Full Stack Development – Prerequisites & Software Installation

Before writing your first line of code, every student must have a working development environment. This chapter walks you through what to install, why each tool matters, and how to verify everything is set up correctly.

0.1 Minimum Hardware Requirements

Component	Minimum Specification
Processor	Intel Core i3 / AMD Ryzen 3 or higher (64-bit)
RAM	8 GB (16 GB recommended for running SQL Server + Visual Studio together)
Storage	50 GB free disk space (SSD preferred)
OS	Windows 10/11 (64-bit) — primary for this course
Internet	Stable broadband for npm/NuGet package downloads

0.2 Software to Install (Step-by-Step)

Step 1 — Visual Studio 2022 Community (Free)

Visual Studio is the primary IDE for .NET development. The Community edition is completely free for students.

1. Go to: https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/
2. Click ‘Download Visual Studio 2022’ — the installer will download (~1.5 MB stub).
3. Run the installer. Select the following Workloads:
4. ✔  ASP.NET and web development
5. ✔  .NET desktop development
6. ✔  Data storage and processing
7. Click ‘Install’. This will download ~8–12 GB. Keep your internet on.
8. After installation, sign in with a free Microsoft account (optional but recommended).
9. Open Visual Studio → Help → About → confirm you see ‘Visual Studio 2022’.

📝  If you see a ‘workload missing’ error later, re-run the installer and add the required workload.

Step 2 — .NET 10 SDK

.NET SDK is needed to run, build, and publish .NET applications from the command line.

1. Visit: https://dotnet.microsoft.com/download/dotnet/10.0
2. Download ‘SDK 10.x.x — Windows x64 Installer’.
3. Run the .exe installer; accept defaults.
4. Open Command Prompt (Win + R → type cmd → Enter).

C:\> dotnet –version

10.0.100   ← you should see a version number like this

If dotnet is not recognised, restart your PC and try again.

Step 3 — Node.js (LTS version)

Node.js is required for Angular CLI and front-end tooling.

1. Go to: https://nodejs.org/ → download the LTS version (e.g., 20.x.x).
2. Run the installer. IMPORTANT: check ‘Automatically install necessary tools’ on the final screen.
3. Verify after a fresh Command Prompt:

C:\> node –version

v20.15.0

C:\> npm –version

10.7.0

Step 4 — Angular CLI

C:\> npm install -g @angular/cli

C:\> ng version

Expected output shows Angular CLI version 17 or 18. The ‘ng’ command should work globally.

Step 5 — SQL Server 2022 Developer Edition (Free)

1. Visit: https://www.microsoft.com/en-in/sql-server/sql-server-downloads
2. Choose ‘Developer’ edition (free for development and testing).
3. Run the installer → choose ‘Basic’ installation type.
4. Note down the Server Name shown at the end (usually .\SQLEXPRESS or localhost).

Step 6 — SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)

1. Download from: https://aka.ms/ssmsfullsetup
2. Install with default settings.
3. Open SSMS → Server Name: localhost or .\SQLEXPRESS → Connect.
4. You should see ‘Object Explorer’ on the left with your server listed.

Step 7 — Visual Studio Code (for Angular / HTML / CSS work)

1. Download from: https://code.visualstudio.com/
2. Install with defaults. Tick ‘Add to PATH’ when offered.

Recommended VS Code Extensions (install from Extensions panel — Ctrl+Shift+X):

• Angular Language Service — IntelliSense for Angular templates
• ESLint — JavaScript code quality
• Prettier – Code formatter — consistent code formatting
• C# Dev Kit — if editing .cs files in VS Code
• SQLTools + SQLTools SQL Server/Azure driver — run SQL queries from VS Code
• GitLens — visualise Git history

Step 8 — Git

1. Download from: https://git-scm.com/downloads → Windows
2. Accept all defaults during installation.

C:\> git –version

git version 2.43.0.windows.1

Step 9 — Postman (API Testing)

1. Download from: https://www.postman.com/downloads/
2. Install and create a free account.
3. We will use Postman to test REST APIs built in .NET.

0.3 Verification Checklist

Run the following commands in a fresh Command Prompt to confirm everything works:

dotnet –version          → should print 10.x.x

node –version            → should print v20.x.x

npm –version             → should print 10.x.x

ng version                → should print Angular CLI version

git –version             → should print git version 2.x.x