Editor setup

To use any programming language, you need an editor to type text (programs) into. In theory, this can be any (plain-text) editor.

However, we have some recommendations for you.

CLion/Rust Rover (Jetbrains IDE)

In class, we will most likely be giving examples using Rust Rover. It is the editor some TAs for the course use. To use it you can get a free student-license at https://www.jetbrains.com/community/education/#students

You will have to download the rust plugin for CLion too. This is easy enough (through the settings menu), and CLion might even prompt you for it on installation. If you can't figure it out, feel free to ask a question in the labs.

If using Windows make sure to also follow the wsl specific documentation.

Visual Studio Code

Visual Studio Code (not to be confused with "visual studio") is an admittedly more light-weight editor that has a lot of the functionality CLion has too. In any case, the teachers and TAs have some experience using it so we can support you if things go wrong. You can easily find it online, you will need to install the "rust analyzer" plugin, which is actually written in Rust and is quite nice.

If using Windows make sure to also follow the wsl specific documentation.

Other

Any other editor (vim, emacs, ed) you like can be used, but note that the support you will get from teachers and TAs will be limited if at all. Do this on your own risk. If you're unfamiliar with programming tools or editors, we strongly recommend you use either CLion or VSCode.