Setting Up a Programming Environment via Windows 10 Bash

Steven J. Zeil

Last modified: Jan 3, 2024
Contents:
1 Get the Windows 10 Subsystem for Linux
1.1 sudo apt-get
2 Installing the Compilers & Tools
3 Installing VSCode
4 Try it Out

In 2016, Microsoft added to Windows 10 (64 bit) the ability to run Ubuntu Linux in parallel with Windows. Variously referred to as “Bash on Windows”, or “Ubuntu on Windows”, and more officially as the “Windows Subsystem for Linux” (WSL), this is a very useful way to work with Linux-based software development tools from a Windows 10 machine.

What it is
This provides a Linux OS running alongside Windows. Both share the same hard drive (and can access each other’s files), and the clipboard supports copy-and-paste between the two quite naturally. (A small thing, perhaps, but one that I find quite important in practice.)
What it is not
This provides a “server”-style installation of Linux. There is no full Linux desktop. The main entry point to Linux is a text-only bash shell for entering Linux commands. The ability to inter-script (i.e., to launch Windows programs from Linux or vice versa) seems quite limited.
What it can be
With VSCode running natively in Windows, you get a very natural way to run Linux compilers and other development tools.

Combined with an X server running under Windows, you can launch and run GUI programs from Linux.

In this document, I’ll walk you through the process of setting up a programming environment consisting of:

Personally, I favor this approach for C++ development, but will usually do Java development natively in Windows, using VSCode as my IDE in both cases.

1 Get the Windows 10 Subsystem for Linux

You’ll find the instructions here.

After installing and restarting your machine, use the taskbar to search for “ubuntu”. You should see that “Ubuntu for Windows” app has been installed. Select it to run bash.

Try some simple Linux commands such as `ls`, `cd`,
and `pwd`.  You'll find that your Windows lettered
disc drives are available under '/mnt'. For example,
your `C:` drive is `/mnt/c`.

1.1 sudo apt-get

Before we continue on, let’s introduce a couple of the programs that you will be using through the rest of this process.

For example, the following sequence is how you update your Linux software:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

The first command actually fetches the latest information about what updates are available. The second installs the updates. The “sudo” in front causes them to be run as the administrator. When you give the first “sudo” command, you will be prompted for your password to prove that you really are the account owner. After that, sudo remembers your identity for a short period of time, so you can give multiple sudo commands in a row, only asked for your password once, as long as you don’t take too much time in between.

Go ahead and give those two commands now.

Try to give those two commands on a fairly regular basis so your Linux OS stays up to date. You’ll actually be notified when you start a new bash session if there are updates awaiting.

Close your bash session for now by giving the command

exit

2 Installing the Compilers & Tools

Now we’re ready to start installing some real software. You will need

If you are only interested in C++ or only interested in Java, you can skip over the steps for the other language.

We’ll install all of these with the following apt-get commands:

sudo apt-get install default-jdk
sudo apt-get install g++
sudo apt-get install gdb
sudo apt-get install make
sudo apt-get install git

Once those are done, verify your installation by typing the following in bash:

java -version
g++ --version
gdb --version
make --version

Each should respond with an identifying message making clear that the software is installed and running.

3 Installing VSCode

Although VSCode can be installed in Linux, I recommend installing it as a Windows application and using its remote development features to connect to your WSL Linux.

  1. Get VSCode here and install it in Windows.

  2. Run VSCode. In a freshly installed state, it does not know how to work with C++ or Java, and it does not know how to do remote development. We’ll fix these limitations by immediately installing some extensions.

    Click on the button to enter the list of extensions.

  3. Use the text box at the top of the left column to search for “C++”. Locate and install the following extensions:

    • Remote - WSL
    • C/C++
    • Better C/C++ Syntax
    • Java Extension Pack

    (If you already had VSCode on your Windows PC, you may have already installed some of these extensions. However, after adding the Remote - WSL extension, you will want to check that each of the other extensions says that it is “installed globally” or “installed in WSL”. If not, reinstall it.)

4 Try it Out

  1. In a WSL bash window, create a convenient directory and cd into it.
  2. Download a simple C++ project: 
    wget https://www.cs.odu.edu/~zeil/cs252/sum21/Public/make/makeTry.zip
unzip makeTry.zip
ls

  3. You should have a new makeTry directory containing a simple project.

  4. Launch vsCode from that directory:

    cd makeTry
code .

    The code command signals Windows to open an instance of VSCode looking at the current directory (.).

    Try looking at the directory from within VSCode. Click on some of the files to load them into the editor.

  5. Follow these instructions to tell VSCode to use “make” to compile this project.

    Try building and running the project.

  6. Follow these instructions to configure the debugger to run one of the executables for this project.

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