That’s one of the biggest misconceptions about
computer science … [that] you have to learn this big body of information
before you can do anything.
— M. Zuckerberg
Addition, subtraction, and that’s about it …
— B. Gates
You don’t have to be a genius to code.
Do you have to be a genius to read? …
— B. Grimes
Quotes from code.org’s
“Code Stars” video
This page explains how best to prepare yourself and your
computational environment for CS 108.
Preparing for the course
CS 108 does not assume that you have any programming experience,
but it does assume a background in basic mathematics. Contact us if
you have any questions about your preparedness for this course.
Doing the course work
The labs in SB 354 & 372 are pre-configured to support this course, so
if you are on campus, you are free to do all your course work there.
If you are off campus, you have two options: configuring your own machine
and accessing the lab machines remotely. We suggest that you install the
software on your own machine and then use the option you find most
convenient.
Configuring your own machine
If you would like to configure your own machine, you can configure the
following tools.
- Moodle — The Moodle learning management
system is generally pretty easy to use. For reference, Calvin provides
an Moodle training materials.
- Thonny - Install the latest
version of Thonny development environment for your system type.
Thonny has a current version of
Python built-in and should work without further configuration.
- [OPTIONAL]
MS Teams — Teams is the
online session tool used by Calvin. It was of more use under COVID
restrictions, but could still be useful this year. Download the app (for
desktop, mobile, or use it via the web).
Note that if you want to
share your screen using MS Teams on a Mac, you’ll need to allow
screen recording (for Teams and/or your Web browser); see this support page under the
heading “Share content on a Mac”.
If you have any problems configuring your system, post to the course forum or
email one of the instructors.
Accessing the lab machines remotely
There are a limited number of remote and virtual machines available for CS
courses. You can find:
The course software for CS 108 is installed on both the Linux and the
Windows remotes.