SETUP.md

Setup

This document will help you set up your local environment!

Requirements

You'll need 4 things for this workshop:

1. git
2. NodeJS
3. NPM
4. This repository

1. git

There are 2 reasons you'll need git -

1. To clone this repository.
2. Jest, the framework we'll use to write tests, depends on git to identify changes you've recently made.

If you already have a git client installed, you're covered for reason 1.

For reason 2, you'll need to make sure you can access git from a terminal/command line.

👉 To verify this, open a terminal window. Run the following command:

git --version

If you have git installed, and accessible to your terminal, you'll see a version number listed. You can move on to 2. NodeJS!

If you don't see a version listed, or an error that says something to the effect of "I don't know what git is", you need to either install git, or add it to your path/environment variables.

I need to install git

👉 If you think you need to install git, go here. If the installer asks if you want to add git to your path/environment variables, say yes!

I already installed git but git -v doesn't work

This probably means git wasn't added to your path/environment variables, so your terminal can't find it. You have a couple options.

👉 1. Run the "git bash" terminal for the workshop instead of the one you usually use.

👉 2. Add git to your path/environment variables.

If option 2 describes you, here is a stackOverflow question with lots of answers for adding git to your path on Windows, and here is a similar question for adding git to your path on MacOS.

2. NodeJS

👉 From your terminal/command line, run the following command:

node -v

You should see a version number, and the version number should be at least 8.9.0.

I see a version number, and it is at least 8.9.0!

👉 Sweet! You can move on to verifying that you have NPM installed.

I see a version number, but it is less than 8.9.0.

There's a chance that things could be fine, but you might want to upgrade your version of Node just to be safe.

👉 If you're using a Node version manager, you probably know how to upgrade your version of Node. It's likely a matter of installing a newer version via a command like nvm install v8.9.4.

👉 If you aren't using a Node version manager, you'll want to grab the LTS installer from NodeJS.org. If it asks you to also install NPM, say yes!

I don't see a version number.

👉 You need to install NodeJS.

I recommend using a Node version manager - this will allow you to install multiple versions of Node locally, and switch between them. This is especially helpful if you're attending multiple workshops, as different sessions might require different versions. If you're on Mac/Linux, I recommend NVM. If you're on Windows, I recommend nvm-windows.

If you'd prefer to just install one version of Node, that's fine too. You can grab the LTS installer from NodeJS.org.

3. NPM

👉 Most likely, NPM was installed when you installed NodeJS. You can verify this by checking for a version in your terminal/command line.

npm -v

You should see a version number, and the version number should be at least 5.5.1.

I see a version number, and the version number is at least 5.5.1!

👉 Congratulations! You're ready to clone this repository!

I see a version number, but it is less than 5.5.1.

👉 You need to upgrade NPM. You can read about it here.

I don't see a version number.

👉 You need to install NPM. You can read about it here.

Clone This Repository

👉 Clone this repository using your git client!

The repository URL is https://github.com/pepopowitz/your-first-react-app-exercises.git. If you've never done this before, you want to go into your terminal and type...

git clone https://github.com/pepopowitz/your-first-react-app-exercises.git

This will clone the repository into your current working directory.

Install Dependencies

👉 Once the repository is cloned, enter that directory in your terminal, and run

npm install

Verify Setup

I've included a simple test to make sure everything seems to be installed correctly.

👉 From your terminal, run

npm run verify.

You should see output similar to below. If you do, you're ready to go!

Dependencies are set up!
 PASS  _setup/verify.spec.jsx
  Verifying your setup
    ✓ should run a test (1ms)
    ✓ can render a component (3ms)

Test Suites: 1 passed, 1 total
Tests:       2 passed, 2 total
Snapshots:   0 total
Time:        0.408s, estimated 1s
Ran all test suites related to changed files.

Watch Usage: Press w to show more.

You can hit "q" to exit this interactive test output.

If you don't see this output, ask your neighbor or the instructor for help, or create an issue in this repository describing the problem. Include your operating system and version, a detailed error message, and any other context you think might be helpful.

Common issues

fsevents/watchman error on Mac

If you see an error referencing fsevents or watchman, and you are on a Mac, you might need to manually install watchman. Do this with homebrew (brew install watchman).

Even after installing, sometimes it seems to fail at linking. You might need to do this manually, too (brew link watchman).

A possibly related issue is here - expo/expo#854.