CSCI 1320 (Principles of Computer Science I), Fall 2012:
Homework 1

Credit:

10 points.

Reading

Be sure you have read the introductory material about Linux commands and vi in chapter 2 of the textbook.

Programming Problems

(For this assignment, you won't actually be programming, but you will be doing something on a computer, and submitting your answers in the way you'll submit your programs in later assignments.)

Do the following programming problems. You will end up with at least one text file per problem. Submit your files by sending mail to bmassing@cs.trinity.edu, with each file as an attachment. Use a subject line that mentions the course and the assignment (e.g., ``csci 1320 I homework 1'' or ``POP I hw 1''). Please send this mail from your Trinity e-mail address even if you have another e-mail address; this is so I can tell that it's homework and who it's from (otherwise it might mistakenly end up in my junk-mail folder).

1. (10 points) For this problem your mission is to learn a little more about the text editor I teach in this course, vi. Do the following:
   • Open a terminal window (as we did in class), and start the interactive tutorial by typing vimtutor. Work through at least Lesson 1, more if you have time.

   • Now use what you have learned to create a text file in which you describe your experience so far with vi -- likes/dislikes, things you'd like to be able to do but don't know how to, etc. You could call it vi.txt or learning-vi.txt. (Avoid names with spaces for now. I'll explain why in class.) A good place to put this file would be in a directory (folder) called CSCI1320. It doesn't need to be a program like the ones we'll be writing in class -- just plain text will do.

   • Send me an e-mail message (to bmassing@cs.trinity.edu) with your text file as an attachment. Probably the simplest way at this point is to start a Web browser (there should be an icon on your toolbar that does this -- hover the mouse over each of them until you find the right one), access TMail, and proceed as you usually would to attach a file. Use a subject line that mentions the course and the assignment (e.g., ``csci 1320 I homework 1'' or ``POP I hw 1''). Please send this mail from your Trinity e-mail address even if you have another e-mail address; this is so I can tell that it's homework and who it's from (otherwise it might mistakenly end up in my junk-mail folder).

2. (Optional -- up to 5 extra-credit points) I mentioned in class that there are many other text editors available on typical UNIX/Linux systems. For extra credit, use one of them to write a short text file, as described in the previous problem. Send me this file by e-mail, as described above. (You can send both files in a single message or send them separately, whichever is easier.)

   Which editor should you try this with? My vote is for emacs -- it's also widely available on UNIX/Linux systems, and I know enough about it to be able to try to answer your questions. Start it by opening a terminal window and typing emacs -nw. This should give you a page of instructions. Press control-h and then t to start an interactive tutorial. Work through as much of this tutorial as you need to in order to create and save a text file. Starting the program by just typing emacs starts a graphical version of the program, which you may prefer for use in our labs, but which isn't as useful if you're working remotely.