Software Setup

This course will depend on the DrScheme implementation of Scheme. Even if you have used other Scheme systems before, you will have to use this one here.

To run DrScheme on the CS Linux machines use the following command: /course/cs173/bin/drscheme

To run DrScheme at home:

To install cs173.plt under MacOS, download the package and run the following: sudo '/Applications/PLT v205/bin/setup-plt' cs173.plt in the directory with the cs173.plt file.

Language Selection

When working in DrScheme, be sure that you always use one of the cs173 languages (cs173 Beginner or cs173 Advanced) so that all the useful constructs shown in class will be available. To change the current language, select the Language > Choose Language... menu in DrScheme and pick the correct item from the resulting dialog box.

If, while working in DrScheme, you begin to get random syntax errors on the predefined constructs, make sure to double check the language (since this is a common cause of errors) before spending a lot of time searching for a bug or contacting the staff.

Troubleshooting

If you are unsure of the correctness of your home installation of the cs173.plt file, the following instructions will allow you verify that the setup completed correctly.

Running Haskell

We will also be spending some time working with the Haskell programming language, using an implementation called GHC. It's available on the department's workstations by running the following command: /course/cs173/bin/ghci. You may also download and install it at home; like DrScheme, it's free and runs on all common platforms.