i'm taking a network programming class. for the homeworks, we have to write .c files and use make to generate the executables. my problem is with how i've been writing the .c files. basically i see two options:

1. ssh to the machine at school and use pico or vi or some text-based editor to edit the .c files

2. compose the .c files at home in some editor and then ftp the files to school one at a time.

i'm currently doing #2 with Eclipse as my editor (I downloaded the Eclipse C/C++ Development Tools). this works okay but since my .c files are in different directories, ftp'ing them is a pain. i have a library file, and separate files for clients and servers and they're all in different directories.

what i'm looking for is some sort of a solution that is similiar to what frontpage does with webpages -- you click a "publish" button and all files on your local machine that differ from the server get ftp'd (or even better, scp'd) to the right location on the server.

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second question (unrelated to the first): i want to be able to 'make' my files at home before ftp'ing them to school. as it is right now, i upload my .c files, type make and notice that the files don't compile because i forgot a semicolon on line xxx. So I go back to my editor, fix the semicolon, re-ftp everything and try again. i've heard of cygwin which allows me to get a port of make and gcc that will run on windows but i'm not sure if i need to worry about differences in architecture -- ie, is it possible that my .c files could compile just fine in cygwin but not compile when i ftp them to the server? or does cygwin use the same make as everybody else?

10/14/2005 10:32:37 AM

Is this an NCSU class? Mount your home directory using Wolfcall, edit with Notepad (or whatever), use ssh to compile/make. Screw trying to keep up with which version is the most recent, etc. Also ensures if you compile/run on university machines, those will be the same machines graded on.

10/14/2005 3:59:34 PM

mount your space as suggested above, and then store your Eclipse workspace on that drive.

Also import all your libraries into eclipse and have it store them in your workspace.

This way, wherever you are all you need to do is mount the file system and point eclipse at your workspace. All your prefrences are stored within the workspace so you dont even have to re-arange your views or anything.

10/14/2005 4:14:09 PM

the class is at johns hopkins. i graduated from state in 2001. any other thoughts?

[Edited on October 14, 2005 at 9:03 PM. Reason : sdf ]

10/14/2005 9:02:49 PM

I'd do it pretty much all locally and then tar/gzip the source tree, FTP it over, and do whatever you need to do on the other end at that point?

10/14/2005 9:24:43 PM

^ yeah that's what i do now (minus the tar/gzip part) and it's really annoying. i want a better way.

10/14/2005 10:38:25 PM

uhm, you can do a "my network places" thing via ftp. sort of like mounting a drive

10/14/2005 11:22:08 PM

I'm sure eclipse has an ftp/ssh plugin. If not, VSE does.

10/15/2005 3:03:24 AM

^ nice. http://deployer.sourceforge.net/ looks like a winner. i'll play with it a bit later...

10/15/2005 7:26:01 AM

what are you studying at johns hopkins and how do you like it?

10/15/2005 10:52:50 AM

you can use rsync over ssh to do this.

10/15/2005 2:01:32 PM

^^ sorry for delayed response. i was busy all weekend with a project around the house -- i needed to install a storm door before the winter comes.

johns hopkins has two campuses: their main campus in baltimore (also called the homewood campus) and a satelite campus at the applied physics lab in Columbia, MD. I'm enrolled in a Master's degree program in computer science at the APL. The program is called the "Engineering Program for Professionals":

http://www.epp.jhu.edu/

The classes are geared towards people who work full time. all classes are once a week for three hours and they meet from either 4:30 to 7:10 or 7:15 to 10:00. so they're all night classes. to get the master's degree, it's 10 classes, no thesis and you're done. the classes aren't as hard as they should be and it's pretty much a degree on paper only. but it's a piece of paper that says you have a master's degree from the johns hopkins university. the master's degree program at the homewood campus is legit and is quite rigorous -- much like the one at college park (univ of maryland).

the classes are $2325 each but most people don't care because their employers are paying for the schooling (as is the case with me). basically JHU set up this program as a cash cow to take advantage of employer programs that pay for the education of their employees. Most of the students enrolled at this program work either at the national security agency or one of the many defense contractors that are situated nearby (northrup grumman, lockheed martin, etc).

like most things in life, you'll get out of this program what you get into it. i would imagine that most people with undergraduate degrees in computer science would say that it's pretty easy to coast through and not learn anything. but since my undergrad degree was in math, everything starting from assembly language and all the way up has been new for me. so i'm learning a lot and really liking the program.

since i was a math undergrad, i had to take three prerequisite classes before they'd admit me into their graduate program. i finished the last of those last december and in january i was formally admitted to the graduate program. i took an algorithms class last spring and for this semester and next semester i'm taking advantage of a government program that lets me go to school full time for two semesters and still get my regular salary (it was a recruitment incentive when i was hired in 2002).

so i'm taking four classes this semester -- computer architecture (assembly language), software engineering (almost as boring as the cultral anthropology class i took with isabel terry at nc state), network programming (really good class -- lots of low level C programming), and "web development with servlets and java server pages" (fantastic class -- the teacher is marty hall -- he wrote the definitive book on the subject: "core servlets and jave server pages"). i'll take five classes in the spring and graduate in may. it's kind of weird being home all day and then going to school at night but it sure beats going to work every day. to make it even better, i've only got class on monday, tuesday, and thursday (i've got back to back classes on mondays).

let me know if you have any other questions.

10/16/2005 8:42:49 PM