CSE 374 - Homework 0 - Winter 2013

Due: Wednesday, January 9, at 11 pm (you really really don't want to burn up late days on this one!).

The purpose of this assignment is to be sure that you have your Linux environment set up for the quarter and that you can log in and execute shell commands. We recommend that you use either your account on the klaatu.cs.washington.edu machine or your own copy of the CSE Linux Virtual Machine. It is ok if you use another reasonably recent Linux system, but we will use the CSE systems to evaluate submitted work, and it is probably easiest to work there. You will need a 64-bit Linux system for some later assignments, but for now a 32-bit system will also work. See the Linux Resources page on the course web site for more information about how to get started.

0. (Shell) You must be sure that your default shell is bash. Otherwise you will run into strange, baffling problems with shell scripts. Enter the command echo $SHELL. The response should be /bin/bash. If the shell name is different (csh, tcsh, or something else), use the appropriate commands on your system to change your login shell to bash. On many unix systems this can be done with the command chsh or ypchsh. If you are using the EE Linux machines, there is a separate web page to set your login shell - it's the same one you use to change your password.
   
   
1. (Commands) Open a shell window and enter the following commands. They should work without errors if typed exactly as shown. The script command will capture the terminal session and save it in a file named hw0.script on the desktop.
   

      cd
      cd Desktop
      script hw0.script
      whoami
      echo $SHELL
      pwd
      uname -a
      exit

2. (Doodling) Please be sure to fill in the CSE 374 Office Hours doodle with your preferences for staff office hours. Put your name in the next available row at the bottom and select yes/(yes, but not so good)/no in each slot to let us know which times could work with your current schedule.
   
   
3. (Chatting) Go the course discussion board (link on the web site) and post a followup to the Welcome message to introduce yourself, and to get gopost to automatically track new postings for you.

Assessment: Your solution will be evaluated on how well it follows the instructions and produces the desired results.

Turn-in Instructions: Use the turn-in drop box link on the main course web page to turn the hw0.script file created in problem 1. The drop box will allow you to turn in your homework up to two days late, if you choose to use one or two of your late days, but you are strongly advised to save your late days for later in the quarter when they may be much more useful.