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Setting up the Development Environment

Before we dive into creating React applications, let's set up our development environment to ensure we have all the necessary tools in place.

Installing Node.js and npm​

Node.js is a JavaScript runtime that allows us to run JavaScript code outside the browser, making it suitable for server-side applications and development tools. It comes bundled with npm (Node Package Manager), which we will use to manage our project's dependencies.

To install Node.js and npm, follow these steps:

  1. Visit the official Node.js website (https://nodejs.org/).

  2. Download the appropriate installer for your operating system (Windows, macOS, or Linux).

  3. Run the installer and follow the installation instructions.

  4. After installation, open a terminal or command prompt and type the following command to verify that Node.js and npm are installed:

    node -v
    npm -v

    You should see the version numbers of Node.js and npm printed in the terminal if the installation was successful.

Download Code Editor​

There are literally so many code editors to choose from its impossible to list them all here. I will, however, list the most popular ones and the links to download them.