I needed a local copy of WordPress (WP) to run on my computer. This meant that I need to download WP and be able to open it in a browser window. To do that, I’d need PHP and a web server. WP also uses a MySQL database, so I’d also need a MySQL server.
The solution was easy: I’m using a Mac, so all I need to do is install MAMP. It’s like it was meant to be. WP even provides a whole page of instructions of how to install and set up MAMP, how to set up the database and how to download and install WP. Perfect.
I also installed Sequel Pro to help with the database stuff.
As far as version control is concerned, GitHub seems to be the thing nowadays, so I created a repository there. I use Git Desktop as a way of talking to GitHub because the command line scares me and I’d have to learn all sorts of commands.
I can’t use my favourite text editor, EditPlus, because it’s not available on the Mac, but Sublime Text isn’t a bad alternative. I’m using Sublime Text 3, which is currently in beta.
