This is instructions on how you can connect to your Puppet Learning Virtual Machine with SSH.

If you're new to SSH, SSH = Secure Shell.

"Secure Shell is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. Typical applications include remote command-line, login, and remote command execution, but any network service can be secured with SSH". - Wikipedia

This guide is to show you how to run similar commands using Microsoft's Visual Studio Code environment.

As Visual Studio Code is also free. Built on open source and runs everywhere. The biggest benefit I can see is the availability of extensions which can further enhance your programming and testing experiences. 

You may be using Postman, Terminal or another tool to run some of your API testing and various commands. This will be similar.