Prerequisites and setup
***********************

To help developing algorithms using the Huxon language we provide a DevKit that can be downloaded on your local machine from `Huxon <https://huxon.huxelerate.it>`_.
The DevKit comes with a development container for Visual Studio Code with all the necessary tools pre-installed.

Prerequisites
-------------

The DevKit is supported on Windows, MacOs and Linux environments.
Before proceeding with the setup, please make sure you have the following required software on your machine:

 - `Visual Studio Code <https://code.visualstudio.com/>`_
 - `Docker <https://www.docker.com/>`_

Finally, make sure to follow the `instructions to setup Visual Studio Code to work with development containers <https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/remote/containers>`_.

Setup the development environment
---------------------------------

To install the DevKit on your machine follow these steps:

- Download the DevKit from: `<https://huxon.huxelerate.it/download-devkit>`_ and unzip it
- Open the DevKit folder inside Visual Studio Code, and it will automatically recognize the Development Container

.. image:: img/algorithms_01_vs.png
    :width: 600px
    :alt: Algorithms development in Visual Studio Code

- Click on **Reopen in Container** in the lower right part of the screen. Visual Studio Code will reopen, and by clicking on the popup you can see the progress of the setup

.. image:: img/algorithms_03_vs.png
    :width: 600px
    :alt: DevContainer Build

- When the build is over, you can open a new terminal to use a development tool available inside the container called *huxc*

*huxc* provides commands to *create, simulate* and *delete* your project. The structure of the command for *huxc* is: 

.. code:: bash

    huxc create | simulate | delete -n <project_name>


Create a Huxon application
--------------------------

To create a new application simply open the terminal from Visual Studio Code and run:

.. code-block:: bash

   huxc create -n YOUR_APP_NAME


A new application under the `huxapp_[YOUR_APP_NAME]` directory is created.
An example code is also generated inside the `huxapp_[YOUR_APP_NAME]` directory
that you can use as a starting point for development. Notice that your code must be placed in this directory.
To simulate the behavior of the application simply run:

.. code-block:: bash

   huxc simulate -n YOUR_APP_NAME

Once you are satisfied with the result, you can package the application with:

.. code-block:: bash

   huxc package -n YOUR_APP_NAME


The generated package can be uploaded to Huxon.

.. note::
   
   When developing your algorithm, make sure to place all the files inside the `huxapp_[YOUR_APP_NAME]` directory, otherwise, packaging will produce an incorrect package with missing source files.