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Developer Foundations line, station 1 of 9

Your Developer Setup

Set up a professional developer workstation on Windows or macOS, get comfortable in the terminal and VS Code, and add the team tools that keep everyone's code consistent.

  • 4lessons
  • 2.5 hto read and do
  • Beginnerlevel
  • 4podcast episodes
  • 4checked exercises
Start the courseCheck what you know

Tools you'll use in this course

The lessons open these with a template ready. They work for your own job too, no course needed.

About this course

This is the first course of Kolom's Developer track, and of the Full-Stack Developer and Career Starter paths. It assumes no experience. You start by seeing how code becomes a running program (engines, runtimes, install, build and run), install VS Code, Git and Node.js on Windows or macOS, and write, break and fix your first script.

Then you learn the terminal without fear: paths, flags, exit codes, PATH, environment variables, pipes and safe deletes, the ideas behind almost every command a developer types. You learn VS Code the way experienced developers use it, with the Command Palette, Quick Open, code navigation and settings layers, and finish by setting up Prettier, ESLint, shared editor files and a pre-commit hook, so style arguments disappear from code review.

Every lesson uses Mangrove Market, a fictional grocery chain with about 320 stores, a delivery app and partner corner shops, where you play a new team member. Each one has diagrams, quick checks, a Build-it section you do on your own laptop, practice tasks (several auto-checked in your browser), flashcards and a podcast episode. The course ends with a small starter-repo project and a final exam for a free certificate.

What you will be able to do

  • Explain how code becomes a running program: engine, runtime, install, build and run
  • Install and check VS Code, Git and Node.js on Windows or macOS, and fix "command not found" by reading PATH
  • Work confidently in the terminal with paths, flags, exit codes, environment variables, pipes and safe deletes
  • Find your way around an unfamiliar codebase in VS Code with Quick Open, Go to Definition, Find All References and Rename Symbol
  • Predict which VS Code setting wins across the default, user, workspace and folder layers
  • Set up Prettier, ESLint, shared .vscode files and a pre-commit hook so the editor, the hook and CI run the same checks

Syllabus

4 stops, about 2.5 h in total. Each stop fills in when you complete the lesson.

  1. How code becomes a running program

    Every tool a developer uses does one job in a single chain: you write text files, a program runs them, Git records them, GitHub shares them, and GitHub Actions checks them. This lesson draws that chain once, installs the tools on Windows or macOS, and ends with your first script printing a store's sales total.

    30 minBeginnerEpisode1 exercise

    Developer environment setupRuntimes and buildsReading error messages

  2. The terminal without fear

    Every developer tool has buttons, but its full power is in the terminal. Engineers type Git, npm and Node commands all day. This lesson covers the twenty or so commands and four ideas behind almost everything they type, on both Windows and macOS.

    35 minBeginnerEpisode1 exercise

    Command lineEnvironment variables and PATHShell scripting

  3. VS Code essentials

    VS Code is where most developers spend the day. This lesson covers the window layout, the twenty or so shortcuts worth learning, how settings really work, and the code navigation tools that let you find your way in a codebase you did not write.

    30 minBeginnerEpisode1 exercise

    VS CodeCode navigationEditor settings

  4. VS Code for teams: formatting, linting and shared settings

    A team that argues about spaces and semicolons in code review spends less time on the bugs. This lesson shows how to move every style decision into tools: Prettier formats, ESLint catches mistakes, and the same rules run on save, before each commit and in CI.

    40 minIntermediateEpisode1 exercise

    Formatting and lintingShared team settingsPre-commit hooks

  5. Capstone: A starter repo every new developer can clone

    A realistic project with a rubric and a model answer.

  6. Final exam and certificate

    10 questions drawn at random, 70% to pass.

Capstone project

A starter repo every new developer can clone

Mangrove Market's Store app team is hiring two developers, and Ken, the engineering manager, is tired of new hires losing their first day to setup. He asks you to build store-tools, a small starter repository that any new developer can clone and have working and checked in under 30 minutes on Windows or macOS. It contains one useful script: report.js reads a sales CSV (siteId, articleCode, qty, amountCents) and prints the number of lines and the total in dollars for each store, keeping money as integer cents, and it fails properly on bad input. Around it, set up everything the course taught: npm scripts, a pinned Node version, Prettier, ESLint with flat config, EditorConfig, shared VS Code files, a pre-commit hook and a README that a stranger can follow. Push it to a public GitHub repository (a free account is enough) so the reviewer can clone it and check your setup.

You will hand in

  • report.js and a sample data/sales.csv: per-store line counts and totals, a clear message on stderr and exit code 1 when the file is missing
  • package.json with start, lint, format and format:check scripts, an exact Prettier version, and an .nvmrc
  • eslint.config.js (flat config, eslint-config-prettier last), .prettierrc.json and .editorconfig
  • .vscode/settings.json, extensions.json and a lint task, with a .gitignore that keeps personal VS Code files out
  • A husky and lint-staged pre-commit hook, and a README with Getting started steps and the expected output
Open the project brief

Check what you know

Already know some of this? Answer 4 quick questions, one from each lesson, and we will mark the lessons you can skim. It takes about 2 minutes and nothing is graded.

Questions

How long does the course take?

A little over two hours across four lessons of 30 to 40 minutes each, including the Build-it steps and practice. The optional project takes 2 to 6 hours. You can stop after any section and pick up later.

Do I need any programming experience?

No. The first lesson starts from zero and explains every term as it appears. You need a laptop with Windows or macOS (Linux works too) where you are allowed to install programs, and an internet connection for the downloads.

What will I install, and does it cost anything?

VS Code, Git and Node.js 24 LTS (Node 22 also works), all free. The first lesson walks through each install on Windows and macOS. Later lessons add Prettier, ESLint, husky and lint-staged to a project with npm, not globally.

Is the certificate free?

Yes. All lessons, podcasts, quizzes, practice tasks, the final exam and the certificate you earn by passing it are free.

How does the final exam work?

Each attempt picks 15 random questions from the course's question bank, mostly short scenarios like the ones in the lessons. You need 70% to pass. If you don't pass, you can try again after 24 hours with a new set of questions. The answer key is never shown, which keeps the certificate meaningful.

Is it really free?

Yes. Every lesson, podcast episode, exercise, quiz, final exam and certificate is free. The labs and their templates for real work are free too. Plus and Premium add every lab challenge, weekly extras and a mentor on top, and they never lock the tools or the courses.