The SWEA course is focused on realistic, industrial, software development - and that means a lot of industrial strength tools.
The central tools you need are
All provided code will run on Java 11 and higher versions.
There are basically two paths for getting the toolstack:
In the last 10 years, I have simply stopped developing on my Windows laptop - I do that in Lubuntu Linux VMs instead to keep my own machine clean.
M16 is a Ubuntu based VM with LXDE as window manager. Ubuntu/Lubuntu are widely used Linux distributions and are thus also a perfect learning vehicle for getting to know Linux that is the OS for open source server systems...
If you have a Mac with an ARM-based CPU ("Apple Silicon"), you can unfortunately not use M16, as it is based on an Intel CPU architecture. Sorry about that.
To get going, you have to
Why 'M16'? It is the old Messier catalogue number for the Eagle Nebula, which is the background picture of the VM: "Pillars of Creation". I have a degree in astronomy way back...
The source code for the mandatory project is already installed, in folder proj/hotstone, and IntelliJ 'knows' it.
I have made screencasts of starting a Lubuntu VM You can find them here (it is an older VM but the process is the same)
You will need Java, Gradle, Git, and an IDE.
Java JDK Standard Edition. You will need the 'JDK' to get the compile. Make sure you update your PATH environment variable so you can execute 'java' and 'javac' from a shell. On Ubuntu Linux you can 'sudo apt-get install openjdk-17-jdk' and get everything you want.
Download it from https://gradle.org/install/. Do not do 'sudo apt install gradle' on Linux, as you will get an old version, you need gradle version 7.
Search the net for 'Downloading Git' and you will hit
installation guides for all major platforms. For Ubuntu Linux,
just use sudo apt-get install git.
Personally, I use 'SourceTree' on Windows (nice graphical overview of branches, code diff, and nice stuff); and use the raw command line on Linux.
Find IntelliJ download page for how to get it for the major platforms. The community edition is all you need.
To get HotStone into IntelliJ, please follow the Import a Gradle project into IntelliJ guide.
If you run into problems, please check my intellij tutorials, and/or ask at the forum or at classes!
No matter if you use M16 or your host machine, the following are setup that needs to be made.
One annoying thing about git is that it constantly asks you for your git repository password. Avoid that by setting up its credential cache. These commands should do the trick:
git config --global user.name "(your name)"
git config --global user.email "(your mail address)"
git config --global credential.helper cache
git config --global credential.helper 'cache --timeout=7200'
git config --global push.default simple
An alternative is using SSH keys. It streamlines the daily use somewhat, but there are quite a few initial steps involved generating keys and stuff. So - if you know how - use it; if not - don't :).
And... You will in Mandatory Iteration 2 need to get a AU GitLab repository per group and get HotStone under Git control. If this is new to you, you can consult the following video (about another project, but the idea is the same):
Importing HotCiv into AU GitLab (8½ min) In DanishThe quick overview of contents in the video
As a supplement to writing reports, hand-ins may require you to make a screencast: A video of your computer screen while you talk us through the actions you make.
I use BandiCam for recording (Windows) but it is not free. Students have over the years found and recommended tools, check out the following suggestions:
Hint: If your tool supports it, ensure that you turn on features that highligh the mouse and mouse clicks as this greatly enhances the TA's ability to view what you have been doing! In Bandicam, on the 'Video' tab, make sure to check "Show mouse cursor" and "Add mouse click effects".
If you start considering using video editing software, then I frankly think don't. If you are not used to a tool, it would take much more time to get acquinted with it, than to do the screen capture once more.
To let the TA view your screencast there are two options
A simple drawing tool is to write it on a whiteboard/paper, use your phone to take a picture, and paste it into your report! As long as you writing is easy to read, this is perfectly fine.
For more finesse, a UML drawing tool is handy to draw the required class and sequence diagrams for the exercises. I know there are free/open source tools, but have not experience regarding which is best. I myself use (an old version of) Visio.