FAQ

In addition to this FAQ page, this course has a dedicated help page.

Getting started

What do I need to do to start the course?

Here’s a checklist:

Is there a textbook?

There’s no physical textbook for this course, but there’s a list of good online resources on the books and links page.

Microbit

This course requires a BBC micro:bit v2 to complete the learning activities and assessments.

How do I get a microbit?

If you are taking this as a paid university course, you will get one from the course teachers. Otherwise, you will have to buy one yourself. See the microbit page for details.

Software

Can I use my own laptop/desktop machine?

Yep, you can, head over to the software setup page.

I’m having trouble getting everything working on my own computer—can I bring it to the labs for help?

Labs aren’t necessarily for troubleshooting, please ask on the COMP2300 forum.

git

What is git?

git is a version control program, which means that its job is to help you take “snapshots” of your files as you work on them and store these on another computer. In COMP2300, the other computer is our gitlab server, and you share your code with us so that we can mark it :-D

Am I expected to know how to use git for this course?

Yes—git & GitLab have been covered in the course pre-requisites, these are vital skills for computing courses and professional life. If you are unsure about the details, you need to start learning about it from week 1. Set yourself a goal of being a git-wizard by the end of this course.

How do I open a terminal window?

On a Mac, the terminal program is called Terminal.app. It’s in your Applications > Utilities folder.
On Linux (like in the CSIT labs) the program is also called Terminal, an you can find it by going to the menu in the top left hand corner of the screen—it’s in System Tools > Terminal.
On Windows the easiest way is to open the explorer, right-click the folder you want to work in and select the Git Bash Here menu item.

The GitLab help page has some more info if you get stuck (it uses the term shell, which is just another name for terminal).

What’s the difference between git & GitLab?

git is a program (like Microsoft Word) for keeping track of files (see what is git? above). The GitLab server is a website (running on a computer at the ANU) which uses git to keep track of your snapshots somewhere other than your own computer. The GitLab server never adds any new files to your snapshots, it just keeps track of the changes (commits) you’ve made once you push them to the server.

So git is the program, and GitLab is the website, although you can interact with the website both directly (e.g. with a git push) or indirectly (through the GitLab user interface in the web browser).

How do I install git?

You might already have it. Open up the terminal window and type

git --version

and if it prints something like (the exact version number doesn’t matter)

git version 2.20.1

then you’re good to go.

If you don’t have git installed (or your terminal can’t find the git program) then instead you’ll see something like

-bash: git: command not found

Never fear, the internet is full of instructions on how to install git on your machine: here’s one which you might find useful (but other ways are ok as well).

I cloned the “template” repository by mistake instead of my own fork—what do I do?

It’s ok. You just need to change the remote (the repository on the GitLab server which your local copy of the files “points” to when it tries to push them back up to the server).

Do I have to type in my password all the time?

No, if you set up SSH keys then you can do all the git stuff without having to put in your password. This step isn’t necessary, but it is super-handy.

The basic idea is this: when you have trusted friends, you leave a key out for them so that they can get in to your house when you’re not home. git allows you to do sortof the same thing.

This is so that the GitLab server knows that it’s you (you don’t want someone else submitting something on your behalf). Added bonus: no more passwords.

I’ve borked my git repo somehow, how do I fix it?

There are lots of things which could have gone wrong, and without knowing what the exact error message is it’s hard to say how to fix it.

Ask a question on the COMP2300 forum clearly stating what the situation is, what behaviour you expect, and what behaviour you see (including any error messages).

Where can I learn more about git?

Here’s a list (in no particular order) of git help resources on the web—if you find another page which is helpful then let me know and I can add it here:

main git docs page: always a good place to find things (there are even some videos)
a general list of tips for dealing with git problems: useful if you’ve got intro trouble and you want a one-liner fix to get you out (although copy-pasting git commands you don’t understand will sometimes fix things, and sometimes make it worse)
Using Version Control in VS Code: not git-specific, but it gives specific advice on using version control in VSCode (there’s a video version if you’re into that sort of thing)
using git reset: sometimes useful for “undoing” git stuff you don’t actually want
Five Key Git Concepts Explained the Hard Way: this has some detailed explanations, so it won’t make sense if you’ve never seen git before, but understanding this stuff in depth will really help you become a git master

Markdown

What’s markdown?

From the commonmark website:

Markdown is a simple way to format text that looks great on any device. It doesn’t do anything fancy like change the font size, color, or type — just the essentials, using keyboard symbols you already know.

How do I write markdown?

Anytime you open a file in VSCode with a .md or .markdown file extension it’ll automatically detect that it’s a markdown file, and give you special highlighting of bold/italics/headings etc. You just write it and save it (and commit it to Git) just like any other file.

We have specific markdown information about markdown on the “how to write a design document” page.

Academic integrity

Can I use code I didn’t write myself in my assignment submission?

Yes, unless the assignment page forbids it. But you must reference it in your statement of originality—if you don’t, that’s academic misconduct.

Statement of originality (SoO)

How do I fill out my `statement-of-originality.md`?

For every assignment you must submit a statement of originality (SoO) in the form of a markdown file called statement-of-originality.md in your submission repo. There will be a “template” file in the assignment repo, you just need to add your own information (and commit and push it up).

You must:

read the file so that you know what it means
sign your name and UID in the statement-of-originality.md file in order for it to pass the CI job checks (this is an assignment requirement!)
list any collaborations with any of your classmates
list details of any code used in the assignment obtained from your classmates, the labs, the internet, StackOverflow or any other place
list details of any assets (files/images/data) included in your assignment that you did not create (e.g., images or sound file from a website)

Anything which isn’t explicitly listed there is assumed to be your own work, and if it turns out that’s not true, the usual academic integrity rules apply.

Can I see an example of a completed SoO?

Yes:

---
declaration: >-
  I declare that everything I have submitted in this assignment is entirely my
  own work, with the following exceptions:

# sign *your* name and uid here
name: Gustav Gustavsson
uid: u1234567
---

# Collaboration

### name: 
Alice McGuffin

### comment: 
Alice and I discussed stragegies for dealing with overflow in the signal value, but we never saw each other's code

# Code

### comment: 
the if/else statement at labelX is based on an answer from StackOverflow

### url: 
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/30086526/if-else-or-statement-in-assembly

FAQ