Setup Guide

1. Discord Setup

Download and create an account

• Download Discord: discord.com
• Create your account for free — personal or school email both work (you'll lose Allegheny email access after graduation, so consider a personal one)
• Make sure your display name is your full name

Join Discord servers

CIS Department Discord — discord.gg/tWa2BwXqSp — primary course communication channel.

ACM Discord Server (optional) — discord.gg/4gm2jumuEd — event notifications; attend 3 ACM events and you're eligible for membership.

2. GitHub Setup

Create your free account

Sign up at github.com/signup — essential for accessing class repositories, submitting your work, and version control.

Set up your profile

1. Add a profile picture — click your avatar → Settings → upload a clear photo
2. Add your name and bio under "Public profile" (full name, a short bio like "Computer Science student at Allegheny College")
3. Add your location (e.g. "Meadville, PA") and a preferred contact email
4. Optional: set up a profile README to showcase your work

3. VS Code Setup

Download VS Code

All platforms: code.visualstudio.com/download. New to VS Code? The official VS Code team tutorial is a good beginner-friendly starting point.

Open the integrated terminal

• Windows/Linux: Ctrl + `
• macOS: control + `
• Menu: View → Terminal

You'll use this integrated terminal for all command-line work in this course.

Set up your SSH keys

SSH keys give you secure authentication for Git. Run these from VS Code's integrated terminal.

Generate the key pair:

ssh-keygen -t rsa -b 4096 -C "your_email@example.com"

Press Enter to accept the default file location. Enter a passphrase when prompted (you'll need it each time you push to GitHub) — or press Enter twice for no passphrase.

Copy your public key:

cat ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub

Add it to GitHub: Settings → SSH and GPG keys → New SSH key → paste it in, give it a descriptive title (e.g. "Personal laptop").

Test the connection:

ssh -T git@github.com

You should see a message like "You've successfully authenticated..."

4. Python Installation

We'll be using Python 3.12. Check what you already have from VS Code's integrated terminal:

python3 --version

(or python --version on some systems). If you have Python 2.x, install Python 3 below.

macOS

Option 1 — official installer (recommended): download the latest Python 3.x from python.org/downloads, run the .pkg file, and check "Add Python to PATH" if prompted.

Option 2 — Homebrew:

brew install python

Verify with python3 --version — you should see something like Python 3.x.x.

Windows

Download the latest Python 3.x from python.org/downloads, run the .exe, and check "Add Python to PATH" before clicking Install Now. Allow the installer to disable the path length limit if prompted.

Verify with python --version or python3 --version.

Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

sudo apt update
sudo apt install python3 python3-pip

Verify with python3 --version.