Getting started

Follow these steps to get started!

What you need to do to get started

Part of being a computer scientist is having the right tools. You need the right tools for the job you have to do. Learning how to correctly use your tools is an important part of becoming a computer scientist or programmer.

When you first start using a new tool it can feel confusing, overwhelming or weird. Don’t worry! This topic is concerned with the very first steps in setting up your tools. The more you use a tool, the better you become.

There are two parts of getting setup:

1. tool setup
2. class communication systems setup

Join classroom

Please make sure you have joined our google classroom. If you have any trouble, please let your instructor know.

Bookmark the following sites

• https://computersciencewiki.org
• https://computersciencelearning.org
• https://discuss.computersciencelearning.org
• https://news.ycombinator.com/
• https://slashdot.org/
• https://www.sciencedaily.com/news/computers_math/computer_science/
• https://www.techmeme.com/
• https://arstechnica.com/

Please keep an eye open for an email from treehouse

Treehouse is a learning management system that we use to learn code. It's cool. If you see an email invite from them, please accept.

Launch, update, learn and keep in dock the latest version of Sublime.

Sublime is a really powerful text editor used by professional programmers. It should already be installed on your computer. click here to download if it is not installed.

1. Start the application "Sublime 3".
2. Update the application.
3. Please keep Sublime 3 in your dock
4. Please watch these video to learn some really helpful features of sublime text:
   1. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVkR1ZkNusI
   2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JFIeY46sIU

Launch, update and keep in dock iTerm2

iTerm is a replacement for your default terminal application. It should be installed on your computer. Click here to download if it is not installed on your computer.

1. Start the application "iTerm2"
2. Update the application
3. Keep the application in your dock

Launch, update Microsoft Office

Although we'll only use Excel this year it's good to have the whole version of office updated.

1. This is a HUGE UPDATE (many gigabytes)
2. Start Microsoft Excel and follow the steps to update everything
3. This update will take many hours to complete.
4. Keep the application Excel in your dock

Register for our class forum

Please click here to request our class discussion forum Once the page has been rendered by your browser, please click the "register" button and follow the instructions to register. Please make sure you use only your school email address, and please make sure your username:

1. Does not contain your last name
2. Does not contain any personally identifiable information
3. Does not contain any inappropriate content

Most students use their first name, for example, Tom or Felix123

Register for github

Please click here to request github signup page Once the page has been rendered by your browser, please follow the instructions to register. Please make sure you use only your school email address, and please make sure your username:

1. Does not contain your last name
2. Does not contain any personally identifiable information
3. Does not contain any inappropriate content

Most students use their first name, for example, Tom or Felix123

Install and setup Visual Studio Code

1. Click here for instructions to install Visual Studio Code

Update the python package manager

As a Python programmer, you may need to install some external libraries or packages. We use a tool called pip for this.

1. Open the application iTerm2
2. Type the following command: pip3 install --upgrade pip

Please learn how to use the following sites

• https://computersciencewiki.org
• https://computersciencelearning.org
• https://discuss.computersciencelearning.org