To build applications using the SAP Cloud SDK, we need a minimal set of prerequisites installed on our client developer machine:
- Node.js and NPM: Node.js®, which is a JavaScript runtime built on Chrome's V8 JavaScript engine. Node.js is necessary for running JavaScript applications locally. Node.js typically is distributed together with the Node Package Manager (npm). Npm is a package manager for the JavaScript programming language. It consists of a command line client, also called npm, and an online database of public and paid-for private packages, called the npm registry. The registry is accessed using the client, and the available packages can be browsed and searched via the npm website. Using npm, you are able to efficiently manage the inclusion of additional JavaScript libraries in your development project. Additional information at https://nodejs.org.
- Git: A version control system like Git is a key component for realizing continuous delivery and DevOps. For instance, Git enables collaboration in development teams and forms the basis for any continuous delivery pipeline. Additional information at https://git-scm.com
- Cloud Foundry CLI: The Cloud Foundry CLI enables us to interact with Cloud Foundry from the command line. With this tool, you can deploy, start and stop applications, consume services, etc. via simple commands on our local command line. In principle, we can also perform many of these tasks with the SAP BTP Cockpit. However, for automating tasks, CLI is a crucial tool. Additional information at https://docs.cloudfoundry.org/cf-cli.
- Integrated Development Environment (IDE): While using an IDE instead of a simple text editor to write code is entirely optional, an IDE greatly simplifies the development lifecycle. The SAP Cloud SDK does not make any assumptions on the IDE that should be used, you are free to employ any IDE, for example, Visual Studio Code, or WebStorm. SAP proposes the SAP Business Application Studio, an IDE running in the cloud, built based on Theia (the cloud version of Visual Studio Code), provided as a service in the SAP Business Technology Platform.