guide
Oct 08, 2024

All Things Project Setup - Fall 2024

A deep dive into the project setup process for the Fall 2024 term.

Welcome back to our blog, App Developers! We are excited to dive into the project setup process for the project we’ll be doing this term. In this blog post, we will outline all of the details needed for you to get started on developing for the project(s).

About the Project

As you know, this term we are working on two projects, the first, BeavsAI, and the second being the Party Finder app. Both of these projects are going to be a great way for you to learn new technologies and work on a team project!

Table of Contents

Here is everything you will need to setup for our club this term:

Project Setup

VSCode

If you are interested in contributing to code, you’ll need to install an IDE. We recommend VSCode if you aren’t sure about which one to get. You can find their download link here: https://code.visualstudio.com.

Once you’ve installed VSCode, there are a few extensions we recommend installing.

How to install an extension

extension tutorial

  1. Docker
  2. Python
  3. Live Share
  4. Prettier - Code formatter
  5. Thunder Client (for API testing)
  6. Tailwind CSS IntelliSense

Once you’ve installed your IDE and installed all the above extensions, you should be good to go for this section.

NodeJS

Lets install one of the more commonly used programming languages in our club, NodeJS.

You can find the installation here: https://nodejs.org/en

Follow the installer’s instructions, no additional configuration is required.

Once completed, ensure NodeJS is installed by doing the following.

MacOS:

  • Press Command + Space
  • Search ‘Terminal’ and open it
  • Type node --v
  • You have Python installed if you see something like: v?.?.?

Windows:

  • Press your Windows key
  • Search for Command Prompt and open it
  • Type node --v
  • You have Python installed if you see something like: v?.?.?

Python

For now, our BeavsAI backend is written in Python and FastAPI. We may change this in the future, but lets install Python just in case.

Install the latest Python version (3.13.0) here: https://www.python.org/downloads/

Follow the installer’s instructions, no additional configuration is required.

Once completed, ensure Python is installed by doing the following.

MacOS:

  • Press Command + Space
  • Search ‘Terminal’ and open it
  • Type python3 --version or python --version
  • You have Python installed if you see something like: Python 3.?.?

Windows:

  • Press your Windows key
  • Search for Command Prompt and open it
  • Type python3 --version or python -version
  • You have Python installed if you see something like: Python 3.?.?

Git

Git is the way our club shares code and maintains a version history of our code. It is the industry-standard but our school doesn’t do the best job of teaching it (until CS 362), so its better you get to learn this tool now.

You can download it here https://git-scm.com/downloads.

Once downloaded, verify the installation by opening your Terminal/Command Prompt and typing git -v. If you get something like: git version ?.?.?, you have successfully installed git.

Docker

We use Docker to make developing apps across different types of devices easier and also deploy apps quickly and reliably. If you haven’t heard of Docker or want to learn more, check the docs out: https://docs.docker.com/get-started/workshop/

To install Docker, click on the “Download Docker Desktop” button on this webpage: https://www.docker.com/

Follow the instructions the installer gives you, no additional configuration is required.

Figma

If you want to contribute to our app designs or view them in any way to reference when you are coding, you need to sign up on Figma.

Navigate to https://figma.com/ and create an account if you haven’t already.

If you can create a design file, then you should be all good to go!

BeavsAI

Party Finder