How to set up a development environment at home? [closed]

Question

I would like to know how can I set up a development environment at home. I'd like to make a kind of simulation to imitate a real software development firm. I am learning Ruby and Java, and I have the necessary tools for small projects on my laptop (compiler, interpreter, IDE etc). However I'd like to experiment with some other stuffs such as version control, automated build tools, and continuous integration. I have been searching the web for various resources and I am thinking about how can I dedicate my old PC to these tools. My biggest problem is that some tutorials and documentations sound like double Dutch and I know very little about networking. Can I achieve my goal, or maybe should I wait till I understand more?

Answer 1

Don't wait. Do.

Don't get hung up on concepts you don't understand. Steamroll right past them initially. I often found that just by trying to do things, even if I didn't fully understand them, I'd eventually figure it out, or learn something along the way that helped me figure it out later.

The worst thing to do is wait.

It might get REALLY painful, but persevere and you'll be much more experienced when you come out the other end. :)