The tools needed to follow these tutorials are a computer and a compiler toolchain able to compile C++ code and build the programs to run on it.
Installing the development tools is easy, just follow the steps for your operating system:
Download and install "Xcode" from the App Store. Please take note that this may take forever, as the download is large (~3 GB on total).
While downloading Xcode, download CodeBlocks here. Before doing any actual programming, be sure to open Xcode and accept the license agreement, it will configure and install GCC on your Mac.
After you have everything configured, follow this tutorial in order to verify that everything is working.
Run the following command from a terminal window:
sudo apt-get install build-essential codeblocks
After the command finishes, follow this tutorial in order to verify that everything is working.
Download and install CodeBlocks. I will be using this option for the tutorials.
After the installation of CodeBlocks is complete, follow this tutorial to check that everything works correctly.
If everything went well, you should be able to jump to the next chapter and start coding right away.
Before you start the next chapter, I recommend you to get comfortable using the Terminal or Command Prompt. Especially if you are using Mac or Linux. Here are some articles to get you started:
Its not necessary to be a CLI expert or become a command line junkie. In fact, you can skip those tutorials if you want. The idea is to know how to open a terminal, how to navigate your system with it and how to write a command.