Fall 1999-2000

Date: 11^th September 1999 Assignment # 0: Familiarizing with the Environment Due date: 18^th September 1999

Download this assignment from the home page: http://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa and take it on a floppy. If you open it in a browser, you will have the advantage of easy navigation to some web documents through hot links. Deliverables and Submission guidelines are provided on-line.

On-line Exploration and Reading Part

Exercise 0 [Preparation of Weekly Schedule and Time Management]:

If you have not already done so, allocate about 10 – 12 hours/week towards this course. Try as far as possible to honor your commitment by deferring all other issues to other time slots. Keep track of time that you are spending on different aspects like reading, on-line exploration etc. and document it as part of your work.

Exercise 1 [Obtaining Access to On Campus Computing Facilities]:

If you do not already have accounts, obtain computer accounts on the following platforms:

(a) ITC Unix from ITC Help desk

(b) CCSE Unix from Mr. Saleh Al-Yami

Exercise 2 [Familiarizing with E-Mail and Web Browsing]:

By default you will have access to e-mail and web services when you have accounts on the CCSE and ITC Unix platforms. If not get them activated from the appropriate help desks. Familiarize with the use of E-mail and browsing the world wide web. Send an e-mail message to your instructor with a brief description of yourself. Make sure that it has your ID#, name, e-mail, web page if any.

Exercise 3 [Exploration of Major Online Resources]:

Using a browser of your choice, browse through the following:

(a) KFUPM home page (http://www.kfupm.edu.sa)

(b) CCSE home page (http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa)

(d) Your ICS 313 instructor's page (http://www.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/ccse/~maghrabi/index.htm

(e) ICS 313 common course page (http://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/ics31302991/index.html)

(f) Programming languages reference page (http://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/ProgrammingLanguagesReferenceSection and http://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/JavaReferenceSection) and some online books

(http://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa/Books)

(g) The ftp sites of CCSE network (ftp://ftp.kfupm.edu.sa) as well as your instructor's (ftp://pc-ghanta.ccse.kfupm.edu.sa).

Take a note of what is what in those pages and bookmark (add to your list of favorite places) the pages that you consider important. Save the bookmarks in a file and keep it in a floppy so that you can carry with you.

Exercise 4 [Creation of a Directory Structure for the Course]:

Create a directory structure to organize the work of this course as mentioned in the file directoryStructure.rtf from the course page.

Exercise 5 [Online Reference Section]:

Starting from your instructor’s page, explore the online resources: Programming Languages Reference Section, Java Reference Section, and other Online Books. Skim through the books. Examine the various programming language books in it.

Exercise 6 [Reading from Textbook]:

Take notes, while reading the textbook carefully from Preface onwards until the end of Chapter 2.

Written Part

Written Exercises [Problems from Chapter 1 of the Textbook]:

Solve problem 16 (page 34 of the textbook) from Chapter 1.

Written Exercises [Problems from Chapter 2 of the Textbook]:

Solve problems 13 and 20 (page 100-101 of the textbook) from Chapter 2.

Prepare a soft copy of the assignment using the template available from the programming languages course page. Name it as Assignment#0.rtf. Keep two independent copies of your complete work for this course on floppies. Submit a softcopy as well as a hardcopy of the assignment at the beginning of the class on Saturday, 18th September 1999. This assignment carries no formal credit, but is expected to set the context so that we can get started with the real study of programming languages.

Department of Information and Computer Science

On-line Exploration and Reading Part