What IDE for C programming? (and a few new-student questions)
August 7, 2009 - 14:18 — mswirski@uoguelph.ca
Hello Everyone,
This is my first post, hooray.
I am a new student hoping to get a Bachelor of Computing degree, and the first course I'll be taking in the fall is CIS 1500, and I was wondering what IDE the class uses by default, if any, and if anyone has some comments on the course (such as are the texts really necessary to purchase?)
I was also wondering if it was feasible to use a laptop instead of the provided computers, mainly in a lab scenario.
Any advice is welcome :)
Thanks!
- Login to post comments
SOCIS newsletter
Syndicate
IDE and such
Use of Laptops is perfectly fine. All the submissions and assignments are online so you can even get an early start on your labs at home if you want. As for IDE's you can really use whatever you want. Personally I used GCC commandline compiler in a linux environment. Pelles C seems to be a popular choice for people using Windows, so you might want to investigate that.
Comments on the course: A lot of non programmers take the course as a requirement for other majors. If you've done programming throughout high school, you should have no problems. C has a lot of great programming resources online (much of the C++ stuff is transferable too) so whether or not you need the textbook depends on your level.
Hope that helps!
-SB
Welcome! During your first
Welcome!
During your first class, you'll be filled in by your instructor on what textbook and compiler is required. That said, most CIS 1500 courses tend to use Pelles C for IDE/compiler. You're not usually expected to have the textbook for the first day of class.
For a lab scenario, you can use your laptop in the labs, however there are a limited amount of outlets and network cables in some labs (be prepared to use battery power and wireless). That said, assignments are required to compile and run on lab machines.
---
Jordan Kapp
Fourth Year - BA(G)/CIS
Canadian Forces Regular Officer - Aerospace Control Officer
Wirth switched to linux/gcc
Wirth switched to linux/gcc last year. I'm not certain that turned out well, but I think he had finally had enough of dealing with Windows-related issues. Probably at some point the difficulty saved by letting kids work in their own environment was overcome by the difficulty gained by letting that environment be Windows Vista.
---
Wyatt Carss
... a guy
http://wcarss.blogspot.com
Wow, thanks
Thanks for the quick reply guys, and its settled my concerns :)
I'll probably just go with the gcc, but I'm undecided as to whether I should put windows on dual boot for some compatibility (and surprisingly, battery life).
Appreciate the help :)
Also, I am pretty skilled in Java and C++, and started some C over the summer, so i should be prepared for the course.
Sounds like you're pretty
Sounds like you're pretty prepared for the course. To be honest, you probably shouldn't be so worried, as Sacha was saying, the course is taken by non-programmers as well, so you will likely breeze through it. The real challenge for first semester is calc 1200. If Prof. Wiener is still teaching you then you can be sure you have a great prof to help you, but it's still most people's first big obstacle in CIS.
Also, I do suggest a dual boot personally, having your own linux install can be great for getting work done outside the labs. If you've already got windows installed, I suggest trying an ubuntu install with wubi if you don't want to get your hands dirty.
--
Martin Lindsay
Actually,
Thanks for the info Martin, but actually I have linux on my laptop right now, my hands are very 'dirty' as you put it :P
The question is whether it would be useful to have a windows dual boot for compatibilities sake, and I think that one is really just personal preference, and I'll have to gauge it by the programs I want to use... though I know VirtualBox or Crossovers usually do well enough.
Good to see you're prepared!
School-wise, there is no reason (which I'm aware of) to run Windows. Maybe if you can't get a game running smooth enough in Wine. :P
The biggest advantage to Linux (and I think still OSX), is that you don't have to worry about installing any special programs to get access to the network. Windows users have to install Cisco Clean Access Agent and do some awful confirmation steps that lock torrent traffic and some other less desirable network traffic down. I think that's just over the wireless... but I'm not sure; I've never really had to deal with it.
---
Wyatt Carss
... a guy
http://wcarss.blogspot.com
Awesome
Thanks for the info, I knew they had to use a clean access agent, i wasn't sure what the entailed, and I doubted linux had to deal with it. And by the sounds of things, I'll just stick with linux then :). Crunchbang is the distro of choice if anyone is wondering.
You might want to consider
You might want to consider installing Ubuntu: it's the distro of choice on the lab machines and for most people using Linux around here. I believe the lab machines are using 8.04 LTS, though I may be wrong.
