Items for the Class¶

Hardware (hardly free)¶

A computer: desktop or laptop (but not a tablet PCs). It is ideal if you already have a Linux machine or a machine that runs a Unix-based operating system, e.g., macOS. For a Windows PC, you will need to install some packages to run a Linux-based operating system on your PC. Please consult the instructions at Computing platforms, or with the instructor or TA if you only have a Windows PC. If you do not have access to an appropriate computer please contact the instructor as early as possible.

Essential software (required, free):

Linux, macOS with Xcode, or Windows with a functioning WSL setup/VM.
Compilers for Fortran 90, C/C++ (e.g., gfortran, gcc, and g++ from the GNU compiler collection)
Debuggers (gdb , valgrind, etc.)
Python and its scientific libraries (e.g., Anaconda, NumPy, SciPy, Matplotlib, etc.)
Version control system: Git (compare to SVN)
Text editors:
- traditional ones: GNU emacs, vim/nvim;
- modern fancy ones: Visual Studio Code (recommend), sublime, etc.
  - VS Code is a particularly good choice for WSL users. See this getting started guide for more information.

Extra software (optional, mostly free):

Software package manager
- For Linux this will depend on your particular distribution, Aptitude for Ubuntu and Debian, DNF for Fedora, Pacman for ArchLinux and Manjaro, etc. The appropriate manager will be installed by default in whatever distribution you are using.
- For MacOS Homebrew.
LaTeX packages
- Often available through your package manager via Texlive, see CTAN to download packages directly.
- On MacOS texshop, and LaTeXiT may be of use.
Matlab or GNU Octave could occasionally be useful to rapidly experiment with ideas. We will not directly use either of these in this course. Feel free to ignore them.