Development environment setup

We distribute all machine problem (MP) starter codes through the GitHub classroom. To accept the assignments, you will need a GitHub account. If you haven't an account with GitHub or would like to create a new handle for this course,

1. Navigate your browser to github.com,
2. click the Sign Up link, and
3. create an account!

We will use git to interact with your assignment repositories on github.com and, more broadly, for source code version control in this course. Accordingly, the next step is to download and install git on your system:

• On macOS, we accomplish this by installing Xcode Command Line Tools through the following steps:
  1. Open the Terminal application, and
  2. execute the following command: xcode-select --install
• git download for Windows (https://git-scm.com/download/win)
• git download for Linux (https://git-scm.com/download/linux)

Install VS Code

We will use Microsoft Visual Studio Code (aka VS Code) as our integrated development environment (IDE) this semester. VS Code is a powerful, free code editor that runs in the macOS, Windows, and Linux operating systems. To install VS Code, please follow the directions for your machine:

• Directions to install VS Code on macOS (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/mac)
  • Do not install using the Download link in the directions above. Instead, select the version for your machine (Intel or Mac Silicon) via code.visualstudio.com/download. Then continue with the directions in the link above.
• Directions to install VS Code on Windows (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/windows)
• Directions to install VS Code on Linux (https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux)

Install the required VS Code extensions

There are various extensions that we need you to install in VS Code. Please install the following extensions by navigating to their respective page(s) in the VS Code Marketplace, and clicking the green "Install" button located near the top of the page.

• Dev Containers extension from Microsoft

Trouble installing an extension? Click here!

Connect VS Code to GitHub

To access the private repositories containing the starter code distributed in this course, you must log in to GitHub from within VS Code. Please follow along with the video below to connect your VS Code with your GitHub account. The link used in the video to acquire your private repository of the code is available through classroom.github.com/a/_TjBl-4m.

We will use Docker Desktop this semester to run the CS 128 containerized development environment. To install Docker Desktop, please follow the directions for your machine:

• Directions to install Docker Desktop on macOS (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/mac-install/)
• Directions to install Docker Desktop on Windows (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/windows-install/)
• Directions to install Docker Desktop on Linux (https://docs.docker.com/desktop/install/linux-install/)

Should you require assistance installing Docker Desktop, please visit us during office hours during the first week of class so we can help get you up and running before our first machine problem (MP) is released.

To pull our the image for our development environment, you will need to:

• First, register for a Docker Hub account at hub.docker.com/signup, and
• Open the Docker Desktop application, authenticate using the Sign in option in the top-right corner of the Docker Dashboard.

Now that we've set things up, it's time to introduce how to connect to the CS 128 development environment and author your solutions to programming problems. Please carefully watch the video that follows. You can access the assignment (you previously accepted) to complete the setup at classroom.github.com/a/_TjBl-4m as directed in the video.