Before you start programming, you need to make sure you have the tools you need. We are only going to install what we need to get started. Later, we can install other packages when the need for them arises.

To get started, you will need:

  1. the Odin compiler
  2. a text editor or an IDE, whichever you prefer
  3. a terminal application

Getting Odin

The first thing to do is install Odin. How to do this will vary a bit depending on which operating system you are using. I mostly use Linux and BSD systems, and my primary work machine has Fedora on it. The Getting Started page on the Odin website shows you how to install Odin for your programming language.

This is what I did on my Fedora machine:

  1. I downloaded the official release for Linux amd64.
  2. I extracted the files and moved them into /opt/odin.
  3. I added the command below to .bash_profile so that the Odin directory is in my PATH:
[[ -d /opt/odin ]] && PATH=$PATH:/opt/odin

Over time, I’ll try to write instructions for other operating systems as well. I don’t have a single Windows machine currently, so if anybody wants to contribute instructions on how to install on Windows, feel free to contact me.

Choosing a text editor

A text editor is one of a programmer’s primary tools and you will probably want to take some time to find one that you enjoy working with. I really like Emacs, but I find myself using neovim quite a bit these days. A few other alternatives you could try out include:

  1. Sublime: I’ve never used this editor, but I know it is very popular. I believe the Odin creator, GingerBill, prefers this editor.
  2. vim: It wouldn’t be fair to mention neovim without also listing vim.
  3. Zed: This might be of interest to somebody. Odin support seems to be available by default.
  4. VSCode: Probably the most popular text editor. It gets the job done and has support for a lot of languages. You can install Odin support.

I recommend investing some time in learning how to use your selected editor well. For beginners, I would recommend VSCode. It is very easy to get started with. There is no official Odin extension as of now but you can find a few under the extensions marketplace tab in VSCode.

A terminal

A terminal is a command-driven application that allows you to type in commands that your computer will perform. It is something you already have on your system. You might called it something like “the command line” and that’s fine, you will need to use it so make sure you know how to launch it. (Some text editors or IDEs have integrated terminals that you can use.)

Pen and Paper

If you need to take out a regular notebook and work through an algorithm manually, by all means, do so. I find myself doing this from time to time. If this doesn’t work for you, there’s no need to force it.

Final words

Once you have everything set up, you are ready to start learning some Odin.