SYSC 3001 TA Resources

Material

Official
- Course website (Now password protected, go to class or ask a TA)
- Online version of the Linux Programming textbook (requires student card to logon)
  - Textbook source code: download via http or ftp (114.09 kb)
General Linux (Note: These links are not a replacement for the textbook)
- General application troubleshooting guide: xkcd.com/627
- Some commonly used Unix commands
- Additional commonly used Unix commands
- Using gdb (the command-line debugger)
- Why do the lines from my file look different when I transfer it from Windows to Linux (or vice versa)?
  - Because Windows and Linux use different line ending representations.
C References
C Samples
- error message printing: error.c
Compiling
- Use make to automate the building of your multiple assignment files
- If you are compiling something that uses threads, you may need to use the -lpthread option, eg:
  - gcc -o server -lpthread server.c

If you don't want to use man to look up the API parameters and flags, try searching for it below:

This will allow you to determe API parameters, which header file you need to include to use them, and the options provided by various Linux commands.

General
- General tips about assignments and quality, and past assignments
- Check the announcements frequently for assignment tips and hints from the professor
- Marks and their breakdowns will be placed in your M drive (aka home, or ~ directory) in your assign# folder as the file marks.txt. If you don't have one, ask your partner for your mark.
- Always compile and test the assignment on the lab machines (507/508 AA)
- Please use makefiles!

Logging on
- You must reboot the machines and choose 'Fedora' to boot into linux
- Log on using your connect username/password
- Not all of the machines work: if the domain says something like localdomain.localhost then you must switch to another machine to log on
Usage
- KDevelop C/C++ is a good C IDE installed on the machines, but not all have the debugger properly setup, if that is the case try to switch machines or use gdb manually
- Some of the machines still use a 1024x768 screen resolution, if you find you're having trouble resizing a window press Alt + Middle Mouse Click on the edge of a window.

General
- Unofficial course wiki entry: Information from past years about this course, and others
- www.engsoc.org: Remotely usable linux account (not the same version as the lab)
Utilities
- Putty: Windows ssh client (use to login to a remote shell account, like the one provided by engsoc)
- Filezilla: SFTP client (allows you to transfer files to a machine providing a remote shell account)
- SciTE: A simple cross platform graphical text editor, like notepad with tabs, and syntax highlighting. Can be found on the lab Windows machines under Start > All Programs > Ruby-185-21 > SciTE
Linux distributions
- Ubuntu: Distribution of linux, not used in the labs
- Fedora: Distribution of linux used in the labs (not the exact version)
Virtual machine software
- VirtualBox: Supports 32 and 64 bit guests, and is multi-platform (Win/Linux/Solaris/OSX)

[1] N. Matthew, and R. Stones, Beginning Linux Programming, pp. 7, 462-495, 496-525, 526-605, 608-643. Wiley Publishing Inc., 4th ed., 2008.