The Perfect Mac OS X Setup for Web Development

Setting up is always the most painstaking part of software development. My goal here is to provide a simple step-by-by guide that walks through the perfect web development setup for Mac OS X.

Objectives

• Install XCode command line tools
• Set up Homebrew
• Install and configure git
• Install and configure nvm & Node.JS
• Install PostgreSQL & MongoDB
• Add on optional software

Getting started

We will be doing most of the work within the Terminal, which looks like this:

To open the Terminal in your Mac, simply open up the Finder by pressing command + spacebar and type in Terminal.

Once, your Terminal is open, you are ready to begin!

XCode Command Line Tools

The XCode Command Line Tools Package is a small package that allows you to do command line development in OS X. It consists of two components: OS X SDK and command-line tools like Clang, which are installed in /usr/bin.

In the Terminal, type the following to install:

$ xcode-select --install

Note: The $ denotes the beginning of an entry in the terminal. You should not type the '$' in.

iOS Development

If you plan on going into Native iOS application development down the road, I recommend you download the whole XCode package from the App Store.

Homebrew

Homebrew is an open-source software package management system that makes the installation of software a breeze on OS X.

In the Terminal, type the following to install:

$ ruby -e "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install)"

Brew Doctor

In the Terminal, type:

$ brew doctor

See what the Doctor says. You may need to edit your ~/.bash_profile or make other adjustments.

Updating Brew

To update packages in the future, simply run:

$ brew update
$ brew upgrade

Outdated Brew packages

You can also find out which packages are outdated with:

$ brew outdated

Since Homebrew does not uninstall old versions of a formula, you will accumulate them over time. Simply use:

$ brew cleanup

This command will clean everything at once.

Git

Install git:

$ brew install git

Configure your name:

$ git config --global user.name "Insert Name"

Then, if Github account, insert your email below. Otherwise, sign up.

$ git config --global user.email [email protected]

To cache your credentials, run in the following command in your Terminal:

$ git config --global credential.helper cache

NodeJS

nvm is an awesome Node.JS version manager. The best part? It can be installed easily with Homebrew.

Rule of Thumb: If you are running npm with sudo, you are doing it wrong.

Run in your Terminal:

$ brew install nvm

Install the latest version of Node.JS (currently 5 at the time of writing):

nvm install 5

In order to utilize the version of Node.JS you want, add the following lines to your ~/.bash_profile or whichever environment profile you choose to use:

# load nvm
source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh
# Choose the Node.JS version
nvm use 5

PostgreSQL and MongoDB

PostgreSQL is one of the most advance open-source SQL databases in the world (more on that down the road).

MongoDB is a document-oriented (NoSQL) database. It stands for huMONGOus because it's designed for big data.

In your Terminal, run:

brew install mongodb postgresql

We will be exploring both of these databases more in-depth down the road.

React Native

React Native is the library we will be using to build native iOS and Android applications!

Run these commands:

brew install node
brew install watchman
npm install -g react-native-cli

Follow the instructions here for more details on iOS and Android setup

For running on iOS:

react-native init AwesomeProject
cd AwesomeProject
react-native run-ios

For running on Android:

react-native init AwesomeProject
cd AwesomeProject
react-native run-android

Optionals

MacDown

Install MacDown. MacDown allows you to create, read, and edit Markdown files.

Java

A lot of programs will require Java. You can download the latest by googling "Java OS X"

Atom

Atom is an open-source text-editor created by Github. You will need a trustworthy text-editor for your journey. Some alternatives are: Sublime, Vim, or Visual Studio.