Homework 0

Introduction

This assignment gets you started with the basic tools you will need to complete all of your homework projects. This project will

• ensure that you have correctly installed Python 3
• give you practice using a text editor to write Python programs, and
• give you practice running Python programs and using command line features.

Problem Description

You are a student who needs to install Python, configure it for command line use, and learn how to use a programmer’s text editor to create and edit Python source code.

Solution Description

• Download and install Python 3 on your computer and configure your sytem so you can run Python from the command line. See the instructions on the class web site’s Resources page.
• Download and install a programmer’s text editor. You may end up trying out several over the course of the semester before you settle on one. See the Text Editors guide on the class web site’s Resources page.
• Create a directory for your coursework somewhere on your hard disk. We suggest sabic. Note: avoid putting spaces in file and directory names, since doing so complicates the use of some command line tools.
• Create a hw0 subdirectory of your coursework directory for your HW0 solution.

On Unix/BASH you can create both of these directories at once with

$ mkdir -p sabic/hw0

Windows uses the same commands for directory navigation and creation, cd and mkdir, but Windows’s mkdir command doesn’t have the -p option.

Note: the $ is the command prompt on most Unix shells and Windows 10’s Ubuntu BASH shell (would be something like C:\> in Windows cmd), the text after it is what you enter.

• On the command line, go to the hw0 directory you just created and enter these commands:

$ python --version 2> hw0-output.txt

> redirects the output of a program, in this case to the hw0-output.txt file. Since Python prints its version string to STDERR instead of STDOUT, we replace the > with 2> and try again. Some versions of Python, such as the one installed by Anaconda and miniconda, write the Python version to stderr instead of stdout. > redirects stdout and 2> redirects stderr. For more informaiton, this blog post has a nice discussion of the file descriptors stdin, stdout and stderr.

• Open your text editor, create a file in your newly created hw0 directory named nimbly_bimbly.py and save the following Python program in the file:

print("\u004D\u0065\u006F\u0077 " * 9)
print("...")
print("\u004D\u0065\u006F\u0077\u0021")

• In your OS command shell, cd to your hw0 directory and enter python nimbly_bimbly.py to run the program and see its output on the command line.
• Add the output of your program to hw0-output.txt by running
  python nimbly_bimbly.py >> hw0-output.txt. Don’t forget the extra > in >>. >> appends to an existing file, a single > overwrites an existing file.

Turn-in Procedure

Submit your hw0-output.txt file on Canvas as an attachment. When you’re ready, double-check that you have submitted and not just saved a draft.

Verify the Success of Your Submission to Canvas

Practice safe submission! Verify that your HW files were truly submitted correctly, the upload was successful, and that your program runs with no syntax or runtime errors. It is solely your responsibility to turn in your homework and practice this safe submission safeguard.

• After submitting the files to Canvas, return to the Assignment menu option and this homework. It should show the submitted files.
• Download copies of your submitted files from the Canvas Assignment page placing them in a new folder.
• Re-run and test the files you downloaded from Canvas to make sure it’s what you expect.

• This procedure helps guard against a few things.

  • It helps insure that you turn in the correct files.
  • It helps you realize if you omit a file or files.\footnote{Missing files will not be given any credit, and non-compiling homework solutions will receive few to zero points. Also recall that late homework will not be accepted regardless of excuse. Treat the due date with respect. Do not wait until the last minute! (If you do discover that you omitted a file, submit all of your files again, not just the missing one.)
  • Helps find syntax errors or runtime errors that you may have added after you last tested your code.