Lab 0: Getting Started (Windows Setup)

Walkthrough: Organizing your Files

In this section, you will learn how to manage files using terminal commands.

Make sure your prompt does not begin with >>>. If it begins with >>> you are still in a Python shell, and you need to exit. See above for how.

Directories

The first command you'll use is ls. Try typing it in your terminal:

ls

The ls command (which stands for list) lists all the files and folders in the current directory. A directory is another name for a folder (such as the Documents folder).

Since you're in the home directory right now, after you type ls you should see the contents of your home directory.

Changing Directories

To move into another directory, use the cd command (which stands for change directory).

Let's try moving into your Desktop directory. First, make sure you're in your home directory by typing:

cd ~

Then, use the ls command to see if the Desktop directory is present.

If you see the Desktop directory, you can move into it with the following command:

cd Desktop

However, if the Desktop directory is not listed, it might be located elsewhere on your system. This can happen due to system configurations or custom setups. In that case, you'll need to find the correct location of your Desktop folder. Most of the time, the Desktop folder will be located in the OneDrive directory. So, you can try the following command:

cd OneDrive\Desktop

Making New Directories

Once you're in the Desktop directory, the next command you'll use is mkdir, which stands for make a new directory. Let's make a directory called cs61a in your Desktop directory to store all of the assignments for this class:

mkdir cs61a

A folder named cs61a will appear on your Desktop. You can verify this by using the ls command again or by checking your Desktop using File Explorer.

Now, let's create some more directories. First, make sure you are in the cs61a directory, which should be in a path like C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\cs61a where <USER> is your actual username. Then, create two new folders, one called projects and the other called lab. Both should be inside your cs61a folder:

cd cs61a
mkdir projects
mkdir lab

Now if you list the contents of the directory (using ls), you'll see two folders, projects and lab.

More Directory Changing

• cd .. (two dots). The .. means "the parent directory", or one directory above your current directory.

You do not have to keep your files on your Desktop if you prefer otherwise. Where you keep your files locally will not affect your grade. Do whatever is easiest and most convenient for you!

Downloading the Assignment

If you haven't already, download the zip archive, lab00.zip, which contains all the files that you'll need for this lab. On most computers, lab00.zip is probably located in a directory called Downloads in your home directory.

You must expand the zip archive before you can work on the lab files. You need to first click on the .zip file, then choose "Extract all". If you run into trouble, you can search online for how to unzip a file. Different operating systems and different browsers have different ways of unzipping.

You only need to unzip the files once.

Once you unzip lab00.zip, you'll have a new folder called lab00 which contains the following files (check it out with cd lab00 and ls):

• lab00.py: The template file you'll be adding your code to
• ok: A program used to test and submit assignments
• lab00.ok: A configuration file for ok

Summary

Here is a summary of the commands we just went over for your reference:

• ls: lists all files in the current directory
• cd <path to directory>: change into the specified directory

Finally, you're ready to start editing the lab files! Don't worry if this seems complicated—it will get much easier over time. Just keep practicing! You can also take a look at our UNIX tutorial for a more detailed explanation of terminal commands.