CS21 Lab 0: UNIX and the editor (atom)

Due Saturday, September 8, before midnight

The goals for this lab assignment are:

Work through the following sections and ask if you have questions!

1. Read the class web pages

Start by reading through all of the class web page!

Pay special attention to the Schedule, Academic Integrity, and How to succeed in CS21 sections!

You should get into the habit of checking the class page weekly. The class topics, lab assignments, weekly readings, and announcements will be posted to the class schedules each week.

2. Read some useful CS web pages

From the CS homepage, please read these important pages:

3. Try running update21

Our update21 command copies any files your professors want you to have from them to your cs21 directory. It’s a good habit to run update21 each time you log in. If you haven’t run it already, this will create your cs21/labs/00 directory.

Open a terminal window (click the terminal icon) and enter the commands below after the unix prompt (the dollar sign):

$ update21          # creates cs21 directory, with labs/00 dir below
$ cd cs21/labs/00   # cd into the correct directory for lab 00
$ pwd               # check to see that you are in the correct directory.
                    # if yes, it will print /home/your_username/cs21/labs/00

4. Learn some UNIX

Read through our UsingUnix web pages and try the various unix commands. These pages are just to help you get comfortable with the unix command line (there’s nothing you have to write or turn in). Make sure you understand the following commands:

5. Learn the text editor (atom)

Beginning this Thursday or Friday we will start using the text editor in class, so you need to at least know the basics.

All professors teaching this course will utilize atom.

To practice with atom, open up the fixme-gb.txt file in your cs21/labs/00 directory and fix the 5 errors in that file.

$ cd cs21/labs/00
$ atom fixme-gb.txt

Here’s a list of keyboard shortcuts to help you learn the atom text editor. Make sure you at least know how to open a new file, add text, and then save it to the correct directory.

6. Edit the bio.txt file

For more practice with editing, and so we can learn a little about you, edit the bio.txt file in your cs21/labs/00 directory:

$ atom bio.txt

Note: this file should have a few simple questions in it for you to answer. If you don’t see those questions, make sure you are in the cs21/labs/00 directory (i.e., run the pwd command), and/or run the update21 command to make sure you get the initial file from your professor.

7. Run handin21

Once you are satisfied with your bio.txt file, hand it in by typing handin21 at the unix prompt.

You may run handin21 as many times as you like. Each time you run it, new versions of your files will be submitted (i.e., any files you’ve made changes to). Running handin21 after you finish a program, after any major changes are made, and at the end of the day (before you log out) is a good habit to get into.

NOTE: handin21, will grab all files from your cs21/labs/00 directory. Each week, make sure you create your lab programs and files in the correct cs21/labs/XX directory!

8. Post to Piazza

This semester we’ll be using Piazza, an online QandA forum for class discussion, help with labs, clarifications, and announcements that pertain to all sections of cs21. Our Piazza page is https://piazza.com/swarthmore/fall2018/cs21. You should have received an email invitation to join cs21 on Piazza - if not let us know.

For this first lab, just to get comfortable using Piazza, choose at least one part of your bio.txt file above to post on Piazza (non-anonymously). You can include where you are from, something else you are doing at Swarthmore, your entire bio, or whatever you prefer. Add your post to this thread as a “new followup discussion”.

9. Answer the Questionnaire

Each lab will have a short questionnaire at the end. Please edit the QUESTIONS-00.txt file in your cs21/labs/00 directory and answer the questions in that file.

Once you’re done with that, run handin21 again.

10. (OPTIONAL) Make your own website

If you are done early, you are welcome (but not required) to create your own webpage (now or at any time during the semester). To get started, follow these instructions. There are many tutorials on how to make a webpage - the Khan Academy tutorial is very comprehensive.

11. Logging out

When you are all done working in the lab, you should log out of the computer you are using. First quit any applications you are running, like the browser and the Terminal. Then click on the logout icon logout and choose “log out”.

If you plan to leave the lab for just a few minutes, and then come right back to work, you do not need to log out. It is, however, a good idea to lock your machine while you are gone. You can lock your screen by clicking on the lock xlock icon.

12. Come to Office Hours!

As part of your Lab 0 grade, each student must visit the office of their lecture professor. If you can come during our official office hours, that is ideal, but you are also welcome to stop by any time we are around. You do not have to have a specific question, you can just drop by to introduce yourself and learn where our offices are. We will have sign in sheets to check you off.


Turning in your labs….

Don’t forget to run handin21 to turn in your lab files! You may run handin21 as many times as you want. Each time it will turn in any new work. We recommend running handin21 after you complete each program or after you complete significant work on any one program.