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Testing & Coding with Visual Studio Code

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Remington Steed edited this page Sep 2, 2025 · 5 revisions

Overview

Visual Studio Code is a free Windows program that helps you work with a code project on your own computer. It includes great tools for viewing and editing code, along with tools for running and testing your changes without having to send them to GitHub and wait 5 minutes for a free server to run them (such as Render.com, which is what we use for this project). Once you've tested and perfected your code changes, VS Code also helps you commit your changes to GitHub so everyone can benefit from your brilliance.

Setting Up VS Code

  • Install VS Code from the Microsoft Store app on your Windows computer (search Visual Studio Code)
  • Install Python (newest version, currently 3.13) from MS store (search Python)
  • Check that Python is working: Open command prompt and type: python -3 --version
    • To find Command Prompt, search windows for "Command Prompt" or "cmd")
      Find Command Prompt on Windows
  • Create a workspace folder (I called mine "code" inside of my Documents folder), then open VS Code and open that folder
  • Install Python extension for Visual Studio Code
    VS Code extensions
  • Create a virtual environment: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/python/python-tutorial#_create-a-virtual-environment
  • Connect GitHub: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/sourcecontrol/github
    • Install Git
    • Add Git to your computer's PATH environment variable (PortableGit\bin)
    • Add VS GitHub extension
    • Close and Reopen VS Code
    • Click the "Publish to GitHub" button, sign in to Github, authenticate to GitHub (via a weird Windows popup?)
    • Clone repository (add to workspace or make new workspace? CAREFUL, THIS CAN BREAK VENV), authenticate to GitHub again (via a weird Windows popup?)
    • Open the README file in VS Code
    • Launch virtual env by typing this in the VS Code console: ./venv/Scripts/activate
    • Install all prerequisites (via the console): pip install -r requirements.txt
  • Make a small change, Run it, Test it
  • Commit when ready

Suggested Process for Code Changes

  • Code with a partner
  • Define the change you want to make (or the new project you want to create)
  • What is "version 1" of that idea? Define the next step forward, not the finished product.
  • Ask a chatbot for that next step, and feed in any code you already have.
  • Chatbot gives you code
  • First, try reading that code. Can you tell what changed? What do you think it does?
  • Try testing/running that code. Any errors? Did it work as you expected?
  • Before jumping to more changes, use the chatbot to help you understand. Add code comments. Explain lines you don't understand. Ask it for alternatives (to a function or the structure of the entire thing) and for pros and cons to each.

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