Setup¶
Services¶
Google Classroom¶
The course will be run at least partly through Google Classroom. You should have received a welcome message sent to your go.olemiss.edu email address. Please accept the invitation to join the class (Phys 540 Summer 2020) by clicking on the enclosed link. You may find it convenient to download the Classroom app on your phone’s app store. Since the course is being delivered remotely, this is the best way for us all to communicate between class meetings. Feel free to post questions or start discussions at any time.
Classroom integrates with Google Meet, Drive, and Calendar. Meet will be our tool for video conferencing (every weekday from 10:00–11:15). Recorded videos will be available on a shared folder in Drive. I will post Calendar events reminding you of class meetings and assignment deadlines.
Bitbucket¶
We may occassionally use Google Classroom’s assignment submission/upload feature, but generally I will ask you to turn in code by creating a git repository on Bitbucket (a cloud-based git repository service) and granting me permission to view it.
Be sure to sign up for a free account on Bitbucket. And please do so using your university email address. Accounts ending in .edu are treated as special educational accounts.
System¶
Hardware¶
You will need a computer with a reliable internet connection running Windows 10 or some flavour of Unix (GNU/Linux, FreeBSD, macOS, …). If access to a computer is an issue, please talk to me soon. The department may be able to find a loaner laptop.
GNU/Linux¶
GNU/Linux comes in many flavours, most of them descended from one of Debian, Arch, or Fedora. I’ll assume in these instructions that you use a Debian-based distribution (such as Ubuntu, Pop!_OS, Elementary OS, …) and rely on the Advanced Package Tool (APT) to install software. If you’re using something else, you’ll have to modify the steps accordingly.
Start by making sure that apt and its package lists are up-to-date.
Add the basic developer tools and the llvm compiler toolchain.
Add whatever other software or libraries you might need.
$ sudo apt update
$ sudo apt install build-essential xz-utils curl git
$ sudo apt install llvm clang
$ sudo apt install gnuplot imagemagick python3
If any of those packages are already installed, replace install with
upgrade.
macOS¶
macOS is based on BSD Unix, and it supports most of the standard command
line tools. The system includes a good terminal emulator,
Terminal.app, but you may want to download iTerm2, which is better still. For many years, the
default shell on macOS was BASH. As of 10.15 Catalina, Apple is
encouraging users to switch to Z Shell. There are other good options,
especially fish.
The compiler and developer tools are no longer installed automatically as part of the OS. You have to do that manually.
$ xcode-select --install
For most other software you’ll want to install with
homebrew. Set up homebrew by running its
install.sh script.
$ /bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/master/install.sh)"
Make sure everything is up-to-date:
$ brew update
$ brew doctor
$ brew upgrade
Then start downloading the software you need.
$ brew install git
$ brew install gnuplot
$ brew install imagemagick
$ brew install python3
Note that macOS already comes with git and python, but the versions
installed are only current from the release date of the OS, and they
tend to get stale quickly. Homebrew will add new package in
/usr/local/Cellar and symlink to them from /usr/local/bin.
Windows¶
It’s possible to do all the course work under Windows 10, provided that you install the Windows Subsystem for Linux. These instructions explain how to install WSL2 and how to obtain a Linux image from the Microsoft Store. As for which distribution, Ubuntu 20.04 LTS or Debian GNU/Linux are reasonable choices. There is some useful additional information here, including instructions on how to Run Graphical Applications
Languages¶
C++¶
There should be a C/C++ compiler installed on your system. Check that it’s there.
$ g++ --version
Apple clang version 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.5.0
Thread model: posix
$ clang++ --version
Apple clang version 11.0.3 (clang-1103.0.32.62)
Target: x86_64-apple-darwin19.5.0
Thread model: posix
Julia¶
The team behind Julia distributes their own binaries. Download them here and follow these platform-specific instructions.