VS Code and some other installation & config questions.

[PeterBubresko]

I am trying to familiarize myself with, install and configure Visual Studio Code, but this seems like you have to be a skilled programmer just to set up VS Code. Among other things, there is a file called Json, or something similar. This file that needs to be configured. Have no idea what this is, or what to do with that file. Here you have to enter commands and paths that I have no idea what they are, or how they should look/point to etc. I will primarily use VS Code for PHP, MySQL and Python, and eventually for JavaScript. Is there anyone in here who can help me with the installation and configuration?

During the installation, I get to a step where I have to choose from several boxes, but I can't find anything about debugging PHP or MYSQL, which I will primarily use VS Code for, and what is this Docker and GitHub? Do I need it, and for what? I'm still new when it comes to programming, so I need input at the feeding me kindly T-Spoon level. Can someone please help me understand this?

[requinix]

...okay, yeah, new, I can see that...

 

4 hours ago, PeterBubresko said:

Among other things, there is a file called Json, or something similar.

I don't know what you mean by that. JSON is a syntax for writing data, and VS Code does use JSON for most of its data, but it's also not something you typically have to deal with - like, there is a regular UI for changing most settings.

4 hours ago, PeterBubresko said:

Here

Where?

4 hours ago, PeterBubresko said:

you have to enter commands and paths that I have no idea what they are, or how they should look/point to etc.

VS Code is designed for use with many things done through a keyboard. By which I mean, for a lot of things you might want to do, you do so through the "command palette" and not by clicking a button somewhere.
For example, if I want to select a lot of lines in a file and sort them, there is no menu I can click through to find that. But if I open the command palette and type "sort", I have the option of "Sort Lines Ascending" (and some other things) that I can choose.
That's not to say you don't use the mouse. There's still lots of things that you can/should do through clicking, but VS Code isn't like MS Word or something where there are toolbars to navigate through.

So that's what I think you mean by "commands". I don't know what "paths" you are talking about, but that word typically means a file or directory.

4 hours ago, PeterBubresko said:

During the installation, I get to a step where I have to choose from several boxes,

I don't know what the installer is asking for, but you don't have to answer everything right now. If you don't know what it's asking about then just skip it and deal with everything after.

Once you get it installed and started up, you can install extensions. VS Code does a few things "out of the box", but there are many things it won't and you're supposed to install extensions to support it. And there are tons of extensions.
Basically, if you want PHP stuff, you open up the extensions page and type "php" and then install whatever you want. Extensions are a community project so sometimes you'll find there are multiple competing or overlapping extensions and you'll probably have to do a little research to decide which ones you want - if you don't just judge popularity by their download counts.

For PHP, the main extension I use is "PHP Intelephense", so that's a good start. For MySQL, it'll depend on what all you want to be able to do, but I bet VS Code has some syntax highlighting built-in so maybe you don't have to install anything more. For Python, it looks like the "Python" extension (by Microsoft) is the main one, potentially "Python Debugger" if you want to do that, and maybe a couple more of the popular ones might be good too.
Javascript support is mostly built-in so I don't know if you need any extensions for that - I don't have any and everything works as I want.

4 hours ago, PeterBubresko said:

and what is this Docker and GitHub? Do I need it, and for what?

Docker is... well, too complicated for you right now. Don't worry about it. Basically, it's a way of running things on your computer without having to install them alongside all your other regular software.

GitHub is a code storage site: you sign up and they let you upload your code there so it doesn't all have to stay on your computer. Don't worry about that for now either.

[PeterBubresko]

4 hours ago, requinix said:

...okay, yeah, new, I can see that...

Thank you requinix.

I understand that Docker is complicated, and I don't see that it's something I absolutely need, at least not yet. But the questions still arise. As I understand you, and what I have read about Docker online, Docker is "a place" where you find PHP, MySQL etc. as a kind of pre-installed "something" so that you don't have to burden your computer with heavy tasks and in some cases to save space. When it comes to saving storage space, I guess GitHub is a more suitable place/service, because as I understood you, it's something that can be compared to a "repository", because that's what it is, right?
I don't know if I'm on shaky ground now, but in my small-scale hobby programming projects, it's just as well for me to install MySQL and PHP locally on my computer and let "my old trotter" struggle a little more, it's despite all not the heaviest tasks I feed my computer with.
As for GitHub, this seems more applicable and more relevant to me. A question that quickly arose, and which I think I have heard talked about or read online. Does GitHub work in two different modes? Is it designed so that in public mode the code is open to everyone so that they can go in and correct the code or comment on the code? By correcting the code, I mean that you can give help and get help from others who can read the code on GitHub. Maybe I was completely wrong now? Eagerly waiting for a reply.