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⚙️ Installing Essential Development Tools

Introduction​

These steps will help you quickly install and configure the core tools every developer needs:

  • Git for version control
  • Docker for containerization
  • Python + pip for scripting and package management
  • Visual Studio Code for a powerful, extensible editor

1. Update Package Index​

Always start by refreshing your package lists:

sudo apt-get update

2. Install Git​

sudo apt-get install git -y

Verify:

git --version

3. Install Docker​

  1. Install prerequisites

    sudo apt-get install \
      ca-certificates \
      curl \
      gnupg \
      lsb-release -y

  2. Add Docker’s GPG key & repo

    sudo mkdir -p /etc/apt/keyrings
    curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg \
      | sudo gpg --dearmor -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg

    echo \
      "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.gpg] \
      https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
      $(lsb_release -cs) stable" \
      | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

    sudo apt-get update

  3. Install Docker Engine & CLI

    sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io -y

  4. Test Docker

    sudo docker run --rm hello-world

  5. (Optional) Run without sudo

    sudo groupadd docker
    sudo usermod -aG docker $USER
    newgrp docker

4. Install Python & pip​

sudo apt-get install python3 python3-pip -y

Verify:

python3 --version
pip3 --version

Tip: You can create and manage isolated environments with:

python3 -m venv ~/venvs/myenv
source ~/venvs/myenv/bin/activate

5. Install Visual Studio Code​

  1. Import Microsoft GPG key & repo

    curl -fsSL https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc \
      | gpg --dearmor \
      | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/microsoft.gpg > /dev/null

    sudo sh -c 'echo "deb [arch=$(dpkg --print-architecture)] \
      https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/code stable main" \
      > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/vscode.list'
    sudo apt-get update

  2. Install Code

    sudo apt-get install code -y

  3. Launch

    code .

Conclusion​

You now have Git, Docker, Python (with pip), and VS Code installed and ready for development. Happy coding!