Lab00, CISC181 honors, Fall 2005

Welcome

Welcome to CISC181! The purpose of this first lab, "lab zero", is to orient you to some of the knowledge and skills you will need to complete the remaining labs in this course. In particular, this lab will introduce you to the Sun Rays.

This lab is optional.

If you took CISC105 last semester on the UD main campus from Prof. Harvey, Prof. Conrad, or Prof. McGeary, you are already familiar with the material in this lab: using emacs, strauss, the SunRays, and WebCT. In this case, you may skip immediately to lab01; in that case, lab01 will count for both your lab00 and lab01 grade. |

Of course, you are free to complete lab00 as a refresher or as an "easy A" if you want.

Everyone else is strongly encouraged to complete lab00 before starting on lab01. Both are due next week.

What the SunRays?

The Sun Rays are type of computer called an "XTerminal" that you can use to access a computer called strauss. Strauss is the computer on which you will do your actual programming in this course. The computer known as strauss is in a building on South Chapel Street. However, you do not have to go to South Chapel Street to use strauss; in fact, visitors are usually not permitted there anyway. Instead, you always access strauss from a PC, Mac or Sun Ray connected to the Internet. In lab, you'll access strauss via the Sun Rays.

Note: Outside of lab, you may access strauss from any computer connected to the Internet, provided you have the right access software (e.g., a secure shell client program.) See the following link for more information on accessing strauss from your home or dorm PC or Mac:

http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/UnixAtUD

Goals for Lab Zero

This lab is kind of a "warm up" for the semester. We want to make sure that you are comfortable with the environment before we get into the heavy lifting, which starts next week.
  1. Make sure you know how to log in and out of the Sun Rays.
  2. Make sure you know how to access the web on the Sun Rays.
  3. Make sure you can find the CISC181 honors home page.
  4. Make sure you can logon to WebCT and find CISC181 honors.
  5. Make sure you know how to create a text file with emacs.
    (Chapter 15 in Anderson will be helpful here.) You'll create a text file, and submit it both online via WebCT and on paper.
If you can do all those things, you are all set for lab00, and you can start on lab01.

Goals 1 and 2: Login/Logout and Web on the Sun Rays

Info on logging in and out and accessing the web on the Sun Rays is at the following link:

http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/UnixAtUD/SunRay.html

That link also has information on what to do if you don't yet have a University Unix account. Finally, there is also information on that page that will help you pull up an "XTerm on Strauss"; you'll need that when you get to Goals 5 and 6.

Goals 3 and 4: CISC181 homepage and WebCT

Once you've managed to get logged on to the SunRay system, and you've found the Web Browser, navigate to the following link:

http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/cisc181h

There, you should find the main web page for the course. You should find a link to the syllabus, and a link to the labs directory, where the lab you are now reading can be found. Some of the links will lead you, for the time being, to empty directories which will soon be filled with your projects, homework assignments, source code examples, and lecture notes.

Then, click on the link that says "WebCT". This should take you to a login screen, and then directly to the WebCT page for this course. Alternatively, you can go to the main WebCT page, and click "logon".

http://www.udel.edu/webct

Once you are on WebCT, be sure to find the calendar link, and check out the reading assignments for the next two weeks.

Goal 5: Creating a text file with emacs

Open an XTerm on strauss (If you don't know how and/or are not sure what "Xterm on Strauss" means, follow this link to the Sun Ray documentation: http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/UnixAtUD/SunRay.html).

If you are NOT yet familiar with emacs, start learning emacs. Go to an xterm on strauss, and type "xemacs". For more instructions on what to do, follow this link:

http://copland.udel.edu/~pconrad/UnixAtUD/EmacsTips.html


Once you are familiar with emacs, go ahead and use emacs to create a text file called "lab00.dat" containing the following, each on a separate line: your name, your hometown, your favorite US state other than the one in which your hometown is located, and your unix userid.) For example, Prof. Conrad's file would look like this:

Phill Conrad
Wilmington, DE
Arizona
pconrad

When you are finished, send the file to the printer in Willard 009 with the following Unix command:

qpr -q whlps lab00.dat

Also, upload this file as part of your submission for Lab00 in WebCT. Then "submit".
Note that this is TWO SEPARATE STEPS (1) upload, (2) submit.

If you need more help on this process, you can find it here:

http://www.udel.edu/webct/students/assignments.html

Finishing up: What to turn in for this lab

  1. Be sure that you have a printed copy of your files: lab00.dat. Hand this to your TA before leaving the room today (2/9/05). If you are making up this lab, hand it to him/her on 2/16/05 during Lab02, or at the very latest on 2/23/05 during Lab03 (that should only be for students who for whatever reason, added the class late.)
  2. Be sure that you uploaded a copy of lab00.dat to WebCT. Then, click submit to send these to your TA.
  3. Grading: Total 30 points

Next Steps:

Proceed with lab01, found on the course web site under "labs". The file lab01.html will contain the instructions, and the folder lab01 will contain files you need to download or copy in order to complete the lab.

Phillip T Conrad