The document discusses creating an ideal development environment for Cordova, emphasizing that there is no universally perfect setup. It includes recommended hardware specifications for Mac and Windows systems, essential software tools, and npm package management practices. Key highlights include the importance of avoiding 'sudo npm install' due to security risks and the use of tools like Visual Studio Code, Android SDK, and various npm packages to enhance development capabilities.

1. Creating the Ideal Dev Environment
Ryan J. Salva, Microsoft
@ryanjsalva

2. DISCLAIMER
• There’s no such thing as an “ideal” dev environment.
• While I researched the tools used by surveying over 100
Cordova professionals, you may prefer something different.
• If you have a tip, preference or better tool, please share it!

3. Creating the Ideal Dev Environment
• Hardware
• Node Version Manager
• Globally Installed NPM Packages
• VS Code
• .bash_profile
• Android SDK
• Android Emulator
• Parallels
• Visual Studio
• Remote Build Agent

4. Hardware (Mac-based)
• 13-inch MacBook Pro with Retina display
• 3.1GHz Dual-core Intel Core i7, Turbo Boost up to 3.4GHz
• 16GB 1866MHz LPDDR3 SDRAM
• 1TB PCIe-based Flash Storage
• Intel Iris Graphics 6100
• OSX El Capitan
• Parallels or VM Ware Fusion Pro

5. Hardware (Windows-based)
• 13.5-inch Microsoft Surface Book
• 6th Gen Intel Core i7
• 1TB SSD
• 16GB RAM / dGPU
• Windows 10 Pro
• iOS Build Options
• PhoneGap Build
• MacInCloud
• Mac Mini

6. 0.12.x 2.x all
>=4.0 2.x >=5.3.3
>=5.0 3.x >=5.4.1
6.x 3.X none
A Complicated Mess

7. sudo npm install -g cordova
...
npm ERR!
npm ERR! Additional logging details can be found in:
npm ERR! /Users/ryanjsalva/npm-debug.log
npm ERR! not ok code 0

8. sudo npm install is a Bad Idea™
• npm install has the ability to run arbitrary scripts. If you
accidentally install malicious software with administrative
permissions, you’re giving away the keys to the kingdom
• Running sudo npm install (without -g) will create a local
directory that can only be altered by the root user.
• Even sudo npm install -g with a valid installation target can
mess things up for you and make it hard to use npm without
sudo. Admin will have directory permissions, making permission
errors with a local user likely in the future.
http://nvm.sh/

9. # install nvm
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/creationix/nvm/v0.31.1/install.sh | bash
# confirm that nvm is installed
nvm --version
# install the latest stable release
nvm install v4.4.4
# make it the default
nvm alias default v4.4.4

10. # this is a Cordova dev environment, right?
npm install –g cordova

11. # UI framework
npm install –g cordova ionic

12. # live updates w/o re-submitting to the store
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli

13. # future JS features today, req. by Ionic+Ng2
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript

14. # simply build pipeline management
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp

15. # Xcode build from Windows
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild

16. # Install and debug iOS apps w/o opening Xcode
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy

17. # launch iOS simulator from CLI
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim

18. # enforce JavaScript code style guide
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim
eslint

19. # the baseline for our code style guide
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim
eslint eslint-plugin-standard

20. # enforce TypeScript code style guide
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim
eslint eslint-plugin-standard tslint

21. # framework agnostic livereload
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim
eslint eslint-plugin-standard tslint cdvlive

22. # That’s it! Install everything else locally
npm install –g cordova ionic code-push-cli
typescript gulp remotebuild ios-deploy ios-sim
eslint eslint-plugin-standard tslint cdvlive

23. .bash_profile
http://github.com/ryanjsalva/bash

24. Debug your code on any browser, emulator or device.
Increase speed & accuracy with Intellisense for plugins.
Invoke Cordova commands from the editor.
Visual Studio Code

25. VS Code Extensions
Cordova
cordova-tools
vscode-eslint
tslint
JS Native
vscode-react-native
nativescript

26. Google Emulators
Apple OSX
GenyMotion (requires VirtualBox)
Google SDK with HAX
Windows
Visual Studio Android Emulator

27. Building for Windows
• Visual Studio
• Tools for Apache Cordova
• Node 0.12 and NPM 2.2 (sandboxed)
• Android SDK
• Ant & Gradle
• Visual Studio Android Emulator