• Overview: This is an ungraded psuedo-assignment in which you familiarize yourself with the course and Racket, introduce yourself to me and the tutors, and install DrRacket on your laptop.

  • Due: Try to complete Tasks 1–5 before before class on Wed Jan 30, and all remaining Tasks soon after that.

1. Familiarize yourself with the course

Read through the syllabus and schedule and 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 Lyn and the Tutors

Introduce yourself to Lyn and the tutors (Ngina, Sherry, and Destiny) by creating a CS251 Introze introduction for yourself. (Introze was created by Wellesley faculty alum Susan Buck.)

3. Fill out the Drop-In hour poll

Fill out this poll, selecting all of the displayed times at which you could attend drop-in hours during a typical week. The tutors and I will use this info to help us schedule drop-in hours.

4. Read about Big-step semantics

Read Racket Expressions and Declarations slides 1–24 on big-step semantics for (parts of) the lectures on Wed Jan 30 and Thu Jan 31. We’ll talk about these in class, but I want you to get in the habit of reading slides before coming to class.

5. Install DrRacket

Install DrRacket on your laptop following these notes.

If you don’t have a laptop, you can share with others in class. Outside of class, you can use any public computer, including the Linux machines in the microfocus, all of which have DrRacket installed.

6. Racket Reading

Read these two sections from the Racket Guide, and experiment with examples in DrRacket:

Don’t worry if you don’t understand everything or have lots of questions. We’ll spend the next two weeks covering this material in detail.

7. Racket Reference

Quickly skim the Racket Reference. This is the main documentation for the Racket language, and you will consult it frequently throughout the course.