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Setup - Ubuntu

Here is a comprehensive tutorial on setting up an Ubuntu operating system for TypeScript development with Visual Studio Code (VSCode) and the installation requirements:

Prerequisites​

Before you begin, you will need to have the following installed on your Ubuntu system:

Git​

Git is a version control system that is used to manage and track changes to your code. You can install Git by running the following command:

sudo apt install git

What is nvm? Node Version Manager (nvm) is a command-line tool that allows you to easily install and manage multiple versions of Node.js on your Ubuntu system. This is useful if you want to test your code against different versions of Node.js, or if you want to switch between stable and experimental versions of Node.js.

Installing nvm To install nvm on Ubuntu, follow these steps:

Open a terminal window and run the following command to install the necessary dependencies:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install build-essential libssl-dev

Run the following command to download the nvm installation script:

curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.38.0/install.sh | bash

Close the terminal window and open a new one to apply the changes.

Run the following command to verify that nvm is installed:

nvm --version

Using nvm​

To use nvm, you can use the following commands:

  • nvm install <version>: Install the specified version of Node.js. For example, to install the latest stable version of Node.js, you can run nvm install node.

  • nvm use <version>: Switch to the specified version of Node.js. For example, to switch to the latest stable version of Node.js, you can run nvm use node.

  • nvm ls: List all installed versions of Node.js.

  • nvm ls-remote: List all available versions of Node.js that can be installed.

  • nvm uninstall <version>: Uninstall the specified version of Node.js.

For example, to install the latest stable version of Node.js and switch to it, you can run the following commands:

nvm install node
nvm use node

To switch back to the default version of Node.js that is installed on your system, you can run the following command:

nvm use system

Node.js (Manual)​

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that is used to execute your TypeScript code. You can install Node.js by running the following command:

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_14.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs

Installing Visual Studio Code​

To install Visual Studio Code on Ubuntu, follow these steps:

Download the VSCode DEB package from the VSCode website.

Open a terminal window and navigate to the directory where you downloaded the DEB package.

Run the following command to install VSCode:

sudo dpkg -i code_*_amd64.deb

If the installation was successful, you should see the VSCode icon in the application launcher.

Installing the TypeScript extension for VSCode​

To install the TypeScript extension for VSCode, follow these steps:

Open VSCode and click on the "Extensions" icon in the left sidebar.

In the search bar, type "TypeScript" and press Enter.

Click on the "Install" button for the "TypeScript" extension.

Wait for the installation to complete and then click on the "Reload" button to apply the changes.

Configuring TypeScript in VSCode​

To configure TypeScript in VSCode, follow these steps:

Open VSCode and create a new project by clicking on the "File" menu and selecting "New Folder".

In the terminal window, navigate to the project directory and run the following command to initialize a new TypeScript project:

tsc --init

This will create a tsconfig.json file in your project directory. Open the file and modify the compiler options to match your project needs. For example, you can set the target option to "ES6" to specify that you want to use the latest version of JavaScript.

In the terminal window, run the following command to install the TypeScript definitions for the Node.js runtime:

npm install @types/node

Open a TypeScript file in VSCode and you should see syntax highlighting and code completion for TypeScript.

Debugging TypeScript in VSCode​

To debug TypeScript in VSCode, you need to create a launch configuration file that specifies how to run your code. You can do this by following these steps:

Open VSCode and click on the "Debug" icon in the left sidebar.

Click on the "Create a launch.json file" button.

In the dropdown menu, select "Node.js" as the environment.

Modify the launch configuration to match your project needs. For example, you can set the program option to the path of your TypeScript entry point file, and the outFiles option to the path of the compiled JavaScript files.

To start debugging, click on the "Start Debugging" button in the Debug toolbar.

Set breakpoints in your TypeScript code by clicking on the left margin of the editor window.

Run your code and the debugger will stop at the breakpoints you set.

Use the debugger controls in the Debug toolbar to step through your code, inspect variables, and evaluate expressions.