Getting Started

Visual Studio Code (VSCode for short) is an advanced text editor that is cross-platform. It works on Windows, Mac, or Linux OS. We will use VSCode to learn C++, so buckle up and let’s get started! Follow the instructions below to install VSCode on your computer before the start of the course, be it Windows, Mac or Linux.

Done installing? Congratulations, you’re all set! Head to our further instructions for Using Visual Studio Code to learn more on how to use VSCode and CMake for C++.

• Windows OS
  • Launch Visual Studio Code (Windows)
• Mac OS
  • Install homebrew
• Linux OS
  • Launch Visual Studio Code (Mac, Linux)

Windows OS

• Access the shared folder and download cpp4pio_2023.zip.
• Open the downloaded cpp4bio_2023.ziparchive and move the containing folder cpp4bio to your Desktop. This will take some time!

Launch Visual Studio Code (Windows)

• Navigate to cpp4bio/vscode/ and open (double-click) Code.exe.

• On the File tab at the top left corner press Open folder.

• Select cpp4bio/projects/hello_world/.
• Press the Kit button on the bottom bar and select Clang++ cpp4bio.

• Click on main.cpp and press the Launch button on the bottom bar to run, or the bug button to run the debugger. Both these steps should compile and print Hello world! to the console.
• You have now correctly installed VS Code and the necessary tools for the course.

Mac OS

Access the shared folder and download cpp4pio_linux_mac_2023.zip. Extract the archive to your home folder.

Install homebrew

Open a terminal and run:

/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"

Next, while still in the terminal, run:

cd ~/cpp4bio_linux_mac_2023
chmod +x ./bootstrap-brew.sh
./bootstrap-brew.sh

Linux OS

Access the shared folder and download cpp4pio_linux_mac_2023.zip. Extract the archive to your home folder.

Open a terminal and run:

cd ~/cpp4bio_linux_max_2023
chmod +x ./bootstrap-*

# if your package manager is 'apt' (Debian, Ubuntu, Mint) run:
./bootstrap-apt.sh

# else if your package manager is 'dnf' (Fedora, Red Hat) run:
./bootstrap-dnf.sh

# else if your package manager is 'pacman' (Arch, Manjaro) run:
./bootstrap-pacman.sh

Launch Visual Studio Code (Mac, Linux)

An most platforms, you should find Code or Visual Studio Code as application. Open it the “usual” way.

Alternatively, open a terminal and run:

code .

Inside Visual Studio Code

• If a ‘Do you trust the authors of the files in this folder?’ dialog shows up, accept.
• On the File tab at the top left corner press Open folder.

• Open home/cpp4bio/projects/hello_world/.
• Press the Kit button on the bottom bar and select Clang++ cpp4bio.

• Click on main.cpp and press the Launch button on the bottom bar to run, or the bug button to run the debugger. If prompted, select (lldb) launch. Both these steps should compile and print Hello world! to the console.
• You have now correctly installed VS Code and the necessary tools for the course.

It might be that upon opening Visual Studio Code, some of the installed extensions are disabled. This is because you are using VS code in restricted mode. Just click on Trust, and you’re good to go!