Traversy Media on YouTube · Open on YouTube
Orientation · Explorer · Lesson 5 of 98 · 45 min video, then about 1 hour of practice
Set up your machine and get comfortable in a terminal
After this you can navigate folders, create and move files, and run programs from a terminal without a graphical file manager.
Why it matters
Every engineer lives partly in a terminal: running code, using git, reading logs, connecting to servers. Get comfortable now so it is not another unfamiliar thing to wrestle with when you are also learning to program. Install a code editor (VS Code is the safe default), Node.js (the current LTS release) and git. Learn to move around the filesystem, create files and folders, and run a program. You do not need advanced shell scripting yet. On Windows, install WSL and work inside it; most tutorials and every server you will deploy to assume a Unix-like environment.
How to use this resource
Covers everything you need on day one. Follow along in your own terminal rather than just watching.