What you need for this book

You can follow the code samples in this book using any modern PC or laptop. The code samples should work on Linux and OS X. You can follow the code using Windows, too, but keep in mind that you will need to slightly modify the command-line commands shown in the book to the Windows syntax.

You should have installed at least a modern evergreen web browser, such as Internet Explorer 10 or above (http://support.microsoft.com/product/internet-explorer/internet-explorer-10/), Google Chrome (http://www.google.com/chrome/), or Firefox (https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/).

JavaScript is an interpreted language, so you do not need any special IDE or editor; any editor that supports simple plain text will do. Having said that, I recommend using an advanced editor such as vi, vim, TextMate (http://macromates.com/), Sublime (http://www.sublimetext.com/), or Atom (https://atom.io/). If you prefer an IDE, you can try WebStorm (https://www.jetbrains.com/webstorm/download/), although a full-fledged IDE is not needed.

During the book, especially in Chapter 2, Automating Tests with Mocha, Chai, and Sinon, detailed explanations are given about how to install and configure the necessary software and tools. This includes Node.js, WebDriver, and all the libraries we are going to use. All of them are open source and free-of-charge.