CSC 151.01, Class 02: Getting started with Linux and Scheme

1. Grab a card from to table.
2. Identify which Machine you should be at.
3. Drop the card in the jar.
4. Go to that machine and sit down.
5. When your partner arrives, introduce yoruself.

Overview

• Preliminaries
  • Notes and news
  • Upcoming work
  • Extra credit
  • Quick check
  • Questions
• Getting started with Linux
• Getting started with Scheme
• Spatial reasoning exercise

News / Etc.

• Welcome back to CSC 151!
• I’m still Sam (or SamR)
• Your class mentors are still Hongyuan, Jemuel, and Marli.
• Mike Conner, our System Administrator, should be here near the beginning of class to distribute accounts for MathLAN.
• You should have received three handouts at the start of class.
  • A card that tells you where to sit.
  • Lab instructions for the GNU/Linux lab
  • Lab instructions for the first Scheme lab
• Today is the last day for printed labs. After today, I will assume that you can read the lab instructions online or print your own.
• We will be following the instructions for finding a computer each class.
• I will skip attendance today.
• Another class follows immediately after ours. Please make sure that you appropriately clean up after yourself, leaving your work area as good or better than you found it.
  • Note pads neatly near the side
  • Chairs pushed in
  • Scraps thrown away
  • Machine card back in the box
• Reminder: We have a mailing list of stuff of interest to people interested in CS (talks, opportunities, etc.). Drop me a message if you’d like to be added.
• Before your primary Grinnell account gets locked … sign in to passwordreset.grinnell.edu and fill out the security questions.
• There is (almost) always free hot water in the CS commons (sometimes coffee, sometimes tea, …)

Mentor Spiel

• What are mentors? They are people who help you with labs by asking you questions. They also serve as a more general resource (“Sam is cruel. How do I deal with that?”)
• CSC 151 mentors hold mentors sessions Wednesday or Thursday from 8pm to 9pm in the CS Commons (across the hall and a bit east of our classroom).
• We also have evening tutors in 3813/3815 in the evenings Sunday through Thursday 7-10 pm and also Sunday 3-5 pm.
  • When you use the evening tutors, please sign in.
• They are considered people in authority; they are required reporters for Title IX.
• Use these resources! We provide them to help you succeed.

Upcoming Work

• Signed academic honesty policy due in class on Wednesday.
  • If you are uncomfortable signing it, make an appointment to chat with me.
• Read: Data types
• Read: Numeric values in Scheme
• Read: Characters and strings in Scheme
• Read: Symbolic values in Scheme

Extra credit (Academic)

• Community Hour: Healing from Hate, 11 am, Tuesday, JRC 101
• CS Table, noon, Tuesday, PDR upstairs or Whale Room

Extra credit (Peer)

• Women’s Soccer vs. Simpson, Friday, 5:00 pm, Springer Field
• Women’s Soccer vs. Alumnae, Sunday, Noon, Springer Field
• Men’s Soccer vs. Coe, Friday, 3:00 pm, Springer Field
• Men’s Soccer vs. Alumni, Sunday, 2:00 pm, Springer Field
• Volleyball vs. Wisconsin-Whitewater, Friday, 4;00 pm, Coe College (Cedar Rapids)
• Volleyball vs. Wisconsin-La Crosse, Friday, 8;00 pm, Coe College (Cedar Rapids)

Good things to do

• Ag Days in Grinnell, Thursday the 31st. More info forthcoming.

Quick check in

What do you expect the value of the following expressions to be?

(square 4)
(* (+ 4 2) 2)
(- 1 (/ 1 2))
(/ (- (+ 2 3) 1) 2)
(expt 2 3)

• 1 min with your partner.
• I’ll use the random cards to ask for your answers.

Questions

Getting started with Linux

Is it okay that we have version 6.7 of DrRacket, rather than the one that

is mentioned in the lab/reading?

Yes.

Why do I get an error message when I type (square 4)?

square is not built in to Scheme. Sam wanted to remind you that you can’t count on all operations being there. He also wanted you to see error messages.

Why does some random reading/lab mention Tuesday classes?

Until this year, CSC 151 met four days per week. We have not completely updated the readings/labs. (Copy/paste is not always the best way to write.)

Why are the links to the readings broken?

Computers are sentient and malicious.

Will things go better next time?

I hope so.

Getting started with Scheme

Where should comments that provide citations go?

Where the code you are citing goes. Most often, in the definitions pane.

Spatial reasoning survey

• Background: Eliza Kempton in Physics got a CAREER grant (yay!). As part of that grant, she is considering the relationship between spatial reasoning skills and performance in introductory science courses.
• She has asked that we give a survey in each class.
• She will also select some students from introductory classes to invite to a class in which she explores techniques for improving spatial reasoning.
• Sam reads official statement.