RPi Education/Manual
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Contents
Intro
General
The objective is to educate people in computer science.
Hardware
Cheap hardware with 1/2 open specifications allow the masses to learn modern computer science.
- Plug in your RPi to your monitor with the hdmi and usb cable
- Plug in your mouse and keyboard to your monitor
- Plug in your monitor power and turn it on.
Software
Linux is used, it is open source, user friendly, and technically capable.
Language Selection
Beginners should select a high level language. Advanced users may select different languages combinations depending on the available libraries, programming paradigm, and optimizations.
All code is executed in binary assembled from assembly code compiled from a language sometimes in-turn compiled from other higher level languages.
There are 2 main interfaces for most all applications in linux CLI, and GUI, while GUIs are user friendly CLIs are more simple to build and can be used as building blocks for more complicated tools/toys.
It is considered good programming to use an iterative approach, using existing tools and patterns as much as possible, as such it is customary to start with a hello world:
Hello world
Bash
Bash is the language of the terminal.
- open the termonal application
- type:
echo Hello World!
That was a computer program,
If you want to learn more about the echo command you can type
man echo
(press q to quit)
Now let's make our program into runnable file:
nano hi.sh
echo Hello $1!
- [Ctrl]+[x],[y],[enter]
bash hi.sh Tux
Which should ouput: Hello Tux!
Python
Make a file called hi.py, put
print("Hello, world!")
in it and run it with python hi.py
Now a GUI version:
#!/usr/bin/python
import pygtk
import gtk
class Whc:
def __init__(self):
self.window = gtk.Window(gtk.WINDOW_TOPLEVEL)
self.window.connect("destroy", self.destroy)
self.window.set_title("Title")
self.window.set_default_size(200,100)
self.label = gtk.Label("Hello, World!")
self.window.add(self.label)
self.label.show()
self.window.show()
def destroy(self, widget, data=None):
gtk.main_quit()
def main(self):
gtk.main()
if __name__ == "__main__":
base = Whc()
base.main()
java
Create a text file called 'Hello.java' with the following content:
public class Hello {
public static void main(String[] args) {
System.out.println("Hello World!");
}
}
Now compile your file as follows:
javac Hello.java
To run your program:
java Hello
It should respond with Hello World!
C
Create a Text File called 'hello.c' which contains the following:
#include "stdio.h"
void main() {
printf("Hello World!\n");
}
Now compile the file using 'cc' , like this:
cc hello.c
If all went well, there will no error messages and a new file called 'a.out' should have been created by the compiler.
To run your program type:
./a.out
It should report back with your message:
Hello World!
C++
For starters the famous "Hello world!" example. Save the following code in a file called helloworld.cpp in a directory of your choice (e.g. ~/cpp). The filename can be chosen arbitrarily, but should describe the content.
//Compile with: g++ helloworld.cpp -o helloworld
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main () {
cout << "Hello world!" << endl;
return 0;
}
Open a terminal and switch to the directory, which contains the saved file.
cd ~/cpp
Make sure with ls that you are in the correct directory. It should output helloworld.cpp and all other files in this directory (if any).
Now it is time to translate your code so your computer can understand it. This is called compiling.
g++ helloworld.cpp -o helloworld
If everything went ok, nothing is printed. Now run your program.
./helloworld
This outputs Hello world! on the command line.
perl
A "Hello World" example in Perl.
Create a file called 'hello.pl' in a directory of your choice, with the following contents:
#!/usr/bin/perl
print "Hello World!\n";
To run your program type:
perl hello.pl
It should respond with:
Hello World!
Structure
Most all code is executed in order; from top to bottom, left to right, and in English.
Control flow statements
- Decision-making statements (if-then, if-then-else, switch)
- Looping statements (for, while, do-while, break, continue)
- branching statements (fork join)
operators
functions
reusable blocks of code
objects
are basically function containers, and yet so much more.
Beginning
Features, libraries, and limitations.
Bash
C
C++
Java
Perl
Python
Intermediate
Useful tools and fun toys.
Theory and tools
- Version Control: git,
svn, bzr, hg etc - Iterative and Test Driven Development
- Writing software for someone else (User Stories, Use Cases, requirements, contracts)
- editors and IDEs: vim, gedit, eclipse, etc
Bash
C
C++
Java
Perl
Python
Advanced
Algorithms, Heuristics, Design Patterns, and Optimization.
Hardware
Assembly
Drivers
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