Documentation of software tools used in CS 240:

CS 240 Computing Environments

CS 240 supports computing with:

The CS GNU/Linux workstations in the SCI L037 lab
remote access with SSH.

CS 240 code assignments require a CS 240 computing environment.

CS 240 code assignments are designed, tested, and graded in the CS 240 computing environment, since low-level system details matter in this course. We guarantee support (help with provided tools) and consistency (our grading and your testing use the same environment) only for work on the lab workstations and the csenv appliance.

First-Time Setup

A CS account is required for all computing options. Request one if needed (on campus only).

Follow the instructions for the environment you are using:

Completing these steps on one workstation sets up the account that you use on all workstations (and cs.wellesley.edu).

Start with the lab activities on the Linux command line, Emacs, and C if you did not finish those during lab.
To configure your CS account permanently¹ to find CS 240 tools, open a terminal and run the command:

source /home/cs240/live/env/init/account.sh
Complete the Account Setup tasks for Git and CodeTub.

General Tools

GNU/Linux Skills (← start here) for the command line (ignore drop), Scott Anderson, Wellesley College
- Remote access with SSH: ssh wendy@cs.wellesley.edu
- Bash commands, Ruth Anderson, University of Washington
- Some useful Unix commands, Tia Newhall, Swarthmore College
Emacs Basics (← start here) for text editing
- Emacs Reference Card (pdf), Tour, Manual
- A Visual Guide to Emacs – fun illustrated guides, by Sacha Chua
- lots more…
Git and CodeTub (← start here) for version control of CS 240 assignments.
- Git documentation and book

C and x86

The C Programming Language (a.k.a. K&R), Kernighan and Ritchie, classic book
- Stanford CS Library C resources
- C resources, Tia Newhall, Swarthmore College
- Duane’s Incredibly Brief Introduction to the C Programming Language, Duane Bailey, Williams College
- C for Python programmers
GCC manual (gcc --version)
Using make and writing Makefiles, Tia Newhall, Swarthmore College
- GNU Make manual
GDB Basics for CS 240 (pdf, txt): gdb ./executable
- GDB Quick Reference Card
- GDB manual
Valgrind Memcheck manual: valgrind ./executable
**x86-64 Basics Machine Diagram for CS 240
- CSAPP Chapter 3 (copies in lab, draft online)
- exhaustive x86 manuals from Intel and AMD
- x86 Assembly WikiBook (GAS syntax)
CSAPP textbook resources

If you prefer to use the CS 240 tools only in the current shell session, then run the command source /home/cs240/live/env/init/session.sh instead; run this command in each shell session where you want to use the CS 240 tools. If you need to remove the permanent account configuration, edit ~/.bash_profile to remove the lines marked as related to CS 240. ↩