MC27L Lab 0 Supplement: Getting Started on a NeXT (Spring 1997)

February 11, 1997

Introduction

To work with Scheme on a NeXT, rather than an SGI, you'll need to use the Schematik program rather than SchematiX. Luckily Schematik and SchematiX are extremely similar; the main difference is simply which computers they run on. Also, we are currently running different underlying Scheme systems ``behind'' the Schematik and SchematiX user interfaces: on the NeXTs we have MIT Scheme behind the Schematik interface, while on the SGIs we have a Scheme called Gambit. This difference should be largely invisible to you. This handout is intended only to supplement the main Lab 0 handout with the few differences you need to know in order to get started with Schematik on a NeXT. You should refer to the main Lab 0 handout as well.

Finding Schematik and adding it to your dock

Just like on the SGI's you need to initially find SchematiX and put it on your desktop, so that from then on you can just double-click on it, so too on the NeXTs you need to find Schematik and put it in the ``dock,'' which is the column of icons on the right hand side of the screen. From then on out, every time you log in on a NeXT it will be there, and you can just double-click on it to run Schematik.

First click once on ``LocalApps'' in the leftmost column of the File Viewer window. You may need to scroll the File Viewer to make the leftmost column visible; you want the leftmost achievable with scrolling, not the leftmost that happens to be visible without scrolling; you may also need to scroll the leftmost column to see LocalApps in it. Next, scroll the second column (the one now under the heading LocalApps) until ``Schematik.app'' is visible, and then click once on it. Now there should be an icon (with the Greek letter lambda on it) labeled ``Schematik.app'' above the third column. Drag that icon over to an empty spot on your dock.

Your account is now set up. Whenever you login, all you need to do to start Schematik is to double-click on its icon.

Using Schematik

Everything said in the main lab 0 handout about using SchematiX is true for Schematik as well, except for one of the alternate method of evaluating an expression. (Our main suggestion, which was to use the Enter key that is in the numeric keypad, works fine on both systems.) For SchematiX on the SGIs we said that you could hold down the ctrl key like a shift key and with it down, use the normal carriage-return key on the main part of the keyboard (also marked Enter). On a NeXT, using Schematik, you'll need to instead hold down the Command key and with it down press the normal carriage-return key to evaluate. To re-emphasize: this is just a touch-typable alternative to the numeric keypad Enter and the Actions menu Evaluate option, both of which work on both the SGIs and the NeXTs.

Logging out

To log out on a NeXT, double-click on the NeXT cube icon at the top of the dock (top right corner of the screen). Then the menu at the top left corner of the screen should include the option of logging out. After you select that option, you'll need to confirm that yes, you really want to log out. If you didn't already quit out of Schematik (or other application programs) you may need to respond to other questions as well, such as whether you want to save the interaction window.


Course labs web site: http://www.gac.edu/~max/courses/S97/MC27L/
One lab instructor: Karl Knight <karl@gac.edu>
The other lab instructor: Max Hailperin <max@gac.edu>