------------------------ Week 1 Notes for DAT2330 ------------------------ -Ian! D. Allen - idallen@idallen.ca Remember - knowing how to find out an answer is more important than memorizing the answer. Learn to fish! RTFM! (Read The Fine Manual) To be done in Week 1: 1. Find the Winter 2006 DAT2330 course home page via Blackboard or via: http://teaching.idallen.com/dat2330/06w/ (Make sure you find the page for this term, not last term! Bookmark it.) 2. Read the course home page. All of it. Including the parts about plagiarism and course notes. Note the important dates. Write down *on paper* the location of the Alternate Web Notes. Read the Course Outline, including the parts about tests and lab attendance. Ensure that you are registered in both the lecture section of the course (010) and only one of the two Lab sections (011 or 012). Find and look at my Timetable. Know how to set up an office appointment with me by email. Review the Course Outline: dat2330-06w.pdf 3. Purchase the course textbook (see the course home page). (The new 2005 textbook is scheduled to arrive January 16.) 4. Forward your Algonquin email (see the link on the course home page). Test to make sure that your forwarded Algonquin email works! Send yourself a test message. You must have a working Algonquin EMail address for this course (that you can forward elsewhere). 5. Obtain the course Knoppix CD from your instructor and know how to boot it. Read this file under the Notes button on the Course Home Page: knoppix_booting.txt Using the Knoppix Linux CDROM You must transfer your CD to a proper CD case. If you carry the CD in a paper envelope, it will get scratched and stop working. You are responsible for obtaining your own replacement CDs. 6. Check that you can login using telnet and ssh to ACADUNIX, the IBM AIX Unix server: acadunix.algonquincollege.com Read this file under the Class Notes button on the Course Home Page: acadunix_help.txt Using the ACADUNIX IBM Unix machine Your password for ACADUNIX is your original ACSIS PIN number. I cannot reset your password on ACADUNIX - you must see ITS. 7. Check that you can login to the DAT2330 Course Linux Server. Read this file under the Class Notes button on the Course Home Page: course_linux_server.txt The Course Linux Server Your initial password was given in your first lab. Change it. I control this server - see me to have your password reset. Do *NOT* consult Algonquin ITS about the Course Linux Server. They don't know anything about it. See me for all problems. 8. You will need to know how to use the VIM text editor to modify files under Unix/Linux. Login to Knoppix or to the Course Linux Server and complete the VIM tutorial mentioned in this Notes file: vi_basics.txt The VI (VIM) Editor - Basics * On Knoppix, at the shell prompt type: vimtutor * On ACADUNIX, at the shell prompt type: ~alleni/bin/vimtutor (That character is a tilde; "~alleni" is Unix shell shorthand for the home directory of userid "alleni".) See file vi_basics.txt in the course notes for details. See the vi_refcard reference card in the course notes. You must complete the tutorial to do the upcoming lab exercises. 9. Complete DAT2330 Exercise #1 (practice) by the due date. 10. Do these Class Notes readings to prepare for Week #1-2 lab work: knoppix_booting.txt Using the Knoppix Linux CDROM acadunix_help.txt Using the ACADUNIX IBM Unix machine course_linux_server.txt The Course Linux Server man_page_RTFM.txt Searching for items in the Unix manual pages vi_basics.txt The VI (VIM) Editor - Basics terminal.txt Using Telnet/Ssh terminal emulators internet_basics.html Internet Networking Basics, URLs, etc. vi_refcard_front.pdf, vi_refcard_back.pdf - VIM reference 11. Do these readings to prepare for upcoming lab work: shell_basics.txt The Unix Shell pathnames.txt Unix/Linux Pathnames startup_files.txt Setting up Startup Files: .profile and .bashrc file_transfer.txt File transfer between machines home_and_HOME.txt Directories: current, HOME, and /home shell_prompt.txt Setting the BASH shell prompt miscellaneous.txt Miscellaneous Unix Facts arguments_and_options.txt Options and Arguments on Unix Command Lines datsubmit.txt Using the datsubmit command Attendance Attendance is critical to course success. (If you know the material and don't need to come to classes, ask for a Prior Learning Assessment. If you paid to be here, please be here.) Lab attendance is recorded - make sure you're signed in each week. Taking Notes You will need to take notes in class. Not everything I say ends up in these online files. If you have a question about course content, the first thing I will ask is to see your notes, to see what you wrote down about the topic. (Often the answer is there!) Textbook I will assign exercises that use the textbook. You need it. The new 2005 textbook is scheduled to arrive January 16. Workload The overall Term 2 workload sometimes overwhelms students who try to leave everything to the last minute. You need to put in approximately an extra hour per day, per course, to keep up. There aren't enough hours in a day to catch up in mid-term. Timeliness Late assignments are penalized, usually resulting in a mark of zero. The due date for an assignment is given in the assignment. Read each assignment to know the due date. Preparation Lab time is precious. Most lab exercises are time-limited and will require you to have done advance preparation. If you haven't read the material and done the preparation, you won't finish on time. Standards Like any company, this course has standards for its documents. Assignments must adhere to the published standards. See the course web page for the Standards document. Linux Working Environment The scripting taught and used in this course is intended to be portable; you can use most any Linux machine to write and test your code. The final test run must be on the machine given in the assignment specification. This might be one of the Course Linux servers, or it might be a different machine. Off-hours Lab Access You are encouraged to use the lab outside of lab hours. The hours of operation are posted on the door. You may ask other instructors if you may work quietly at the back of their classes. Remote Access The "ssh" protocol is available in such programs as "ewan" and "PuTTY", which you can download for free from the Internet. Do a Google search for: putty The "telnet" program sends your password in clear text over the Internet. Don't use it. Only "ssh" provides an encrypted connection that is safe to use. Use the "ssh" protocol only. Running Linux at Home You may download and install most any Linux distribution at home for free. Most any distribution will be support the writing and running of the portable shell scripts taught in this course. Many Linux distributions (e.g. Knoppix, Mandrake Live) will boot directly from a CDROM and run entirely in memory, bypassing the need to do any disk installation at all. Be aware that when you shut down such an in-memory system, everything is lost - save any important files on real disk first. Linux User Groups See the Ottawa Canada Linux User Group (OCLUG): http://www.oclug.on.ca/ They meet on the first Tuesday of every month. Plagiarism http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/national/2004/11/24/Sports/taylor041124 "The lead sports columnist of the Winnipeg Free Press has resigned after he was accused of plagiarizing parts of an article published earlier this month." You must attribute the source of material you use that isn't yours. You earn marks for the new material that you write, not code that comes from other sources.