Lab00, CISC181 Honors Spring 2009

Welcome

Welcome to CISC181! Ahead lies the exciting world of C++ and object-oriented programming. OOP is a very powerful way of representing both physical and non-physical things in a programming environment using "classes". But we won't use classes in our programs for several weeks yet. A prerequisite of this course is a grade of C- or better in 108 or 106. It is assumed that you have familiarity with assignment, conditionals, loops, arrays/matrices, and functions. We will review those in this lab, and then look at more complex aspects of these before moving to different material. If you haven't used them before, this lab will introduce you to the Sun Rays.

The Sun Rays are computer workstations that you can use to access the machine called Strauss. Strauss is where you will do your actual programming in this course. In lab, you'll access Strauss via the Sun Rays. The SunRays are a specific brand name for a type of system called an "X Terminal".

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.) Your instructor will say more about that in lecture, or you can see the notes on the website. Some work for this course you can do from any computer, provided you can use that computer to access Strauss. Other work you might have to do directly on the Sun Rays. There are Sun Rays in Pearson 101D, and also in some other locations on campus, including the basement of Smith Hall. In particular, uploading files to Sakai is easiest from the SunRays.

Goals for Lab Zero

AFTER the lab:

Make sure you know how to log in and out of the Sun Rays, and set up your account for this course.
Make sure you know how to access the web on the Sun Rays.
Make sure you can find this semester's CISC181 class web page. There will be a prize for the most arcane set of pre-existing links that lead to the class webpage. You could waste lots of time on this.
Your instructor is using a course management system called Sakai, that allows you to track your assignments, submit assignments online, and track your grades in the course (among other things). You need to make sure you can find Sakai, login to Sakai, and find CISC181 among your courses.
Make sure you know how to create a text file with the text editor known as emacs. See the Unix text. In this lab, you'll create a text file, and submit it both online via Sakai and on paper.
Make sure you can create a C++ program, compile it, run it, script the results, and submit it to your TA on paper, and also via Sakai.
Make sure you understand the lab policies on the syllabus and in this document.

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

Here are some websites you will find helpful:
The IT help center: http://www.udel.edu/help/
Login help: http://www.udel.edu/help/udelacct.html
SunRay help: http://www.udel.edu/topics/os/unix/sunray/aboutTerminal.html
General Unix: http://www.udel.edu/help/usingunix.html
Unix File Commands: http://www.udel.edu/topics/os/unix/general/filemgmt.html

and a very important one:
Disk Quota problems: http://www.udel.edu/topics/e-mail/quota/managequota/solutions.html

In addition, you should do the following steps:

Go to the page http://www.udel.edu/network, log in, and access the option to change your "Unix Default Group". Change your default group to the one that corresponds to CISC181.
On that same page, access the option to change your "Unix Default Shell". Change it to /bin/tcsh.

Here is a special note only for those who have used Unix (or Linux) before (everyone else, just ignore this!)
If you already understand what a "shell" is and you prefer the "bash" shell, you may choose /bin/bash as an alternative to /bin/tcsh. Note, however, that some course assignments may require the use of tcsh; you can always select tcsh by typing "tcsh" at the Unix Command prompt.)

Goals 3 and 4: CISC181 homepage and Sakai

Once you've managed to get logged on to the SunRay system, and you've found the Web Browser, use a search engine (what is a search engine?) to find the course web page if you have not already done so. (Don't forget the contest.) This is important because all your assignments will be there.

Then, click on the link:
http://www.udel.edu/Sakai

Click "log on". This should take you to a login screen, and then to a menu showing the Sakai page for this course. Find the assignment called Lab00; this is where you will submit your files when you are done this lab.

You now have found two important links for your success in 181, the class webpage and Sakai.

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, read the Sun Ray documentation.

Now it's time to start learning emacs. Emacs is a "text editor", that is, a program that helps you create files on Strauss. Go to an xterm on Strauss, and type "emacs &". If you get a command not found message, you may have to type "/opt/bin/emacs &" until you correct your path variable.

The "&" is a special command suffix to let Strauss know that you want emacs to open in a new window and let you keep using the old xterm window, too.

When you see Emacs, the paragraph of text will tell you how to start running a self-directed tutorial. Do this. The option to run the tutorial appears every time you open emacs. You can run the tutorial as many times as you like until all the material is familiar or you become bored out of your gourd.

