MSc. in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack
Contents
1. A note on copying marking and Lab times It is very good to discuss the program you are going to write with friends during the program design stage In fact Software Engineering is a collective enterprise so it is quite reasonable that you should discuss problems with each other However plagiarism i e representing someone else s work as your own is a very serious issue Not only must you not copy the work of others but you must not allow others to copy your work We are obliged to inform the college authorities in the event that we discover that work is copied Email and Internet The Department communicates with students primarily via email and through its webpages Students are expected to check their departmental email regularly for updates from lecturers Please look after your disks and thumb drives carefully when in the Labs many are known to have disappeared from there MSc in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack 3 and administrators It is also useful to check on the various Department webpages from time to time Below are some useful email addresses and webpages Important email addresses fs doc ic ac uk Dr Fariba Sadri MSc in Computing Science Course Director wjk doc ic ac uk Dr William Knottenbelt Msc in Computing Science Assistant Course Director ap7 doc ic ac uk Aris Papadopoulos Laboratory Organiser and Project Coordinator spc03 doc ic ac uk Simon Coffey Deputy Labor2. MSc in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack 6 October 2008 Introduction Welcome to the MSc in Computing course This document describes the arrangements for the laboratory course which you will be doing this year Programming is considered such a core skill in computing that you will be spending a lot of time in the computer lab doing programming exercises The purpose of the lab exercises is to support your lecture courses and to give you practical experience of programming We will mainly use a traditional imperative language namely C will continue with Prolog a logic based language You can find more about the course at http www doc ic ac uk lab mcs mcs where you are presented with a site which contains information such as the lab schedule tutorials and guides about Linux MacOS taught programming languages text editors and CATE The computer system is maintained and developed by the Computer Support Group CSG in the Department of Computing DoC They deal with any problems that the com puters and networks may have For immediate problems such as a terminal not responding you should see the operators who are on duty during normal office hours in room 225 al ternatively email help doc ic ac uk or use the online request system found on the CSG webpage Laboratory Sessions Lab exercises will take place in rooms 202 and 206 on your MacBooks You will be given a guide for your laptop when you collect it Yo
3. atory Organiser all mcs doc ic ac uk All Msc Computing students registered on your course Please use with extreme care Help I ve lost my keys messages and so forth are strongly discouraged Important Web pages http www doc ic ac uk The Department of Computing Home Page http www doc ic ac uk internal personal A personalised portal providing you with links to the most useful resources on the Department webpage https sparrow doc ic ac uk cate The Continuous Assessment Tracking Engine Note the https in the URL All your coursework marks are published here http www doc ic ac uk lab mcs mcs Your course lab page Information related to lab work regulations timetables docu mentation etc This will be updated regularly as the term progresses so check back here periodically http www doc ic ac uk csg The Computing Support Group Information about operating systems remote access computer software and the resources available in the department http www doc ic ac uk csg newuser Regulations covering computer use in the department MSc in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack 4 Lab Computer Systems The vast majority of the lab computers run either the Linux operating system or dual boot Linux and Windows see the CSG website for exact details The first time you log on to the lab network you must set up a private password to protect your account You will need to set your passwo
4. button at the bottom left of the screen Always ensure that you have logged out properly before leaving the labs 4 Now log in again remember to use the correct password Windows 1 From the Windows startup screen press Ctrl Alt and Delete simultaneously 2 At the login window enter your login name and initial password as supplied on the sheet you received from CSG in your Welcome Pack Remember that the password is case sensitive Once you have finished click the OK button or press Enter MSc in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack 5 3 At this stage you may be prompted for a new Windows password If so follow the on screen instructions to select a new password If not press Ctrl Alt and Delete simultaneously A dialog box should appear 4 Click on Change Password 5 Follow the on screen instructions to set your new password Reference Manuals As part of this Information Pack you ll find e A short introduction to the emacs and nedit editors There are other editors avail able on the system such as vi XEmacs etc Choose whichever you feel comfortable with information on alternatives can be found on the lab course webpage given above e Specialist pathway only Sicstus s Prolog User Manual version 3 12 2 This manual is a subset of the complete manual the page numbers from the full document have been preserved to avoid confusion Finally We wish you all the best for the comin
5. d on the Continu ous Assessment Tracking Engine CATE found at https sparrow doc ic ac uk cate note the https Here you can download the individual exercise instructions see the dates when assessed work is due and submit your own solutions Once the exercise has been marked a print out of your submission will be returned to you either via the Student Administration Office room 370 or by some other arrangement appropriate comments and remarks will be written on the print out and a letter will indicate the grading according to the percentage of marks given to your work marks under 50 indicate failure It is important that you organise your time and aim to submit something for every assessed exercise required non submissions carry zero marks which obviously lowers your final mark Note that the latter is not a simple average but a more complex formula that takes into account the length and complexity of each exercise Backups The work you store on the network file server in the Department of Computing Labs will be backed up by CSG However it is very advisable to keep your own backups of important work e g on a USB thumb drive or zip disk because CSG may only have a complete backup of your work from about 2 days previously at best from the previous night Losing a whole day s work if you delete something by accident can still be very frustrating so do keep backups Having lost your work is no excuse for not submitting
6. g year we hope you find it enjoyable and look forward to seeing you in the labs
7. rd under both operating systems Try to choose a password that is not a word in any language and does not relate to your login or name You must use the same password under both Windows and Linus Linux If you are unfamiliar with Linux there is a short guide available on the course lab page and a rather more detailed one at http www doc ic ac uk wjk UnixIntro If you haven t used it before it s a good idea to familiarise yourself with Linux early on in term before work starts piling up A decent knowledge of basic command line usage can save you a great deal of time later on To begin with log in and change your password 1 At the login window enter your login name and initial password as supplied on the sheet you received from CSG in your Welcome Pack Remember that the password is case sensitive 2 Use the command passwd to change the password we have given you to one of your choice Don t make it hard to remember but make sure it s hard to guess You should see something like this sync01 passwd Changing password for hb1 Enter old password New Kerberos password Retype new Kerberos password passwd all authentication tokens updated successfully sync01 Your new password may not become effective for a few minutes 3 Now practice logging out and logging in Each time you finish a session you will want to log out The logout command can be typed at the console or can be accessed through the KDE
8. u will then have to ensure that any pro grams that you submit work correctly on the Linux versions of the programming languages installed in the computing labs This is a good practice for the real world Full information on the departmental Linux installation can be found on the CSG webpage http www doc ic ac uk csg The first two weeks are largely spent on an intensive course of lectures and wnassessed lab exercises in C A one hour slot per week is timetabled as a laboratory workshop session During this session there will be an interactive lecture regarding your on going coursework or a feedback session regarding your marked courseworks Note that workshops are not going to be held each week Instead you will be notified via email well in advance whether a workshop is going to be held or not In addition to workshops a certain number of hours in the week are timetabled as lab oratory sessions usually in slots of 2 hours each During these times you have priority use MSc in Computing Science Laboratory Information Pack 2 of the equipment in the designated room s and lab demonstrators are in attendance to help you out with queries and problems regarding the on going lab exercise s You are asked to respect the priority access to equipment that other groups of students have during their lab sessions in order to avoid conflicts Submissions and Assessment Submissions lab instructions and timetabling are all found and manage
Download Pdf Manuals
Related Search