CSC403: Tools

(Click here for one slide per page)

Follow these steps, in order. Try to follow the instructions exactly to minimize any installation issues.

• Remove any existing version of Java from your computer.

• Install graphviz.

• Install IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition.

• Install the code for this class.

• Set up your IntelliJ IDEA project.

If you run into problems, please email me or send me a message on Discord. You can also come to my office hours.

If you spend more than 30 minutes trying to figure out a problem with any of these steps, don't waste your time. I will be happy to help.

This step is necessary to draw the pictures, which is useful for debugging. Install the latest version.

On Windows or Linux, download and install Graphviz from here: Graphviz

If you run into problems, have a look at New simplified installation procedure on Windows.

On a mac, you need to install Homebrew

Once you have homebrew, just enter the following commands on the Terminal:

brew update
brew install graphviz

Please install IntelliJ IDEA Community Edition. It has all the features we need for this class, and there's no need to buy a license to use IntelliJ IDEA Ultimate.

NB: DePaul students apparently have access to the Ultimate version, so you can install that if you want. I don't use it.

Use the Standalone installation instructions for your platform:

• Windows Installation
• MacOS Installation
• Linux Installation

If you already have IntelliJ IDEA on your machine, you should update it by going through the menus. You can access the menus from the Hamburger menu at the top left.

• Linux/Windows: Help -> Check for Updates... and then follow the prompts.
• Mac: IntelliJ IDEA (top left) -> Check for Updates... and then follow the prompts.

• Download the code archive for this class.
• Unzip the archive somewhere on your machine.
  • The algs4 directory will be the "top-level" directory for your IntelliJ IDEA project.
  • Note that depending on how you extract the ZIP archive, you may have two algs4 directories, one inside the other. The one we want is the inner directory.
  • It should contain a subdirectory named src and a file named pom.xml.
  • Do not edit the pom.xml file.
  • At this point, do not change the contents of the project directories or any files under the project directory.
  • If you reopen any directory in IntelliJ IDEA, it must be this (possibly inner) top-level directory!

Start up IntelliJ IDEA. Click the Open tile.

Navigate to the algs4 directory where you unzipped the course code archive and Click OK. The directory you select should be the one that contains the src directory and the pom.xml file.

When the project opens, navigate to src/main/java/algs11 in the Project pane on the left. Open up Hello. There should be a message just under the filename in the center of the editing pane saying the Project SDK is not defined. Click Setup SDK on the right.

Click Download JDK.

Select JDK Version 21 and Vendor Amazon Coretto 21.0.6. Click Download. The JDK will install. Note: The picture is slightly old; choose version 21.0.6.

Right-click the Hello class in the main editing window. Click Run Hello.main() in the context menu. You should see the Hello, world! output in the console window on the lower pane. If you get this far, you have successfully setup your programming environment.

One final step: In IntelliJ IDEA go to the Hamburger menu on the top left and choose File -> Settings (on Windows/Linux) or IntelliJ IDEA -> Settings (on a Mac) and change your tab settings as follows. This will help with code formatting when I look at your code. Pro tip: Most programmers I hang out with can't stand tabs! It's a pretty standard practice to use the tab key and have your editor replace tabs with spaces.

If you have problems, send a message in the #general channel in the Discord server. Your classmates or I will help you.