---
Jordan Kapp
Fourth Year - BA(G)/CIS
Canadian Forces Regular Officer - Aerospace Control Officer
That would make sense, its
That would make sense, its the latest LTS release.
Also Crunchbang is built on Ubuntu, its just using Openbox, and a few other tweaks really.
By the way...
Do you guys think I could get by with just using the textbooks from the library (I'll be at the library a lot of the time, since I have a big chunk of time in between my classes around 10-3), or is it needed in class too?
Generally, CIS courses do
Generally, CIS courses do not require you to bring a textbook for lectures, though they are useful to bring to lab sessions. If money is a concern, there's usually plenty of second-hand copies floating around, or someone in Second/Third/Fourth(?) year may be willing to lend you their copy for the semester.
---
Jordan Kapp
Fourth Year - BA(G)/CIS
Canadian Forces Regular Officer - Aerospace Control Officer
Excellent, I'll look into
Excellent, I'll look into that. Thanks
..and, while there's nothing wrong with the library.
There's a fair number of people who spend time in the SOCIS Lounge, in the Reynolds building. It has ended up being where many of us congregate during those between-classes times. There's cheap pop, (usually) cheap chocolate bars/candy, network cables/outlets, comfy couches, and a sense of community to be had.
/shamelessplug
---
Wyatt Carss
... a guy
http://wcarss.blogspot.com
Haha
Yea, i noticed that once I dug around the official comp sci website, and it seemed like a place I'd like to spend time. I'm taking a bunch of other computer-unrelated classes (Psychology, Philosophy, Geography) so I don't know if I'd be able to spend a tonne of time there, but its definitely a good place to meet some like-minded people I'm sure... Which reminds me of another question... I've got no idea what I want to take as my 'area of application'. How did you guys decide? I hope to be getting a job as a programmer after university or a analyst, which doesnt seem to lend itself to an area of application.
Analyst
Can't pretend to be an expert on it, but it seems to me that an analyst might benefit from business related courses?
You B Comp has a lot of electives so you don't have to pick your A App right away. Sounds like you have a variety of courses already picked out, so just wait and see which of them you like!
-SB
While I hate to point out
While I hate to point out the obvious,
You haven't even started your first semester yet, so don't fret about your AofA. You've got lots of time, so your best bet for first year is to try as many non-CIS classes as you can, and discover what you like; You might be surprised how much your mind can change after taking just one class. Your AofA is only 8 classes, which is easy enough to either stretch out over years, or cram into two or three semesters.
As for career choices, both SOCIS and the Department occasionally have guest speakers from various CIS-related fields come in, and it is an excellent opportunity to pick their brains. Some of our department staff also have great experiences in both theoretical and practical fields, so it doesn't hurt to chat them up as well.
Again, you've got lots of time, so don't worry about it.
---
Jordan Kapp
Fourth Year - BA(G)/CIS
Canadian Forces Regular Officer - Aerospace Control Officer
I can't speak for others,
I can't speak for others, but a very large reason why I came to Guelph is because of my broad interest base. I have a _lot_ of interests, and I loved the idea of having many electives and the chance to minor in something -- and NOT be forced to take tons of math or science, like many other uni's out there. I came thinking I'd minor in one of three subjects: Business Administration, Psychology, and Physics. Business was thrown out after taking microeconomics for a week and then deciding to swith the class to philosophy instead...so I decided that I'd either want to AofA in Phil, Psych, or Physics from then on.
Physics was eliminated after I finished the course, and so it came down to psychology or philosophy, for me. I picked the subject I enjoyed the most - psychology.
My personal advice would be to take classes in things you enjoy, and end up AofA'ing in a subject you're interested in. Not to belittle business, but I've met many business admin minors who thought it would be better to minor in something they thought was useful rather than interesting, and they've regretted it afterwords. There are people AofA'ing in philosophy, physics, business, theatre, english, studio art, and so on. It doesn't have to be directly relatable to computer science.
Need ideas? When you get here in the fall, there's a list of area of applications that CIS students have just outside Allan Dyer's door, on the first floor of Reynolds, room 113. If what you desire isn't there, or you are thinking of something creative, see either Linda Allen or Allan Dyer. Remember, you have until the end of second year to decide :) Just don't wait until then to give it any thought.
