Day 1 — Installation Guide#

Goal: Get a fully working development environment — terminal, editor, Git, Python, and uv — so you can start coding from Day 2 onwards with zero friction.

What You Need Installed by the End#

Option A — Native Ubuntu Linux#

If you are already running Ubuntu (22.04 or later), you just need to install the tools.

Step 1: Update your system#

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 2: Install Git#

sudo apt install git -y
git --version
# git version 2.x.x

Step 3: Install Python#

Ubuntu comes with Python, but let’s make sure you have a recent version:

python3 --version
# If below 3.11, install a newer one:
sudo apt install python3.12 -y

Step 4: Install VS Code#

# Download from https://code.visualstudio.com/
# Or install via snap:
sudo snap install code --classic
code --version

Step 5: Install uv#

uv is a blazing-fast Python package manager that replaces pip, venv, and more.

curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# Restart your terminal, then:
uv --version

What is uv? Think of it as a single tool that does what pip, venv, pyenv, and pipx do — but 10–100x faster. It was built by the same team that made ruff (the fast Python linter).

🧠 Knowledge Check#

Q1: What command combines updating the package list and upgrading installed packages in Ubuntu?

• A) sudo apt install update
• B) sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y
• C) apt update --all
• D) sudo snap install code

Q2: Why do we use uv instead of traditional pip?

• A) Because uv is built into Ubuntu natively
• B) Because pip is deprecated and no longer supported
• C) Because uv is 10-100x faster and replaces multiple tools like pip, venv, and pyenv
• D) Because uv works without Python

Option B — Windows + WSL2 (Ubuntu)#

If you are on Windows, you will install Linux inside Windows using WSL2.

Step 1: Enable WSL2#

Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

wsl --install

This installs WSL2 + Ubuntu. Restart your computer when prompted.

Step 2: Set up Ubuntu#

After restart, Ubuntu will open automatically and ask you to create a username and password. This is your Linux username — it can be different from your Windows username.

# Verify you are in WSL2:
uname -a
# Should contain "Linux" and "microsoft" in the output

Step 3: Update Ubuntu inside WSL#

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade -y

Step 4: Install Git#

sudo apt install git -y
git --version

Step 5: Install Python#

python3 --version
# Should be 3.10+ on Ubuntu 22.04/24.04

Step 6: Install VS Code (on Windows side)#

1. Download VS Code from code.visualstudio.com
2. Install it on Windows (not inside WSL)
3. Install the “WSL” extension inside VS Code
4. Now open VS Code from your WSL terminal:

code .
# This opens VS Code connected to WSL — you will see "WSL: Ubuntu" in the bottom-left

Step 7: Install uv (inside WSL)#

```bash
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
# Close and reopen terminal
uv --version

🧠 Knowledge Check#

Q1: What does the command wsl --install do when run in PowerShell?

• A) It installs a new version of Windows PowerShell
• B) It installs WSL2 and sets up a default Linux distribution (Ubuntu)
• C) It installs VS Code
• D) It updates Windows

Q2: When using WSL2, where should VS Code be installed?

• A) Only inside the WSL terminal
• B) On both Windows and inside WSL separately
• C) On the Windows side, but with the “WSL” extension installed
• D) It doesn’t matter

Verification Checklist#

Run each of these commands. If any fail, go back and fix that step.

# 1. Check you are on Linux
uname -a
# Expected: ... Linux ... (if WSL, you'll also see "microsoft")

# 2. Git
git --version
# Expected: git version 2.x.x

# 3. Python
python3 --version
# Expected: Python 3.11.x or higher

# 4. uv
uv --version
# Expected: uv 0.x.x

# 5. VS Code (run from terminal)
code --version
# Expected: version number + commit hash

If all five work, you are ready for Day 2.

Troubleshooting#

# Add to PATH (paste into terminal):
echo 'export PATH="$HOME/.local/bin:$PATH"' >> ~/.bashrc
source ~/.bashrc

# Now try again:
uv --version

uv python install 3.13
uv python list
# You should see 3.13 in the list

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:deadsnakes/ppa -y
sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3.12 -y

Q&A#

Exercises#

Exercise 1: Screenshot your verification

Run the five verification commands above. Save the output to a file:

{
  echo "=== uname ==="
  uname -a
  echo "=== git ==="
  git --version
  echo "=== python ==="
  python3 --version
  echo "=== uv ==="
  uv --version
  echo "=== vscode ==="
  code --version
} > ~/environment-check.txt

cat ~/environment-check.txt

=== uname ===
Linux your-machine 5.15.x-x-x ... GNU/Linux
=== git ===
git version 2.43.0
=== python ===
Python 3.12.3
=== uv ===
uv 0.7.x
=== vscode ===
1.96.x
abc123...
x64

Exercise 2: Configure Git identity

Git needs to know who you are before you can make commits:

git config --global user.name "Your Full Name"
git config --global user.email "[email protected]"

Verify:

git config --global --list

user.name=Your Full Name
[email protected]

Exercise 3: Create your bootcamp workspace

mkdir -p ~/tds/bootcamp/day-1
cd ~/tds/bootcamp/day-1
pwd

/home/yourname/tds/bootcamp/day-1