Introductions

Assignment: Introductions

This is an ungraded psuedo-assignment in which you introduce yourself to the course staff and do a few things to get ready for the rest of CS240. Please complete all parts by the end of Wed Sep 07.

Contents

Parts

1. Familiarize yourself with the course

Read through the syllabus and tentative course schedule. Jot down any questions that arise to either (1) ask on your form in Task 2 or (2) ask in class.

2. Introduce yourself to the course staff

Introduce yourself to the instructors and tutors by filling out the forms at these links:

  • Create a CS240 CourseIntros introduction. Be sure to upload a brief video in which you pronounce your full name (including both first and last name). (CourseIntros was created by Wellesley faculty alum Susan Buck.)

  • Fill out the CS240 Get To Know You form

  • If you haven’t taken a course with me (Lyn) before: even if you don’t have any questions, please attend one of my help hour sessions during the first two weeks of the course, just so I have a chance to get to know you better.

3. Fill out the help hours poll

Please fill out this when2meet poll indicating all hours during a typical week when you would be available to attend instructor and tutor help hours. Notes:

  • Ignore the dates on the particular week and instead treat it as if it’s a “typical” week.

  • Please sign in with both your first and last name

  • We’ll use this information to schedule some regular help hour times. These times might depend on the due day for the current assignment. (Due dates are typically Mondays or Thursdays.)

Note that I (Lyn) am almost always available after lecture to answer questions in person.

If regularly scheduled help hour times are inconvenient for you, I would be happy to find another time to meet with you. Just email me to find a mutually agreeable meeting time.

4. Use a terminal to connect to the CS dept server (tempest)

For many CS240 assignments, you will need to connect to the CS Dept Server (cs.wellesley.edu = tempest.wellesley.edu). So it’s important to check now that you remember how to connect to your CS server account. You should have such an account from CS111 and/or CS230. If you do not yet have such an account, fill out This form right away.

You can use the ssh program to securely log into tempest from any computer. This program runs in a terminal window on your computer.

  • If you have a Mac, use its Terminal application for this purpose.

  • If you have Windows, use the Microsoft Windows Terminal application. If it is not installed on your computer, you can download and install it from Microsoft.

  • Another option is to use the PuTTY Terminal

Once you have one of the above Terminal applications, launch it connect to tempest by executing the following command:

ssh YourAccountName@cs.wellesley.edu

where YourAccountName is your tempest account name. E.g., user gdome would connect using the command

ssh gdome@cs.wellesley.edu

In order to connect, you will be prompted for the password for your CS Dept account. If you have forgotten it, contact Lyn or Scott Anderson to reset it.

If you encounter any problems with this part, contact Lyn right away.