0. Installation

Capsis can be run on several systems. This training can be followed under Linux, Windows or MacOSX. Installations are required before starting the exercises: an expected version of the Java Development Kit and the Java exercises archive must be installed, see blow.

Where is the terminal ?

During the training, you will need to enter commands in the terminal.

• Under Linux, the terminal is called a shell, search an application called 'shell' or 'terminal'
• under Windows it is a command-prompt: try 'Ctrl+r', or execute 'cmd', or look in 'Programs > Accessories'
• under MacOSX, it is called a terminal: find the 'terminal' icon or look in 'Applications > Utilities'.

Current directory

In the terminal, you are always located in a directory: the current directory (or folder), you can see it in the prompt (where you are supposed to type a command)

Main commands

Under Linux and Mac, the commands are the same (Unix commands) and '~' means 'your home (personal) directory'

You need a Java Development Kit (JDK) installed, version 1.8 (higher may be ok).

Note: if you find a Java Runtime Environment (JRE), this can run Java programs but you will not have the java compiler we need to write Java programs, so a JDK must be installed.

Check this by entering the following two commands in your terminal, from whatever directory, they should both return the same version of Java.

E.g. under Linux: both commands return version 1.8.0, correct (the number after the _ does not matter here)

coligny@marvin-13:~$ java -version
java version "1.8.0_101"
Java(TM) SE Runtime Environment (build 1.8.0_101-b13)
Java HotSpot(TM) 64-Bit Server VM (build 25.101-b13, mixed mode)
coligny@marvin-13:~$ javac -version
javac 1.8.0_101
coligny@marvin-13:~$ 

Where can I find Java ? (download)

The reference Java for Capsis is the version JDK 1.8 (or Java 8) by Oracle, or another provider.

See the Java 8 installation page: https://capsis.cirad.fr/capsis/documentation/java_8_installation_page

To write your programs, you need a simple text editor with few features including syntax coloring (colors for the Java keywords…). If you already have one, you can use it, else look at one of these:

For Windows:

• TextPad
• Notepad++

For Linux:

• Gedit
• SublimeText

For MacOSX:

• TextWrangler
• Atom

• Create a base directory named practice/

The new directory must be somewhere you can access easily on your machine, you can create a directory with the terminal and mkdir, or with your file manager.

// Reminder: 'somewhere>' means: you are in the directory named 'somewhere', you may 
// type your command...

// E.g. (Windows) create a directory named 'practice' in C:\ with mkdir:
C:\> mkdir practice

// Good examples (Windows or Linux):
C:\practice>
/home/coligny/practice>

// Poorer example (Windows), too long, with accents and spaces in names: 
C:\Documents and Settings\My Documents\éléments de formation\formation capsis janvier 2021\practice>

• in practice/, create a new directory named java/ to write your Java exercises.

For the following Java exercises, you will need to reach this practice/java/ directory in the terminal with cd like this:

// E.g. (Windows) create a directory named 'java' in 'practice'
C:\> cd practice
C:\practice> mkdir java
C:\practice> cd java
C:\practice\java>

• in practice/, unzip the capsis-training.zip archive

EDIT May 2024: download the capsis-training-archive from FileSender

The capsis training archive contains a directory named capsis4/ and a copy of capsis to be used only for the time of this training course.