Fill out this form to let me know some info about you and your preferences regarding pair programming.
What to turn in: Make sure you submit your responses to the above form.
This term, for working in the labs, we'll be connecting to a remote Linux server. Make sure that you can connect appropriately. To do so, stop in one of the CS department labs, and log in while booted to Mac OS. In the folder /Applications/CarletonApps, start up the application x2goclient. Then follow this link with instructions (start from step 2).
Note that we're skipping step 1 in the above instructions, which only applies if you're using your own computer. When the application pops up, click on the button labeled "Start." If all works as it should, a Linux desktop should start up. When done, make sure that you log out. See the directions linked above.
The above Linux desktop will be essential for the C programming that we will do late this term. It will be optional for the Scheme programming portion that we'll do earlier.
What to turn in: In the submission box in Moodle for this assignment, tell me that you've successfully made x2go work by saying something like "I have successfully logged into a department lab computer, and used x2go to successfully login to a Linux session."
We have two different strategies for making the Linux desktop work on your own computer. The first approach is to install x2go on your own computer, and do exactly the steps that you've done above. x2go runs a Linux desktop on a remote server that the department runs, but it appears to run on your computer. The second approach is to install an actual Linux virtual machine on your desktop with VirtualBox. To get this approach working, follow these instructions to install the virtual machine, which should work regardless of which operating system (Windows, Mac, Linux) your own computer is running. If you have trouble with any of this, check in with a lab assistant or Mike Tie in CMC 305.
If you are using the VirtualBox approach, it is critical that you store your programs in HOME and not inside the virtual machine. That will help you access them from elsewhere on campus, and more importantly, make sure they are backed up. Follow these instructions for mounting your HOME directory.
What to turn in: In the submission box in Moodle for this assignment, tell me either "I have successfully gotten the virtual machine running on my own computer," "I have successfully made x2go work on my own computer," or "I do not intend to use a personally owned computer for any CS 251 work this term."
For the first portion of the course, we'll be using a programming environment called DrRacket. You do not need to run DrRacket under Linux if you don't want to, though you may want to anyway to have everything for the term in one place. (The C programming will have to be done in Linux.) If you are using the x2go or the virtual machine approach above, DrRacket is already installed for you. If you are using any of our department labs as native Macs, DrRacket is installed in /Applications/CarletonApps within a folder called "Racket vX.X" (where X.X is the current version number). If you wish to install DrRacket natively on your own Mac or Windows computer, you can download it from here. Install it on your own computer if you wish.
What to turn in: In the submission box in Moodle for this assignment, tell me "I have successfully started up DrRacket."
The Carleton Sentinel is our departmental email newsletter. It contains news about job opportunities in computer science, courses you may want to take, departmental events, and whatever else we think may be relevant. Majors are automatically subscribed, but if you're not an officially declared CS major, please subscribe to the newsletter. It's a great way to see how many opportunities are offered to computer science students. Visit the email list home page, click Subscribe, and enter your email address. Make sure that you aren't using some fancy spam filtering mechanism in your email system that looks for brackets in the subject line: you'll miss both this newsletter and course emails.
What to turn in: Subscribe to the Sentinel if you wish.