The tools in this lesson are not specifically required, but they are things we recommend based on previous student experiences. Feel free to pick and choose what you would like to use and install.

When writing a command in the terminal, everything to the left of your command is referred to as your terminal's prompt. At the moment, your prompt may include something like your username for the computer. If you followed the automatic install guide, your prompt will likely look something like

~ // ♥ >

The default setup from Learn displays the directory you are in, but you can customize this prompt to include many helpful things such as the current time.

When the automatic install script runs, it updates your ~/.zshrc file to set this prompt. If you open ~/.zshrc in your text editor, you should see the following:

# Do not modify these three lines - this code loads Node Version Manager 
export NVM_DIR="$HOME/.nvm"
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/nvm.sh"  # This loads nvm
[ -s "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion" ] && \. "$NVM_DIR/bash_completion"  # This loads nvm bash_completion


# The following function sets the terminal prompt
# Modify PS1 to customize it further

function prompt {
    local CHAR="♥" ## ♥ ☆ ♬ ○ ♩ ● ♪ - Keeping some cool ASCII Characters for reference
    autoload -U colors && colors
    
    ## Here is where we actually export the PS1 Variable which stores the text for your prompt
    PS1="%{$fg[green]%}%(4~|%-1~/.../%2~|%~) %{$reset_color%}%{$fg[blue]%}// %{$reset_color%}% %{$fg[red]%}%{$CHAR%} > %{$reset_color%}% "
    PS2='> '
    PS4='+ '
}

prompt


# Do not modify the line below
# Add RVM to PATH for scripting. Make sure this is the last PATH variable change.
export PATH="$PATH:$HOME/.rvm/bin"

Modifying the line starting with PS1 will alter your prompt. If you make a change, run source ~/.zshrc to see it in the current terminal.

Note: If you mess up, either replace the code in ~/.zshrc with the code snippet above. You can also delete the entire prompt function and subsequent prompt call (make sure to leave the settings for NVM and RVM). This will return your prompt to the default.

Turn up your key repeat. Open System Preferences by clicking the apple icon in the top left corner of your screen and selecting System Preferences. Then Click Keyboard and make sure both Key Repeat and Delay Until Repeat are turned up all the way. This will allow you to move your cursor through text much faster.

Install the DB Browser for SQLite at https://sqlitebrowser.org/

This tool helps you visualize and interact with database tables, which will be helpful as you learn SQL.

Postico is a user friendly interface for looking at PostgreSQL databases created locally.

If you haven't installed PostgreSQL, run the following three commands before downloading Postico:

brew install postgres
brew services start postgresql
gem install pg

Programming involves a lot of staring at a computer screen for many hours at a time. This can sometimes lead to digital eye strain, causing soreness, irration, dry eyes, fatigue, etc... Staring at a computer screen late into the night can also potentially impact your ability to get a good night's rest.

For these reasons, we love using f.lux! f.lux adjusts your screen's brightness depending on the lighting and the time of day / sun level in the sky, for ease on your eyes and to help you sleep. Play around with the settings. It's subtle, but makes a huge difference, especially if you're working late on your computer.

As of Mac OS 10.4 Tiger, an app launcher is already provided with the Mac OS called Spotlight. To use Spotlight, press the command (⌘) and spacebar buttons at the same time to bring Spotlight up. To use it, begin typing the name of the application you want to launch. Spotlight will try to predict what you want, so you often only have to type the first few letters of the application's name. Much faster than having to click through folders!

Some common alternatives include:

Quicksilver - A free, tried and true alternative app launcher.

Alfred 2 - This is a very popular option, but costs money to unlock some of the power features.

Launchbar - Popular launcher, but requires purchase.

Reading reference materials and documentation is critical to understanding a lot of technologies we will be learning in this course. Rather than having to google constantly, and click through the various results, it is often faster and more efficient to keep necessary documentation handy and go straight to the source to try and find an answer.

The tools listed below help us with this. They act as a single location to house documentation for the different languages and frameworks we'll be learning, making the docs easier to search as well as available offline.

Dash - Dash is a comprehensive documentation tool that includes downloadable docs. Dash's full version costs money, but the application is free to try with no limitations.

DevDocs - A free Dash alternative built in the browser.

Understanding and visualizing Git can be difficult, especially when only dealing with the command line interface. Below are some tools that are designed to bring more visualization to Git repositories, which can help when dealing with more complex git history-related issues.

Github OS X - GitHub's official Desktop application

SourceTree - Free Git GUI that includes additional tutorials and git history visuals

Git Kraken - A comprehensive Git client that includes a text editor and git history visuals. Some features require

You will often find yourself flipping between a text editor, browser and terminal. Being able to manage application windows can help keep your workflow efficient and less frustrating. Below are some tools that help manage application windows:

Spectacle - Free and open source. Breeze - Demo available for download; full application available for purchase.

You're going to be spending a ton of time staring at your screen. The default fonts you have installed probably aren't the most readable. Here are some nice ones you may want to consider installing:

• Flatiron Collection of Fonts
• Dan Benjamin's Top 10 Programming Fonts
• Dan Benjamin on Anonymous Pro
• Jeff Atwood on Programming Fonts
• Managing Fonts in OS X

Heroku