Basics

The CSE undergraduate labs are open to you 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. You can use the ACS Account Lookup Tool to get the lab door codes for irregular hours. While you can feel free to use any room, any room with Dell machines (which boot into either Linux or Windows) will allow you to login directly to your CSE8A environment (served from ieng6.ucsd.edu).

CSE B260 will additionally have tutors specifically for the CSE8A class available during the hours listed here (by Week 2) (note that these hours may change during the quarter, visit often to see the latest tutor hours). Tutors for the CSE11 class may also be able to answer your questions, but will not be able to answer specific questions about homework.
NOTE: Tutors will not be available to give interviews after 6 PM on the date that an assigment is due (in order to dedicate their time to those finishing the assignment).

Why go to Open Lab?

Can't I just do my homework at home or by logging in from home? Yes. You can install Dr. Java and the required classes/software for this class on a windows or mac machine. Click (here) -- link coming soon -- for instructions.

BUT, we STRONGLY recommend that you do most of your work in the lab. Our tutoring staff will be in lab many hours to assist you in learning the "practice" of programming. Use their time and skills wisely. See the notes below on "How to talk to a tutor".

How to login to UCSD lab computers (e.g. CSE Basement lab machines)

You will use your CSE8 specific login to log into Linux in the CSE basement lab. This username starts with cs8w and has two letters after it (like cs8waa or cs8wbg). It is NOT your UCSD login (the one that looks like your email name). If you need help with that login, please see the ACS (Academic Computing Services) Department. ACS has a web site where you can look at ALL accounts and passwords you have on any UCSD system, so if you forget you can look it up. Use the Account Lookup Tool.

When you login, you will see a windowing environment that is NOT Windows, but has a similar interface. Most people just play around with it to figure out how it differs from Windows. If you want, this user manual has all the detail you could want.

You will have Firefox installed as a web browser. You will have Dr. Java installed. You will also have 2 common programming editors installed -- emacs and vim. You don't have to use them this term, but you will be using them next term.

In lab, during Week 1, we'll help you set up your account so that you can get to the things you need through the GUI interface to linux.

This is your personal storage that you will have access to this term -- where you should store all your CSE8A work. You get much more space here than you have on your regular UCSD windows account.

How to talk to a tutor

You can get the most help, the most quickly from a tutor by observing a few guidelines before asking for help. The primary objective is to think like an engineering professional. If someone was coming to ask you for help, what would you want them to present to you and what would you have expected them to have tried? This may be a hard question to answer the first few weeks of class, but should become easier shortly.

Some suggestions:

• Provide a printout of your code, or have the code open in an editing window for the tutor to see. Programs are detailed beasts, likely we'll have to look at the specifics of your program in order to best help you.
• Be able to state clearly and exactly the problem you are having. This may mean you want to write down on a piece of paper EXACTLY the error message you are getting (including what line it is on). Particularly, do you have:
  • A general windows question (how to use an editor, copy a file, etc).
  • An error compiling your program? (things that show up in your "Compiler Output" window in Dr. Java). Here we need to know the EXACT text of the FIRST error message, including what "line" in the source code the compiler is unhappy with.
  • A runtime error. This is an error produced by Java when you attempt to run your program with some specific input. We need to know the EXACT text again and also the input you gave the program that produced the error.
  • A logic error. This occurs when your program both compiles and runs without errors, but does not give the result that you expected. Here, we need to know what output you expected, why, and what output you are currently getting.

Tutors do expect you to have worked on your problem before you talk to them. They expect you to have read thoroughly the homework problem statement (though you can ask them questions about it) and to be able to discuss what you think your program is doing -- or to have specific questions for them about how a programming construct works.

Life as a computing professional involves facing new problems and using a scientific method to work towards a solution in a logical manner. Tutors appreciate efforts in that vein, and will be better able to help those students who can communicate with them in this way. Nonetheless, tutors are there to help provide you with some of the background knowledge they have learned, to make your acquisition of these problem solving skills less painful.