Let me give you an overview of the components you're going to
need to set up your development environment.
We'll use the Ruby on Rails framework extensively
throughout this specialization, and I'll simply refer to it as Rails.
So, more specifically, we'll use Rails to build web applications and
to investigate the various technologies and
protocols associated with web application frameworks in general.
That is, we'll use Rails itself as a tool to explore web application architectures.
To use Rails effectively, you'll need the following components.
First, you have install the Ruby programming language.
Ruby is the programming language that the Rails framework is built on.
Packages or libraries in Ruby are referred to as gems.
So the Rails framework is actually just a Ruby gem.
You're going to need a modern text editor, one that supports syntax highlighting.
I'll talk with you more about this shortly.
You're going to need a modern web browser, one with integrated developer tools,
and I'll show you how to install those on a browser shortly.
I'm going to make use of a SQLite Database Browser, again,
I'll show you how to get this and install this.
And finally, we're going to use Git, which is a distributed version control and
source code management system.
We'll use this to manage the source code associated with the web applications we
develop.
And we'll also use it to deploy these applications.
You'll use it to submit your programming assignments as well.
Again, I'll show you how to use Git shortly.
The manner in which you end up configuring your development environment is going to
depend upon the operating system you're using
as well as your own personal preferences.
You have at least three choices, you can roll your own development environment and
this is the one that I suggest you try to do.
In other words,
install all of the components natively on your own machine and manage them yourself.
I think this is the best thing for a software engineer to learn how to do.
You could also use a virtual machine that comes with Ruby and
Rails pre-installed on it.
I'll point you to one of those shortly.
And the other option is there are some hosted development
environments that you can now use.
So kind of ironic, this is a web application to develop web applications,
these hosted development environments.
Let's talk about each of these.
But before I do, I want to point you to a website that I think is very helpful.
Railsapps.github.io, and you'll see this installing-rails.html.
If you go to that site, very detailed
instructions on how to install the latest version of Ruby on Rails.
So find your operating system on this site and follow the instructions, and that's
the best bet and best tip I can give you for helping you to install Ruby on Rails.
So let's take a look at a couple of the things on this website.
Here's the website that I just mentioned.
And notice, if you look through this, it'll explain a little bit about Rails,
the current version.
And don't worry if this version doesn't match what you're seeing,
things change rapidly, as I mentioned.
But here, find your operating system,
typically it's either going to be Mac OS X or some Mac operating system, Ubuntu.
Here, they mention the hosted environments or Windows.
Let's take a look first at how you might install this natively.
You follow the instructions, so if I pick installing Ruby on Rails for
the Mac, I'd click here.
And it takes me to the detailed instructions on how to install