CSCI 1300 - Spring 2007
Introduction to Computer Science
Software


If You Use a Mac

The software that we'll use runs only on a Windows PC. For older Macs (before they started using the Intel Processor), you'll need to download and install a program called Virtual PC for MAC (Version 7):

  1. Send your CU identikey name (not the password) to Michael (main@colorado.edu) and request an MSDNAA account for downloading Virtual PC for MAC (Version 7).
  2. When you receive your MSDNAA login information (by e-mail), log in to the MSDNAA site and choose the option for Virtual PC for MAC. When you checkout, you'll receive an installation key that is needed to install the product.
  3. In order to actually get the product, please download this file and burn it to a CD using the option to "burn an ISO image":

    http://theory.cs.colorado.edu/MSDNAA/VirtualPC.iso

  4. Use the CD and your installation code to install Virtual PC for MAC on your MAC machine.
  5. After installing Virtual PC, you'll need to install a copy of Windows XP Pro with sp2. There is an option to use the version of Windows that comes on the Virtual PC CD, but I've never been successful in getting that to install. Instead, you can get an installation key for Windows XP from your MSDNAA account, and you can download the iso image from:

    http://theory.cs.colorado.edu/MSDNAA/en_winxp_pro_with_sp2.iso

A fuller description of the installation process for Virtual PC, written by Dan Welsh-Bon, is available at www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/setupVPC.doc.

All Students Need Visual Studio C++

We'll be using a C++ compiler called Visual Studio. This is already installed on the PCs in the Engineering Center. There is a simple free version that you can install on your own machine from http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualc/usingpsdk/. Please be sure to follow all of the steps on this page:
  1. Install Visual C++ Express
  2. Install the Microsoft Platform SDK
  3. Update the Visual C++ directories in the Projects and Solutions section in the Options dialog box. Note: To get to the Projects and Solutions section, start Visual C++ Express and choose: Tools--> Options--> Projects and Settings-->VC++ Directories. From within this window, set each of the three required directories. For example, to set the Executables directory, choose Executable files from the dropdown menu, then click the New Line button in the row of buttons, and type the name of the directory as specified in Step 3 of the Microsoft web page.
  4. Update the corewin_express.vsprops file. For this step, open Notepad and browse down to the directory C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCProjectDefaults. From this directory choose the file corewin_express.vsprops and change the line as specified in Step 4 of the Microsoft web page.
  5. Generate and build a Win32 application to test your paths. The important part of this step is to edit the file AppSettings.htm in the directory Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VCWizards\AppWiz\Generic\Application\html\1033\. In order to find this file, open Notepad, browse down to My Documents, and from there continue down to Microsoft Visual Studio...

WinBGIM Graphics Library

After the first two weeks of class, we'll be using a graphics library that was written by some CU students. Here are the directions for writing a Visual Studio project that uses the BGI library on your machine:
  1. Download the file www.cs.colorado.edu/~main/intro/lab/StudentBGI.zip.
  2. Open this zip file and copy the directory (Student BGI Project) to a known place on your hard drive.
  3. Rename the new Student BGI Project to something that describes your project. Note: With certain external hard drives, I have run into a problem if the new directory name contains any capital letters; it's best, perhaps, to stick with all lower-case.
  4. Go into the newly renamed directory and double click on the Student BGI Project file.
  5. In the Solutions Explorer Window, please expand the BGI Project tab, right click on Source Files, and choose Add New Item. From the template list, choose C++ File. Click Add.
Now you can write your source code (be sure to #include lt;graphics.h>).