Masoud Hamad

Setup Guide — Web Technologies

Install everything you need for this course. Pick your platform and run the steps.

What you’ll need

Tool	Used in	Min version
Web browser	All labs	Latest Chrome/Firefox/Edge
VS Code	All labs	Latest
Git	All labs (submission)	2.30+
Node.js + npm	L6+ (JS, React, Express)	20 LTS
JDK 21	L10a (Spring Boot)	21
Maven (or wrapper)	L10a	3.9+ (or use ./mvnw)
Python	L10c (Django)	3.11+
Docker Desktop	L13, Lab 8	4.20+
SQLite (built-in via sqlite3)	L9, Lab 5	3.35+

macOS

Install Homebrew if you don’t have it: https://brew.sh/

# Core
brew install git node@20 python@3.12 sqlite

# Java
brew install --cask temurin@21

# VS Code
brew install --cask visual-studio-code

# Docker
brew install --cask docker

Verify:

git --version
node --version          # v20.x
java -version           # 21
python3 --version       # 3.11+
docker --version

Windows

Use winget (built into Windows 11):

winget install --id Git.Git
winget install --id OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS
winget install --id Python.Python.3.12
winget install --id EclipseAdoptium.Temurin.21.JDK
winget install --id Apache.Maven
winget install --id Microsoft.VisualStudioCode
winget install --id Docker.DockerDesktop

After installing Docker, restart Windows, then enable WSL2 if prompted.

⚠️ JDK + Maven on Windows — the JAVA_HOME trap. The Temurin installer often skips setting JAVA_HOME, and the winget Maven package never sets it. The result: Lab 6 fails with mvn either missing or reporting the wrong Java version.

👉 Follow the dedicated guide: Windows JDK + Maven + JAVA_HOME setup — covers both winget and manual installer paths, sets every env var correctly, and lists the 8 most common errors with fixes.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y git curl python3 python3-venv python3-pip sqlite3

# Node 20 via nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.7/install.sh | bash
exec $SHELL
nvm install 20

# Java 21
sudo apt install -y openjdk-21-jdk

# VS Code: download .deb from https://code.visualstudio.com/

# Docker — follow https://docs.docker.com/engine/install/ubuntu/

VS Code extensions (recommended)

Open VS Code → Extensions, install:

• Live Server (Ritwick Dey) — preview HTML files
• Prettier - Code formatter
• ESLint
• HTML CSS Support
• GitLens
• GitHub Pull Requests and Issues
• REST Client (Huachao Mao) — test APIs from .http files
• Docker (Microsoft)
• Python (Microsoft)
• Extension Pack for Java (Microsoft) — for Spring Boot
• ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native snippets — for React

GitHub & Classroom

1. Create a free GitHub account: https://github.com/signup
2. Set up SSH or use HTTPS with a Personal Access Token.
3. Configure Git locally (one time):

   git config --global user.name  "Your Name"
   git config --global user.email "you@example.com"
   

4. Click your first Classroom invite from the course page → accept → you’ll get a private repo.

Verifying your setup

Run this one-liner inside any folder. If everything succeeds, you’re good:

git --version && node --version && npm --version && java -version && python3 --version && docker --version

Troubleshooting

Node says “command not found” — restart your terminal after install.

Docker won’t start (Windows) — make sure WSL2 is enabled. See https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/.

Docker is super slow (Mac) — go to Docker Desktop → Settings → Resources, raise CPU/RAM.

npm install is very slow / fails — check your network, try npm install --no-audit --no-fund.

Java version mismatch — java -version and javac -version should both print 21. On Mac:

/usr/libexec/java_home -V                 # list installed JDKs
export JAVA_HOME=$(/usr/libexec/java_home -v 21)

On Windows: see windows_jdk_maven_setup.md — covers JAVA_HOME, PATH, the GUI editor, and the 8 most common failure modes.

Still stuck? Bring it to lab — we’ll debug together.