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.
- If you have DrScheme running, shut it down and restart it.
- In DrScheme, go to the Languages menu. Select "Choose Language...".
- In the resulting window, do you see an option that reads
CS173
Beginner
Advanced
If so, then you're done with the installation process. Nothing
else gets installed. (In fact, you should also get a "173" icon flash
by in the splash screen of DrScheme, but this is a better test.)
- At this point, select the Beginner option under CS173. This is the
language you want to program in for the next few weeks.
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.