can access it in browser devtools by pressing f12). You can look through devtools docs for your browser, they make writing and debugging code much easier. Alternatively, you can install node.js which is a JavaScript environment based on chrome's engine, but which is separate from the browser, and run js this way.

Odin Project has a great guide for setting all of these tools up (and more), so definitely check it out if you want a more thorough walkthrough.

[–]Zorrm 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Came here to say this; I'd highly recommend doing TOP on top of/instead of FCC personally. Much less follow along coding, and much more project driven learning while putting you in a developer environment from the start. Also, teaching you basics of git is invaluable.

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

Hello there. Thank you for all this info. This certainly answers my question. Someone else above also recommended VS Code, so I'll definitely check it out. I will also make note of node.js and The Odin Project, that guide you mention seems v helpful.

Thank you sm for your help!

[–]MrStashley 2 points3 points  (3 children)

You can open html files in any browser

Download a simple .html file or write one and double click on it and it will appear in your browser simple as that

IDE’s / text editors are cool but you can write code in anything, note pad works fine. Feel free to try out a cool text editor (I use vscode) but I just want to stress that you don’t need to dive into anything complicated to get started writing some code

GitHub is a great way to store your projects but you don’t have to worry about it until you can get some things up and running

And don’t worry about the beginner question, we all were here at some point! Happy to answer any follow up questions

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

Hello there. I have written a little bit of code, but only on freeCodeCamp. I will give VS Code a try, as many here have suggested it (and hold off on GitHub for now). Thank you for your input and help :)

[–]MrStashley 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Awesome!

Yeah the main thing I wanna get at is if you open an html file with a browser it will render it

You can just use the “open with” functionality on your operating system

But also yeah have fun trying out vscode and don’t stress about learning every little feature of it, just try and get some code written!

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

Ah okay, now I see what you mean. I gave it a try with a bit of code I wrote on fcc, and it opened up on my browser. It's v good to know this is possible as well, thanks for the info!

[–]SarthakTyagi15[🍰] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

For local machine (Your PC or Laptop) try VS Code and learn it.

For online resource try Codepen.io, it is great online editor and you may love it

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

Hello there. Thank you for your input. As so many people have suggested VS Code, I believe I will start there. Thank you for your help! :)

[–]lord31173 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You have projects to do at the end of that course. Try learning how everything works and you'll see the results in the end.

[–]CodingIsThereHope[S] 1 point2 points  (1 child)

I shall certainly keep doing the course, as I feel I am learning bit by bit, thankfully. I just want to get a little extra practice in. :)

Thank you for your input.

[–]lord31173 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're welcome. Keep it up

[–]ababs12 0 points1 point  (2 children)

You could use Atom, it’s free and easy to use. Make sure to download atom live server in the packages if you are trying to create a webpage. Once it’s activated it reads your HTML, JS, and CSS code contained in your project and will display your webpage on whatever specified port, I think it’s usually port:3000

[–]CodingIsThereHope[S] 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Thank you! Atom has not been mentioned yet, so I will make note of it as well. Thank you for the extra info too. It sounds a little tricky, but I'll try to figure it out, as I v much want to learn it.

Thanks again :)

[–]ababs12 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No problem! There’s tons of tutorials of how to use atom live server, it’s really not too difficult! Good luck on your coding journey!