This first assignment is simple but essential. It’s not graded, but is required for you to participate in the course. You must complete the following items by midnight of the first day class.

Set up GitHub

We will use GitHub extensively for sharing code. Follow these steps to set up GitHub:

Create an account: on GitHub, if you don’t already have one.

Update your profile: on GitHub, click on your account menu at top-right; select Settings. Under the Profile tab, edit Name to provide your real name, and add a Profile picture.

We advise you to include your ‘real name’ so others can recognize you when adding you to GitHub Organizations, Teams, and Repositories. We have made the mistake of adding the wrong person because, when inviting a user and typing what may be the right user, someone with a similar-looking username pops up and, thinking it is the person we want, we add the wrong user! If your profile includes your name and photo, your collaborators can quickly confirm they have the right user. It also makes your account look more professional!

Configure your account: follow these instructions to set up your cryptographic keys.

Note: you will need your GitHub user ID for the “tell us about yourself” part of this assignment (next).

Tell us about yourself

We’d like to learn a little more about your programming background and the computer you will use for this course. Fill out this form to let us know a little about you.

Read and acknowledge the course policies

Read the course policies on the course web site home page. On the Lab 0 Canvas assignment, write a sentence indicating that you have read and will follow the course policies.