Homework 0
Due Wednesday, August 26, 10 pm

This is just a practice assignment. Its main purpose is to make sure that you have mastered logging in to the computers, downloading material, editing files, and turning in your homework. Once that is out of the way, we can begin serious work.

The assignment is to edit a short questionaire, inserting answers to the questions, and then mail the result to the correct place. For section 1 (Toussaint), the correct place is ``p305@physics.arizona.edu''. For section 2 (Eisenstein), the correct place is ``phys305@as.arizona.edu''.

This assignment is due before 10:00 PM on Wednesday, August 26. Your email is automatically time stamped, and submissions sent after that will not be accepted.

Use a web browser to download (copy into a file in your directory) the questionaire. To save this as a file, use the ``Save as'' option in the menu produced by the ``File'' button in firefox or konqueror. When the menu pops up, be sure to say that you want the result saved as a ``text'' file, rather than PostScript or source. Give the file some recognizable name. To do this, click on the filename, use ``backspace'' to delete the part of the name that you don't want (usually the part following the last slash), and type in the desired name.
In the PAS 272 section, note that you should be running the web browser on faraday (type ``firefox ...'' in the SSH window, rather than the browsers on your windows machine. That way, when you download the file it will end up on faraday.

Now edit the file, using either ``vi'' or ``emacs''.

Then mail it to ``p305@physics.arizona.edu'' or phys305@as.arizona.edu''. You can use a web browser to access your normal email account, and upload the file as an attachment. Alternatively, you can send mail from the Linux environment. One possibility is to use ``pine'', and use ``c'' to ``compose'' a message. When you are entering the body of a message, you can use ``control-R'' to enter a file into the message. This is simpler, and the problem with returning email alluded to in the course notes has been fixed on faraday (hopefully).

In addition to giving practice with editing and mailing, the purpose of these questions is to help us include the necessary material in the course while avoiding material that everyone already knows. In this respect, the question about the math courses you have had is the most important.

Please practice by composing and mailing the message to yourself and making sure that it contains what you mean for it to contain and nothing else. Then, when you have mastered the process, mail it to us.




Doug Toussaint 2009-08-24