Once you are comfortable with using 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:

Your Namehere

Wilmington, DE

Arizona

ynamehe

Upload this file as part of your submission for Lab00 in Sakai. But DON'T SUBMIT YET! That is, don't press the "submit" button. Just upload for now. You'll hit submit at the end of lab, after you've also uploaded your C++ program and script file. You will wait until all of your files are uploaded before clicking submit once.

If you aren't sure how to do this, check the Sakai help page from your Assignments page.

(If you accidently hit submit before you get your program uploaded, don't freak out; your TA can reset the assignment so that you can try it again. Your TA might not be able to fix it immediately, because it's the first week of the semester and her TA account might not be active yet. But if not, she can fix it up for you by next lab, and you can make it up then without penalty.)

Goal 6: C++ programming on Strauss

Create (how?) a file lab00.cc that contains the following (except substitute your name and Unix user id for those of Jane Doe, and use today's date.)

DO NOT include your student number (NEVER include that number in anything you submit in this class!)

// lab01a.cc Jane Doe doej@udel.edu 09/01/09

// traditional first program (Anderson, p. 383)

									

#include <iostream>

using namespace std;



int main(void)

{

     cout << "Hello, world!" << endl;

}

Once you've created this program, determine which, if any, compiler you have available.

which CC

and

which g++

The "which" command will either return a path (characters separated by slashes) or "command not found". If only one is found, consult your TA for how to set up your .localenv file so that you can use both compilers (see files in the resources directory). If you wish to know more about .localenv, see the Unix page from the Udel Technology Helpdesk page (website is listed above).

Use the following command typed into an xterm to compile it (compile means: translate from C++ into machine language, or if it cannot be translated because of errors, report the errors) with one of the following commands. At this point in the semester, you may use either one (later on, I may tell you to use one or the other.)

CC lab00.cc

g++ lab00.cc

The first command (CC) is a commercial compiler, supplied by Sun Microsystems. The second command, g++ is an open source compiler, supplied by the GNU project, which is staffed by volunteer programmers. From time to time, we may discover differences, but for now, I don't care which one you use - just make sure you can use either one. Sometimes if you have a tricky syntax error it is useful to try both, because sometimes one gives you more useful error messages than the other.

In both cases, a new file is produced called "a.out". To execute this file (run your program), type the following:

./a.out

You might be able to get away with just typing a.out without the leading ./, or you might not; it all depends on how your account is set up. (It has to do with the Unix concept of the "path"; you'll read about that in the Unix text later on.)

If all goes well, you should see something like the following:

> g++ lab00.cc
> ./a.out 
Hello, world!
>

You are now ready to use the "script" command to make a record of your work.

Note that you must be careful when using the script command. The script command will wipe out your work if you are not careful! Script works by writing into whatever filename you specify, so don't specify a filename that has good stuff in it (like your program).

The thing to remember is: on the command line, type "script" followed by the name of a .txt file; for example:

script lab00.txt

This is correct!

Never put "script" followed by the name of a .cc file. It will wipe out your .cc file where your code is!

Ok, now that we have that out of the way...

Type "script lab00.txt". Then go through the following steps at an xterm:

list your program (type "cat lab00.cc" to do this.)
compile your program (type "CC lab00.cc" or "g++ lab00.cc" to do this)
run your program (type "./a.out")
exit from the script (type "exit").

Now, use "cat lab00.txt" to make sure your script looks ok, and use the following command to print both your .cc file and your .txt file. (Yes, I want you to print both of them, and submit both of them, even though the .cc file is contained inside the .txt. file.)

qpr -q prsps lab00.txt

qpr -q prsps lab00.cc

And finally, you are done with Goal 6!

Goal 7: Understanding Lab Policies

First, lets get this out of the way: Lab attendance is mandatory.

Attendance will be recorded. Be sure you are on time so the TA does not miss you.

Lab attendance is reported on Sakai as, for example, lab00p (lab attendance for Lab0.) Grades are marked as P, A, E, or L for "Present", "Absent", "Excused", or "Late". Only the instructor can excuse you from attending lab.

Your lab has two components: paper submission and Sakai submission. Paper is due at the start of Thursday labs the following week (not two minutes after lab starts!). Hint: The printer at the lab is often overcrowded just before a lab starts, so print your lab somewhere else that morning or the night before.

The Sakai part of your lab is due at 11:55 p.m. Tuesday night of the following week. Paper copy is due at the start (not later) of lab on Wednessday.

Extensively Adapted from Phill Conrad