macOS Quick Start

If you use a Mac, this section will show you how to install the tools you are going to need. If you are not using a Mac, feel free to skip ahead to the next section.

Homebrew

On a Mac, most of the tools you need to install can be installed through Homebrew. Homebrew bills itself as the Mac’s missing package manager.

There are a lot of tools and runtime packages available through Homebrew, so I recommend installing it if you do not already have it. You can install it by copying and pasting the following command into any terminal window.

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"

Git

Next, you should install Git. But first, check to see if you already have it. In a terminal window, enter the following command:

git --version

If it is installed, you will see a version number, probably 2.x or something similar. If you have a version that says, “Apple Git,” it means you installed it through the XCode command-line tools. This should be ok.

If you do not have git, and you installed Homebrew, simply issue the following command:

brew install git  

This will give you the latest version for your system.

If you prefer to install git from the official site, you can do that, too. Head over to https://git-scm.com, click the download button, and follow the instructions.

Node

Next, tackle node. There are three ways to install node. Each is valid and has its own positives and negatives. I will try to give you enough information for you to make an intelligent choice. Review them, and choose the one you prefer.

If you like installing items from their source, feel free to head over to https://nodejs.org, and click the big green button. The tools you are going to be using require at least Node 8, so you should not have any issues here. I recommend downloading and installing the LTS, or long-term-support version.

Node (Homebrew)

You can also use Homebrew to install node. Simply enter the following command in a terminal window.

brew install node

While it is installing, I would like to point out a few things that you will be seeing. The first thing Homebrew tries to do is update its local indexes. This is how it knows what software is available. The massive amount of text that fills the screen are all the new or updated software packages that Homebrew has found since the last time it was run on this system.

Homebrew then finds node and its dependencies. It continues to download and install the dependencies, and finally, it installs node itself.

After not too long, depending on your internet connection, node is installed.

Note that the version of Node that gets installed should be the latest version available. You could have changed the brew command to specify a different version. And you are still stuck with just a single version of node, which may or may not be what you need all the time.

Fortunately, there is a better way, which I describe in detail later.

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