Nothing to install, nothing to configure, nothing to create first.
Here is how to use VSCode and Docker to create a ready-to-user Python environment, whatever if you're under Windows, Linux or Mac.
The only prerequisites are: we should have Docker installed on your system, you should have Visual Studio Code and you've installed the Docker for Visual Studio Code addon in VSCode.
In a previous article, I've provided some files to be able to quickly create a Python environment under Linux. Today, let's play and use the exact same files but this time under Windows.
The today challenge is easy: create a Python environment on my Windows machine without to have install Python of course and without to have to configure VSCode. Just run some magic and, voilà , as a Python newcomer, I can start to code without first losing time to configure my computer.
As you know, VSCode is a superb editor that lets you program in probably any programming language. An editor, not an IDE, because VSCode is basically a Notepad in its ultimate version.
If you want to program in Python, you'll need to install a few extensions in VSCode to be really comfortable, i.e. syntax highlighting, code navigation, code refactoring (like renaming a variable or a class), etc.
There are ‘ready-to-use’ editors like PyCharm but 1. they cost money and 2. they are specific (you won't be able to program in PHP with PyCharm; or even work easily with HTML/CSS files).
In this new article, we'll look at how to get a VSCode environment ready to use straight away for coding in Python, and as it's VSCode it's 1. free, 2. multi-purpose and 3. insanely powerful.
But what is Docker anyway? In the simplest possible terms, how can we explain what Docker is used for?
Let's take the case of a cooking recipe as a starting point.
This article is the very short and straightforward version of PHP development in a devcontainer with preinstalled code quality tools. If you just want to follow a very few steps and get your PHP environment, this article is for you.
By following steps describe in this article, you'll obtain:
composer package manager installed,php-cs-fixer, phpcs, phpcbf, sonarlint and Rector installedJust follow the guide...
Please refers to my other articles about Docker to see how to Dockerize the application and be able to run the application using Apache and a database service like PostgreSQL.
Let's imagine one of the following situations:
You are working with several people on the same PHP project and you notice that one or other person does not comply with your quality criteria when it comes to the layout of the code. You like to use four spaces for indentation, you want the brace that marks the start of a function to be on the line, you don't want to see any more useless spaces at the end of the line, ... and damned! you notice that some people don't care about this.
You are working alone on a project and don't want to lose time to configure your VSCode experience. You wish to start very quickly with a lot of tools already installed in VSCode so you can put your focus to the code, not the editor.
The ultimate solution: using a devcontainer in VSCode.
By using a devcontainer, you (and your team colleague) will use a preinstalled environment and everyone will have exactly the same. You'll save yourself a lot of time by not having to configure your system, and you'll be able to start coding straight away, supported by a range of quality analysis tools.