CS 4451C, Fall 2003

Programming Assignment Instructions

Development Environment

You may use any environment you wish for developing your code, but it must compile and run in Windows (MSVC++ 6.0, not Visual Studio .NET) on the machines in the States Lab. This means providing the project and workspace files along with the .h and .c (or .cpp) source files. You may develop under Linux, but you must port it to a MSVC++ 6.0 project and test in on a Windows machine in the States Lab / Intel Cluster (CoC 103). You will submit this Windows version, not the Linux version.

Submitting An Assignment

Create a .zip (not .rar, .arj, .ace, .tgz, or anything else) of all source files and any project/workspace and data files necessary for compiling, linking, and running your program. Name this zip file "p{num}{lastname}.zip", where {num} is the program assignment number and {lastname} is your last name without spaces. For example, Justin Jang would create "p2jang.zip" for assignment 2. To create .zip files, you can use WinZip which is on the Windows machines in the States Lab / Intel Cluster (CoC 103).

Submit your assignment by email to the TA (jang@cc.gatech.edu). Don't forget to attach the file. You may cc yourself as a confirmation. Put "cs4451c: prog{num}", where {num} is the program number, in the subject line. For assignment 2, the subject would be "cs4451c: prog2". Please include your name somewhere in the body of the email.

Miscellaneous

This section contains some general information that may help you with your assignments.

Setting Up A New Project In MSVC++ 6.0

Here is a simple procedure for setting up a new project in MSVC++ 6.0.

Start MSVC++ 6.0 (not Visual Studio .NET).
Create a new empty console application. In the menu, click File --> New, select "Win32 Console Application", type in a Project name, select a directory location (under which a subdirectory named after the Project name will be created), and click OK. Select "An empty project" and click Finish, then OK.
Create source files in the newly created project directory. Use File --> New. Under the Files tab, select C/C++ Header File or C++ Source File. Enter a filename. (Use .c as the source file extension if you're just using c. No need to use .cpp.)
Alternatively, you may develop your source files in some other environment and add the source files to the project at this step. In the menu, click Project --> Add To Project, Files.... Select all the .h and .c files to add and click OK.
Click the FileView tab and expand the list to see the source files.
To remove a file from the project, click on it in the FileView and press delete. Note that this does not delete the actual file. It simply removes the file from the current project.

Notes:
A good reason to create a "Win32 Console Application" instead of a "Win32 Application" is that the console gives you a convenient place to print debugging information while developing your code. Furthermore, a Win32 Application without the console requires an extra step of setup to work with GLUT as explained in the Lighthouse 3D GLUT Tutorial.

Setting up OpenGL and GLUT in a MSVC++ 6.0 Project

You may place the .h files (gl.h, glaux.h, glu.h, glut.h), the .lib files (glaux.lib, glu32.lib, glut32.lib, opengl32.lib), and the .dll file (glut32.dll) anywhere. The important thing is to set the path so that MSVC can find it. To do this, use Tools --> Options and click the "Directory" tab. Use the dropdown box to select between "Include files", "Library files", and "Source files" for .h, .lib, and .dll files respectively and enter in the appropriate paths.

In addition, you may need to specify which .lib files to link. Use Project --> Settings and click on the "Link" tab. At the end of the list of "Object/libriary modules:", add "opengl32.lib glu32.lib glut32.lib glaux.lib". Don't bother with this step unless MSVC complains even after setting the paths up.

Viewing .ppm Files

The computers in the States Lab have the right software loaded to view .ppm files. In WinXP, CNS has installed Maya which has an image viewer that can handle .ppm files. Fortunately, this is the default viewer associated with the .ppm file type on these machines and you can simply double-click a .ppm file to view it. In linux, the appropriate image viewer can be invoked by typing "kview" from the command prompt. It may also be invoked via the RedHat menu --> Graphics --> More Graphics Applications --> Image Viewer.

Last Modified: 09/19/2003