CGS 3408 Getting Started

Your CS Account

• Obtaining your Computer Science Unix Account
  directions for obtaining your CS account can be viewed on the Systems Group Web Site here
  
• Obtaining and using sshclient to access your CS account
  you can obtain sshclient here . if you are on a mac, you can use ssh from a terminal, and fetch.
• Mounting your CS account to the Z: drive on the ACNS network
  the ACNS network's windows machines have a Desktop icon labeled cslogin . clicking on it and typing your id and password will connect your cs home directory to a new logical drive labeled Z:. You can find this drive under the My Computer icon. Do not forget to unmount this drive before you leave. On the ACNS network, go to My Comuter and right click on the Z: drive, select disconnect. On the TEC lab comuters, click the disconnect button.
• Accessing your files on the CS network in the majors lab and MCH 202
  Your CS home directory is automatically mounted under My Documents when you log in to machines in the major's lab, room 002 Love building.

Obtaining a C++ Compiler

• Microsoft Visual C++ express
  can be obtained here. The express versions will conflict with any full versions you may have. Don't upgrade away from visual Studio 2003 or 2005 if you all ready have it.
• Microsoft Developer's Network MSDN
  If your program supports it, you can get free Micosoft development tools from Microsoft. Known departments include:
  • Computer Science
  • Information Studies
  
  please let me know if yuor department has participated in MSDN.
• Borlean C++ Compiler
  This is the compiler that comes in the book. I haven't tested it since before the implementation of namespaces in the C++ language. If anyone is trying this one out, let me know if any of the example code from the class fails.
• GNU Compilers
  These are my favorite. There are no bells or whistles but it has the best complience to the ANSI standard for c++. Plus, they are free (as in freedom, free as in beer too). There are many ways to obtain this compiler and they target many platforms. If you are running on a mac or in linux, then you all ready have this compiler. You may also have access to these compilers on the linprog computers on the network. inforamtion on how to compile using g++ is available here. Be prepared to learn a little about getting around in shell. A really short tutorial is here.
  
  obtaining the GNU compilers
  • cygwin, a unix environment on windows
    Cygwin provides a complete linux environment on the windows operating system. Its a way to have linux on your windows machine without repartionting your hard drive, or having to actually boot into linux. Its slow and not is not as complete as say, Debian but it works without having to install a whole operationg system. It can be obtained here .
  • minigw, minimal C++ compiler for windows
    minigw just provides the gnu compiler and related .dll files to compile C++ programs on windows. here.
  • xcode, and g++ for mac
    apple devleoper's network here.
  • g++ for linux
    what? there's a g++ for linux? cool!

Getting started in Visual C++