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3.1 Text Editors and Development Tools

Modern development often revolves around powerful editors and IDEs. In this chapter, we’ll cover two essential tools: Vim, a lightweight terminal-based editor, and Visual Studio Code (VS Code), a versatile graphical editor. You’ll learn how to install them on Linux and Windows (for WSL users), set them up, and extend them with useful plugins.

Installing Vim​

Debian/Ubuntu​

sudo apt update
sudo apt install vim -y

Fedora​

sudo dnf install vim -y

Verify Installation​

vim --version

If you see version information, Vim is ready to use.

Installing Visual Studio Code​

Download official VS Code packages from the Visual Studio Code download page.

Debian/Ubuntu (.deb package)​

  1. Download the .deb file.

  2. In terminal, navigate to the download folder and run:

    sudo apt install ./code_<version>.deb

  3. Launch with:

    code

Fedora (.rpm package)​

  1. Download the .rpm file.

  2. In terminal, run:

    sudo dnf install ./code-<version>.rpm

  3. Launch with:

    code

Linux (tar.gz archive)​

  1. Download the .tar.gz archive from the VS Code download page.

  2. Extract it to your preferred location — system-wide (requires sudo) or user-local (no sudo needed). For example:

    # System-wide install (requires root)
    sudo tar -xvf code-<version>.tar.gz -C /usr/share/
    sudo mv /usr/share/VSCode-linux-x64 /usr/share/code

    # User-local install (no root)
    mkdir -p ~/apps
    tar -xvf code-<version>.tar.gz -C ~/apps/

  3. (Optional) Add VS Code to your PATH for easy launching:

    # System-wide
    sudo ln -s /usr/share/code/bin/code /usr/bin/code

    # User-local
    echo 'alias code="~/apps/VSCode-linux-x64/code"' >> ~/.bashrc
    source ~/.bashrc

  4. Launch VS Code:

    code

💡 Tip: Installing from the .tar.gz archive gives you flexibility in where to install VS Code but won’t receive automatic updates. For automatic updates, use the .deb or .rpm packages via the official Microsoft repositories.