--------------------------
Robyn (Robert) Smith
Honours Bachelor of Computing
President, Society of Computing and Information Science
Thanks guys, i appreciate
Thanks guys, i appreciate all the feedback. I didn't realize we had that much time to decide, and I'm glad other people have taken AoA that don't relate to CIS. Thats going to be a big hurdle for me, I think, because while I have a huge interest in computers, I'm kind of unsure what I enjoy outside of that. I'm very glad at this moment i took Psych Philosophy and Geo, because I hope it will allow me to check out those courses and see what my interests are. I enjoyed all three in HS, so I'm sure I can come up with something by the time I have to decide.
Hey, First, I'd like to
Hey,
First, I'd like to welcome you to the compsci program and shamelessly mention that you should check out our o-week events when September rolls around -- look for SOCIS events in the o-guide or take a look on our website.
To answer your question: Most of us get along without textbooks for CIS courses. Google is the best reference manual in the universe. However, if the class has open book exams again this year, it might be worth getting it. For CIS courses that are math related, like CIS1910 and CIS2910, and of course for MATH1200, it's very useful to have the textbook. In the case of 1910 and 2910, you can actually use the same textbook for both classes. The advice I'd give for almost any course: go to the first class at the bare minimum before making a decision about buying the textbook, especially if you're on a budget. Sometimes, the prof puts down a textbook only because it's required to have a textbook, and not necessarily because the textbook is of any use. That said, courses where there's obvious readings from a textbook: it might be useful to pick it up early so you can do the readings on time.
Check out the buy/sell section of our forums and drop by the lounge to see if anyone is selling their old textbooks. The Cannon is also a fantastic place to find people that are selling old textbooks.
From what you mentioned above, you probably won't have too many problems with CIS*1500. Calculus will likely be your largest hurdle first semester -- it definitely was mine. If you pop by the lounge sometime, you can even hear details :P
Enjoy your first year!
--------------------------
Robyn (Robert) Smith
Honours Bachelor of Computing
President, Society of Computing and Information Science
Awesome Robyn, thanks for
Awesome Robyn, thanks for the insights, i am on a tight budget so I'll be sure to take a few claases before deciding on the books, and I'm sure I'll struggle with Calc as much as everyone else (man, im pathetic at math!:P).
I'd also like to thank everyone in this thread, you guys are very welcoming, and its nice to see everyone is so friendly! By simply posting this topic and snooping around the CIS website, I've discovered a lot of information, and from what I've read here, it seems like I'll have a great time at Guelph, and especially in the lounge (it's sounding much better then the library to be honest, hopefully I can meet some great friends!)
Thanks for all the info, and I really do look forward to September :)
BTW, if you're on a budget,
BTW, if you're on a budget, check out the co-op bookstore. It's faster than the cannon, and it has better prices for both new and used textbooks than other bookstores. I believe that they do not make a profit.
http://www.guelphcampus.coop/
--------------------------
Robyn (Robert) Smith
Honours Bachelor of Computing
President, Society of Computing and Information Science
By the way, we never really
By the way, we never really did get your name, I'm Kelvin and I'll be your community liaison this year.
Also, be sure to tell everyone you know thats coming to Guelph about us, whether they're B.Comp or not. We have a lot of non-B.comp members and are always looking for more!
----------------
Kelvin Lau
2nd Year BAH/CIS
Community Liaison
Heh, forgive me for that. My
Heh, forgive me for that. My name is Mitchell :). And its nice to meet you Kelvin, I've told a few people, but not many of my friends are coming this year. I am looking forward to it though.
FYI
Welcome :)
Just a little FYI - I didn't select my AoA until second semester of my *fourth* year. This is not ideal and somewhat against CIS policy, but I was neglectful and naive. Al Dyer didn't flinch when I told him (in 2nd semester 4th year!) that I didn't have an AoA; we just set it up, created a plan and I followed through. However, due to lack of foresight I completed my Honours degree in 10 semesters (instead of 8). That's what you getting for dropping 2nd and 3rd year courses as you see fit.
This digression has a point: the staff and faculty can - and do - help you when you need it.
Good luck! P.S. 2500 and 2750 - START ASSIGNMENTS EARLY. Like the day-you-get-them early.
___________
Tom Redman
The trouble with computers is that they do what you tell them, not what you want.