CS 115 - Tools for Working from Home

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Introduction

You are encouraged to install programming tools on your home computer. All of the tools recommended below are absolutely free to use. Just remember that your programs will be graded based on their behavior on our server (blue), so it's a good idea to periodically copy your code to blue and test it there. (Plus, we probably back up more frequently than you do.)

If you want to work on your own computer, you will need software to accomplish the following tasks:

• Remotely log into blue (the CS department server)
• Copy files between blue and your home computer
• Edit and run Python 3 programs

The next few sections of this document describe the software you will need for each task. Follow the instructions for your operating system (e.g. Windows, Mac, Linux). If you have any trouble with these instructions, you are welcome to bring your computer to office hours, workshop, or lab for extra help.

Grahpics Package

Remotely logging into blue

Mac or Linux

1. Open Terminal (which comes with your computer).
2. In the Terminal window, type the following command, with your actual CS department username filled in as indicated:

   ssh yourusername@blue.cs.sonoma.edu

3. The first time you run this command, you may see the following warning:

   The authenticity of host 'blue.cs.sonoma.edu (130.157.166.29)' can't be established.
   RSA key fingerprint is 3d:88:46:69:53:27:d6:9d:7c:ba:b7:f5:bd:1b:88:2a.
   Are you sure you want to continue connecting (yes/no)?

   Type yes to continue.
4. When prompted, type your CS department password. You will not see anything on the screen -- not even ***** -- as you type.

Windows

1. You will need to download a program called PuTTY. Download PuTTY from this page by following the first link to PuTTY.exe.
2. Fill in blue.cs.sonoma.edu as the host name and 22 as the port.
3. Use your CS department user ID and password to log in.

Copying files between blue and your home computer

Your best bet is to install a graphical FTP client such as FileZilla Client, which works for Windows, Mac, and UNIX/Linux.

1. Follow the link to download FileZilla Client and install the version that is appropriate for your operating system.
2. To configure FileZilla (or any FTP client):
   • Host: blue.cs.sonoma.edu
   • Protocol/Servertype: SFTP or "FTP over SSH"
   • Port: 22
   • Username: Your blue (not university) username
3. You can now drag and drop your files between your computer (shown on the left) and blue (shown on the right). Lab 1C has more detailed instructions if you need them.

CAUTION! If you keep copies of your project files on multiple computers, you must be very careful not to forget which copy is newer and accidentally destroy your most recent work. You should either (1) keep the "official" copy on blue, and only download to your home computer to view/print, or (2) keep the "official" copy on your home computer, and only upload to blue to test/execute with our compiler before submitting your code.

Installing Python 3

First, you should get Python 3.5.2 from the official website. The specific file to download depends on your operating system.

Once you have installed Python, you should download the community edition of PyCharm. This program allows you to edit and execute Python code. Be sure that you can open and run it.

Mac OS X

Click the Apple menu at the top-left corner of your screen then click About this Mac. The version of your OS will be displayed in a window that gets popped up.

Section 0.4 of the Dive Into Python textbook walks you through the installation.

Windows

Follow these directions to figure out if you have a 32-bit or 64-bit version of Windows. If you have a 64-bit version, you can download and run the Windows x86-64 MSI installer from the Download section. If you have a 32-bit version, or you are still not sure, use the Windows x86 MSI installer.

Section 0.3 of the Dive Into Python textbook walks you through the installation.

Mounting your blue disk on MacOS