Java/Eclipse/CVS Resources for CMSC 131


Development Environment

In order to complete the projects for this course you will be using an integrated software development tool (or IDE) called Eclipse. As most students will be working from their own computer, you must visit the following link and follow the instructions there on how to setup the Eclipse environment so that we know it works for our class. You must go to this page and read through and follow the directions about the plug-ins or things will not work for you.

http://www.cs.umd.edu/eclipse

Please note that for the most part we will not be using any features beyond Java 7 in this course, so if you happen to already have some Java experience, keep that in mind - they aren't needed for our work.

 

You'll be using a version control system called CVS. It is how we will get the starter files to each of you for projects and lab exercises, and it's also used as part of the submission process. There is some information at http://www.cs.umd.edu/eclipse/manage.html on setting this up, and you can click here for a screenshot of the CVS Connection Dialog Box for OUR CLASS this semester. There are two places during CVS setup that you will need to put your UMD user name in the place of where YourUserNameHere is shown. Note that the general information page does not have the repository base directory information for our section, but my screenshot does. Also, the information is listed below as well.

You can cut and paste the following lines into the dialog box:

Please note that you will use this CVS repository to check out the starter files for projects and labs, but should also use it as a way to keep regular backups of your code.

To commit changes that you have made to a Java project in Eclipse, right-click on the project name in the Package Explorer pane, then go to the Team submenu, and then select Commit... from there.

Each time you commit changes, the modifications since the last time you made a commit will be stored in your CVS repository. We will see how this not only creates an external backup of your work, but can be used to view earlier versions of your own code.

This provides several advantages, including that if something goes wrong with your computer and you have to use another one, you can pull a very recent version of your work from which to resume (and then be sure to commit your new version of course).

There are several computer labs at campus libraries www.lib.umd.edu/services/library-computer-availability and the page at www.cs.umd.edu/eclipse has resources related to running Eclipse off a USB drive if you have to in an emergency.
Jar creation for submission
If you find it necessary to use the submit server directly for your program submission, please see this information for instructions on how to create your .jar file. I strongly advise against this.



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