In this chapter, you will learn how to install Bootstrap 4 via the command line on c9.io. The reason for using Cloud9 IDE in this recipe book is that since it is a web-based IDE, it requires you to have only an internet connection and a web browser to run the IDE, which is available at https://c9.io.
Once you access c9.io via your web browser, you have at your fingertips a fully functional Ubuntu virtual machine. The nice thing about this setup is, if you are, for example, running Windows on your computer, you can avoid many of the setup headaches this would usually entail, such as downloading and installing Ruby and Node. Using a web-based IDE is also great if there is a need to work with multiple computers, or if collaboration is important.
Finally, because of its ease of use and a plethora of features, using Cloud9 IDE will make it easier for the less advanced readers to follow along in some of the more complex recipes.
Note
If you decide to use Windows after all, the recipes in this chapter will include notes that are Windows-specific to make it possible to still follow along. In case there are no notes that relate to how things work in Windows, it is implied that the commands work in Windows as well.
In this chapter, besides learning about how to install Bootstrap 4 via the command line, we will also examine the way it utilizes Grunt for commonly performed tasks, Sass to modularize our CSS, and Jekyll to implement a serverless copy of the official Bootstrap docs.
However, all this comes at a cost. In order to use all that Bootstrap 4 has to offer, we need to be familiar with all of these technologies. For more advanced users, this should not be a problem. Still, an ambitious goal of this book is to be useful for as wide an audience as possible, including less advanced users, while at the same time to still prove valuable to those with more experience, as a quick reference to the brand new version of Bootstrap.
Therefore, in this chapter, we will cover the recipes that deal with this advanced setup and explain in simple terms the workings of Grunt, Sass, and Jekyll.
