Computer science accounts

Every student enrolled in CS581A3 must have an EID, which they use to login to RamWeb, Canvas, etc. Every CS581A3 student is also automatically given a Computer Science login as well. If you were enrolled in CS courses prior to this semester, you may already know about these accounts.

Using departmental machines is optional. You can do all your work on your personal machines. Having a CS login gives you another option for accessing email from Computer Science machines. You can also connect to departmental machines to check whether or not your programs will run here. Using your CS account, you can get access to certain Microsoft applications, as described below.

Connecting to CS machines

There are several linux machines named after state capitals (e.g., salem.cs.colostate.edu, denver, etc) that you can connect to. You must have an ssh client on your machine. For windows, you can install putty. Linux machines and macs come with ssh. A VPN is not required to connect to the CS machines

You can transfer files from departmental machines to yours using sftp. You must connect to ftp.cs.colostate.edu and use your login and password.

Software tools

You will need several tools in this course:

  • Java IDE: Edit, compile, and run Java programs (required)
  • Version control (required)

Java IDE

You can use any editor, compiler and runtime environment. One option is to install an editor (notepad, wordpad, emacs, vi, vim, etc.), and use Sun's JDK and JRE to compile and run the programs. You are strongly encouraged to use the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment to do all the programming activities. The advantage is that Eclipse provides a good editor and debugger. It can also be integrated with version control software. Eclipse is the preferred IDE in our department. You can download Eclipse for free from its website.

Version control

Version control and source code control is very useful when you are working in a team. Even if you are not, it still helps to be able to retrieve an older version of a file that used to work when the current version is lost or broken. You must use GitHub in your project.