The goal of this project is to get everyone set up so they may run some C++ code and implement a simple print statement. The required software is git bash for handling the necessary git commands and for now Visual Studio 2017/19. Normally in a professional enviornment there would be a makefile that would have instructions for the gcc compiler to build everything in a project like this, but for now we are going to lean on the GUI from Visual Studio. This project is less of a test of whether or not you can code, but to try and give the best representation of software development in a collaborative enviornment. (with the exception of a pull request, since everyone is doing the same code) The pull request and related material will be covered in an avionics meeting as it is really important and should be explained in person. This project also assumes a windows host pc as that seems to be the larger OS for most people. (Personally I am a linux guy)
Note: This code is taken from Sarkar's COMPE260 class in data structures.
Required Software (windows):
- Git Bash
- Visual Studio
Git Bash is a windows application providing a POSIX-resembling bash shell and the Git utilities.
Visual Studio is an IDE for developing in a ton of languages from microsoft, I've taken C++ classes that use it as the preferred IDE.
Step one is to install git bash from the the git website
When installing it is safe to choose all the default options. (unless you have other preferences)
NOTE:
So when you open it you will be dropped into a shell in your home directory. For me is says myuser@machine MINGW64 ~
NOTE:
A dollar sign ($) means the shell command is run as the normal user. A pound sign (#) means the command is run with elevated privileges (as root or administrator). Do not include either in the copy/paste
NOTE:
If we go ahead and run the list command "ls" it will print out the contents of the directory, in windows I believe this is where our user folder is. If you have a place where you normally have code you can go to it by using "cd" or "change directory", to see where you are at in the filesystem you can also send "pwd" which is path working directory. If none of that made sense, dont fret it.
$mkdir repos
and
$cd repos
There should be a yellow part on the screen that say ~/repos that shows that where you are at, it's to this folder we are going to be cloning our linked list. There are two ways of cloning, ssh and https. For now will we use https, but in the future most devs I have worked with use ssh due to how easy it is to manage ssh keys on a machine and clone from their repos.
Go to the repo's homepage and on the top right there is a blue button that says clone, click it and copy the https url address option.
To clone the repo run:
$git clone https://git.sdsurocketproject.org/avionics/intro-projects/software_intro_project_linked_lists.git
It may prompt for login credentials, enter those and it should start pulling the code. It will place a folder in repos that is the name of the cloned repo.
For future reference try and use ssh keys, it's a lot more common and safer in industry. Also doesn't ever make you login since verifcation is done through key exchange.
when you default clone master will be copied by default. Master (or main) is holy, it is the purest and best, only peer reviewed changes make it to master as it is supposed to be clean, meaning no errors. The master for this branch is considered clean, it will compile with zero changes. The code has purposefully removed things, but it will compile.
Please name the branch uniquely do no just past branch name
$git checkout -b chris-branch
also run:
$git push --set-upstream origin chris-branch
it will let you know you have switched branches, now you can do your work and it will NOT be captured on master until ready for review through a PR. Once you are done with your changes, you are going to take your personal changes and push them to the repo.
you are pushing the fact that there is a new branch onto the repo.
now while on your branch make your changes.
The task at hand: inside linked_list.cpp there is a display function with two lines of code missing, one is a print statement the other is a pointers operation intended to "walk" the pointer down the list. To get an example of how these pointers are used, please reference the other linked_list functions. Notice the code should build right off the bat without any changes needed.
If you need any help please feel free to reach out to me on teams @chris
If people find this too difficult, I will be adding additional information. So far this has been my experience in a software dev role. Typically, we are hired and we work on existing infrastructure and we are asked to add features or code to an already existing code base. This is why this project is structured like this. The tasks here would describe your first day on the job as a developer. Which is why I think all these things are mandatory to know before you put any language on your resume. Knowing git is really a necessary skill for being a dev.
Once you are done coding go ahead and run:
$git pull
this will synchronize your personal machine with remote. this is necessary before pushs as it prevents merge conflicts from rearing themselves on remote which are a pain and sometimes impossible if you are dealing with binaries or hex files since it's no longer human readable.
Once that is done we need to see how things look on your machine run:
$git status
if you have untracked changes they wil be red, if they are tracked they will be green. Ideally, since you are only supposed to change linked_list.cpp that should really only be the change that you need to commit.
you'll see in red:
modified:file_name
go ahead and run
$git add linked_list.cpp
NOTE: tab complete means you dont need to list out the entire file
run git status again and it will be green since the changes are accounted for:
$git status
next create a commit that describes your changes
$git commit`
Note: there are many ways to do this far better than above, but for starting out this will work. Normally vim or nano would open and you ideally give a succinct explanation of your changes.
now:
$git pull
$git push
this will write all of your changes to the remote branch that is now available to everyone to work on and run locally if they wish.
hint: while on your branch run:
$git diff master
"q" to quit
to view how your branch differs from master, this is extremely helpful before submitting your code for peer review. Don't look like an idiot, proofread your changes. The reviewer will first go directly to the diff to evaluate your work.
Once you have completed this come talk to me! @chris
If you get stuck still come talk to me, this is incredibly important to know for software.