Table of Contents

  1. C++ Boot Camp
  2. C++ Boot Camp - Basic Syntax
  3. C++ Boot Camp - Intermediate Syntax
  4. C++ Boot Camp - Object-Oriented Programming
  5. C++ Boot Camp - Advanced Topics

C++ Boot Camp

The C++ Boot Camp is an eight hour mini-course offered by The Hacker Within. We decided to offer this course after our last boot camp, which covered the basics of using a UNIX command line. Many of the participants requested an introduction to C++ and so this event was organized. The participants consist of undergraduate students, graduate students, post-docs, and faculty members from a diverse set of departments around the university, including:

  • Engineering Physics
  • Geography
  • Biomedical Engineering
  • Electrical and Computer Engineering
  • Chemical and Biological Engineering
  • Forest and Wildlife Ecology
  • Mechanical Engineering
  • Limnology
  • Materials Science and Engineering
  • Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences
  • Astronomy
  • Biochemistry

We have currently reached our maximum registration limit of 36 participants. If you would like your name to be added to the waiting list, please send an email to hacker.within.admin@….

The boot camp will be divided into four topics.

Time and Locations

The 2009 Hacker Within C++ Boot takes place on the following dates from 5:30 PM to 7:30 PM:

  • Tuesday, March 24th 2009
  • Thursday, March 26th 2009
  • Monday, March 30th 2009
  • Tuesday, March 31st 2009

The boot camp will be held in room 175 of the CAE building (1410 Engineering Drive)

For those of you not familiar with the location, CAE is the first building on the right as you turn onto Engineering Drive from Randall. It is a small 2 story yellow brick building, and there is a large amount of construction occurring right outside. It is across the street from Engineering hall, and adjacent to the big silver fountain. If you have any problems, feel free to call me (Milad) at 608-213-6714

Prerequisites

We are assuming that participants have knowledge of programming in some language. For example, participants should know about variables, functions, loops, and conditionals. Also, participants should know how to navigate around a UNIX system. They should know how to use commands like cd, ls, mkdir, etc. Knowledge of creating files using a command-line text editor will be helpful. If you know how to use an editor like vi or emacs then you are fine. We will briefly cover how to use nano, which is an extremely easy-to-use text editor. Finally, we will be using the college of engineering (CAE) network to present examples and run the boot camp. Half of the participants must use their own laptops, because there are only 18 computers available. These participants will log into the CAE network using their laptops. We are requesting that you use the CAE network even if you are able to compile and run programs natively on your laptop. This ensures that everyone is using exactly the same system, will help us provide assistance to anyone who needs it, and will prevent compatibility issues.

Logging into the CAE Network

If you are a college of engineering student, then you can use your CAE user name and password to log in. If you are not a college of engineering student, then you will receive a temporary user name and password on the first day of the boot camp. These accounts are automatically disabled on the last day of the boot camp. If you are bringing a laptop, then you have to log in remotely using SSH. There are instructions below for doing this with different operating systems. You can log into CAE multiple times, simultaneously. We recommend have two or more terminals open so that you can easily type code and compile without having to constantly open/close your text editor.

Logging in remotely with SSH using a Mac or Linux

With a Mac or Linux, it is really easy to log in remotely. Simply open a terminal, and type the following command, replacing <username> with your CAE user name.

ssh <username>@best-tux.cae.wisc.edu

You may be asked a yes/no question at this point, answer yes. You will then be prompted for your CAE password. Enter it, then you will be logged into a CAE computer.

Logging in remotely with SSH using Windows

If you are using windows, then you will need to download an SSH program. I recommend Putty, which you can download here. If you download and run the Putty SSH program, a window will pop up. In the Host Name box, enter best-tux.cae.wisc.edu and click Open. You may then be prompted with a yes/no question, answer yes. You will then be prompted for your CAE user name and password. Enter it, and you should be logged into a CAE computer.

Accessing Boot Camp Materials

The boot camp materials can be accessed using subversion. Once you are logged into CAE, enter the following command:

svn checkout http://hacker-within.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/cpp-bootcamp

This will create a directory called cpp-bootcamp where all of the examples can be accessed.