Some Facts about Programming Languages

 

Objective

This project will make sure that you have installed all of the class tools, that you can check-out projects, save your work, and submit projects.  You may also learn a couple of interesting facts about programming languages.

 

Historical Developments

This project allows you to read a little about the historical development of programming languages from the web.  You can just search for the information because you only need to select things from a multiple choice setup to get the language names and dates correct.  When deleting information that is not correct, make sure you delete the slashes in addition to the incorrect names and dates.

Overview of What You Must Do For This Project

We have written a project called "Fall08Proj0", which has been copied to your personal CVS repository.  Your job is to do the following:

1. Download and Install Java, Eclipse, and the course plug-ins onto your computer (unless you are working in a lab on campus.)
2. "Check out" the project.  (That means copy it from your CVS repository onto the computer you are working on using the CVS Repository Perspective.)
3. Using the Java Perspective, edit the project (as described below and in the file itself) and then save your work.
4. Run the project and read what is on the screen to make sure it looks correct.
5. Submit the project for testing and grading.

Detailed descriptions of these four steps follow:

1.  Install the Course Tools

Detailed instructions for installing the course tools can be found by following this link.  (If you have already done this on the machine you will be using for the project, there is no reason to do it again.)  It is important that you follow those instructions very precisely so that you will have the correct versions of all of the tools.  In a nutshell, you will do these things:

• Install the correct Java version.
• Copy the Eclipse zip file to your computer.
• Extract the contents of the zip file, therefore having Eclipse and its corresponding CMSC departmental plug-ins available for you to use.

2. "Check Out" the Project

• Get your class account.  If you have not already done so, login to the grades server (grades.cs.umd.edu) to obtain your class account and password.  The account ID will have this format:  cs131XXX.  (You will need your University of Maryland directory ID and password to access the grades system.)
• Create a CVS Connection.  If you have not already done so, you will need to create a "CVS connection" in the CVS repository perspective of Eclipse.  You only need to do this once on any particular machine that you want to work on.  (The same CVS connection can be used on that computer for the entire semester.)  Here's how to do it:  After changing to the CVS repository perspective, right-click the left-hand portion of the screen (under the tab that says "CVS repositories") and select "New, Repository Location".  This will bring up a dialog box with lots of things for you to fill in.  Fill in the fields so that they look exactly like this screenshot.  You should use your class account ID in the two places where it says "cs131XXX", and you should type the corresponding password into the box that says password.  Everything else should be copied so that it looks exactly like the screenshot.  Note that the connection type must be changed to extssh.
• Check Out the project.  Click the little "+" (or triangle) next to the CVS connection that you created.  Then click the little "+" (or triangle) next to the word "HEAD".  You should be able to see an entry that says "Fall08Proj0".  Right-click this folder, and select "Check Out".  That will copy the project files to the computer that you are working on.

3.  Edit the Project and Save

• Switch over to the Java perspective.  On the left side of the screen (under the tab that says "Package Explorer") you will see the project "Fall08Proj0".  Click the little "+" (or triangle) next to the folder.  Now click the little "+" (or triangle) next to "Student Code”.  You should see a file called "ComputingHistory.java".  This is the file you must edit!  Double-click this file and it should open in the editor on the right-side of the screen.
• Try running the program.  Make sure that the file is open in the editor, and then select Run, Run As, Java Application from the menu at the top.  You should see the output in the "console" window at the bottom of the screen.
• Modify the contents of the file so that it has only correct information. You need to make sure you remove all incorrect information and slashes from the sentences.  You will find more specific instructions in the file itself -- you'll see what we mean when you open the file.
• When you're done, save your work by clicking the little disk icon at the upper left or by selecting "File, Save" from the menu at the top.
• Run it again to make sure it works as expected -- if not, edit the file to repair it, save, and try running it again.  If you get stuck, drop by to visit one of us during office hours!

4.  Submit the Project

• To submit, right-click the project folder (in the "package explorer" window within the Java perspective) and choose "Submit Project".  If you do not see the "submit" option, then your plug-ins were not installed correctly! 
• Go to the submit server (submit.cs.umd.edu) to see if you passed the tests.  If you didn't pass the tests, fix up the project source file, test it and then submit it again!

Grading

There are two public tests and five release tests that you must pass for this project.  Together these comprise 100% of the project grade.  If you don't pass any of the tests, you don't get any points.