Development Tools

Modern web development relies on various tools to improve productivity, code quality, and collaboration.

Version Control

Git is the most popular version control system for tracking changes in code.

Why Use Version Control?

• Track changes over time
• Collaborate with team members
• Revert to previous versions
• Branch and merge features
• Backup your code

Code Editors

Popular Editors

• Visual Studio Code - Free, extensible, great for web development
• WebStorm - Powerful IDE with advanced features
• Sublime Text - Fast and lightweight
• Atom - Hackable text editor (discontinued but still used)

Essential VS Code Extensions

• Prettier - Code formatting
• ESLint - JavaScript linting
• Live Server - Local development server
• GitLens - Enhanced Git capabilities
• Auto Rename Tag - Automatically rename paired HTML tags

Package Managers

npm (Node Package Manager)

# Initialize project
npm init

# Install dependencies
npm install package-name

# Install dev dependencies
npm install --save-dev package-name

# Run scripts
npm run build
npm start

Yarn

# Initialize project
yarn init

# Install dependencies
yarn add package-name

# Install dev dependencies
yarn add --dev package-name

# Run scripts
yarn build
yarn start

Build Tools

Webpack

Module bundler that processes and bundles your assets.

Vite

Fast build tool and development server for modern web projects.

Parcel

Zero-configuration build tool that works out of the box.

Browser Developer Tools

Chrome DevTools Features

• Elements - Inspect and modify HTML/CSS
• Console - JavaScript debugging and logging
• Sources - Debug JavaScript with breakpoints
• Network - Monitor network requests
• Performance - Analyze runtime performance
• Application - Inspect local storage, cookies, service workers

Debugging Tips

// Console methods
console.log('Basic logging');
console.error('Error message');
console.warn('Warning message');
console.table(arrayData);
console.group('Group label');

// Breakpoints in code
debugger; // Pauses execution here

// Performance timing
console.time('operation');
// ... some code
console.timeEnd('operation');

Testing Tools

Jest

JavaScript testing framework for unit and integration tests.

Cypress

End-to-end testing framework for web applications.

React Testing Library

Testing utilities for React components.

Deployment Platforms

Vercel

• Optimized for Next.js and React
• Automatic deployments from Git
• Serverless functions support

Netlify

• Static site hosting
• Continuous deployment
• Form handling and serverless functions

GitHub Pages

• Free hosting for static sites
• Direct integration with GitHub repositories

These tools form the foundation of modern web development workflows!