IDE Prep

Preparation

Up to this point, we’ve been using Replit, an online version of an IDE (Integrated Development Environment). It is a great environment to learn the basics of programming. In fact, Replit supports dozens of programming languages, not just C#. However, to become a professional developer, we need to use more dedicated tools.

As our first step, we will install an IDE called Visual Studio directly on our machines. While there are several versions of Visual Studio, we will use the FREE version called Visual Studio Community. Learn more about Visual Studio here. We will work through the installation process in the next lesson.

Before we install Visual Studio, we need to install Git on our local machine. Follow these instructions to install Git. We won’t use it right away, but it will be important as we continue working on new and existing projects.