Some Notes on the Macintosh Operating System

(This is based on previous documents by Rich Pattis.   Modified by Scott McElfresh, September 2004)

Introduction This handout will introduce you to the Macintosh OS X Operating System and all the skills that you will need to use it for programming. At the beginning of the course, when we are just starting to learn programming, practice these skills repeatedly, until they become intuitive. Because there are few skills, and because you will use these same skills over and over again while taking this course, you will soon master them.

Every semester about 500 students successfully complete this process. Please feel free to ask other students if you get stuck; and, if someone gets stuck and asks you a question, please try to help them. Mastering the use of the operating system is NOT an academic part of the course, so feel free to give and take help.

The Mac OS X (Operating System Ten) Mac OS X is the newest in a long line of Graphical User Interface (GUI) operating systems, first started in 1984 (when the Apple Macintosh was introduced). The Macintosh and its operating system were based on the work done at Xerox PARC (Palo Alto Research Complex), but not commercialized by Xerox. 

Microsoft's Windows also has its roots in the first Mac (and Xerox) operating systems.

Mac OS X Terminology Here are a few important terms that you must know to be able to understand the rest of the information on this page.
Desktop                                 The entire screen, which contains the Dock, Toolbar, Icons, and Windows.
Dock The sequence of Icons that appears centered at the bottom of the Desktop. The following picture shows how the Dock might appear.  The specific applications that appear in the Dock will vary from computer to computer and user to user.


 
  The Icons on a Dock, are divided into two groups: in the picture, on the left are the Icons for the Finder, Internet Explorer, Netscape, Metrowerks CodeWarrior, Word, Excel, Powerpoint, System Preferences, Terminal, and the Fetch utility; on the right are Icons for the Mac OS X and the Wastebasket. In addition Icons for minimized application windows appear between these last two Icons.
Toolbar The horizontal bar that appears at the top of the Desktop. It always contains information about (and pull-down menus for) the currently running application. The Toolbar for the Finder appears as

Clicking a Window puts information for that application in the toolbar. Clicking the Desktop puts the Finder in the toolbar.

Apple Menu
 The leftmost Icon on every Toolbar (see the Finder Toolbar above)
Folders

 Manila folder Icons. Folders organize data: applicatons, files and [sub]folders. Double Clicking a folder shows its contents (the applications, files, and subfolders that it contains).
Window
Control
w
or
 A control on the top left part of a Window that affects its size.
  • Red Terminate: discard the window. Often appears with X inside.
  • Yellow Minimize: Show window only on the Dock. Often appears with - inside.
  • Green Maximize/Midimize: Window fills/is-in Desktop. Often appears with + inside.
If a window is minimized, click it on the Dock and it will open and move to the Desktop. When a window on the Desktop is maximized, it fills the entire screen; when such a screen-filling window is midimized, it returns to its original Desktop size.
Finder A special application running in a Window that is used to explore/manipulate files and folders. The easiest way to start the Finder is by Clicking the Finder Icon (the first one) on the Dock (see its Toolbar above).
Context
Menu		 Pressing on some Icons will show a list of commands you can perform on them.

Logging On The following instructions are for logging onto any machine running Mac OS X in CMU's Clusters, including WeH5419 ABCD.
  • Move the mouse a bit and a Carnegie Mellon Computing Services / Mac OS X box will pop up.
  • In the Name box, enter your Andrew username.
  • In the Password box, enter your Andrew password (it will appear as  *'s).
  • Click the icon labelled Log In or press the Enter/Return key.
If you enter your username and password correctly, you will be logged on; otherwise the window will move left-right-left (like shaking its "head" NO). In this case, repeat this process until you successfully logged on.
Logging Off When you are finished working on a cluster machine, you should always log off. Before logging off, make sure to Backup all your files that contain useful information. Then ...
  • Click the Apple and select Log Out....
  • You will see a box with Are you sure you want to quit all applications and log out now, and you should select Log out.
At this point the machine will begin logging you out. To ensure that this operation is successful, you should wait until the Carnegie Mellon Computing Services / Mac OS X box redisplayed (at which point you could log in again).
Renaming Folders and Files You will often need to rename generic project folders, downloaded from the course web site, with your name.

To rename a folder or file (if it is a file with an extension, the extension should remain the same):

  • Click the folder or file icon.
  • Click the name under it.
  • Type the new name (and the same extension) in the highlighted box.
Press Enter or click the Desktop. The folder or file should now have the name that you typed.
Zipping Files Programming assignments must be turned in as single zip file that contains all the files inside a project folder. To zip all the files in a folder named F (located on the Desktop), for example, into a single zip file:

On the newer Macintoshes (including most of campus labs):
  • Hold the Ctrl key and click on the folder you wish to zip.
  • From the context menu that appears choose "Create Archive of f".
  • This will create a file called f.zip.

On older Macs (if you don't see the Create Archive option when you try the above):
  • Open the Terminal application.  To accomplish this, either:
    • Click the Terminal icon on the Dock.

    • In the toolbar select Go | Applications; disclose the Utility folder and Double Click the icon labelled Terminal.
  • A window with a Terminal will appear with the prompt %.
  • To the % prompt, type cd Desktop
  • To the % prompt, type zip -r F.zip F
  • You should see a series of lines that begin with the word "adding".

A new file icon named F.zip will appear on the Desktop with the name F.zip (or whatever you named it); the orignal (unzipped) folder will still be there too. You may have to Click the Desktop first to see this zipped file.

Unzipping Files Often, Mac OS X will automatically unzip any file that you download through a web browser. Typically, you will see both the zipped file and the unzipped folder on your Desktop (although there might be a delay while the zipped file is being unzipped; you also might have to click the on the Desktop). If you see only the zipped file (not the unzipped folder), double click the zipped file and it should produce the unzipped folder.

At this point you can delete (throw into the trash basket) the zipped file; you can always redownload it from the web.

Uploading to Andrew When you finish a programming session, it is an excellent idea to save to your Andrew file space any of the projects that you altered (whether you are on your own machine or a cluster machine). Doing so ensures that your work is not lost (even if something happens to it on your own computer; it is a sad fact of life, but almost everyone will accidentally delete some important file during the semester) and that it is available to all other computers that can access your Andrew file space.

To save your work

  • Launch the Finder, and on its toolbar select Go | Home.
  • Double Click the MyAFS folder icon.
  • Drag any project folders you modified into this folder.

Another method (one that saves space on your Andrew account) is to first Zip your project folder into one file and then upload just that zip file to your Andrew account.

Remember, even if you are using your own computer, it is a good idea to archive project files from it onto your Andrew file space.

Downloading from Andrew To work on any material that you previously saved to your Andrew file space, you must first download it to your local system (typically to the Desktop). To retrieve your work
  • Launch the Finder, and on its toolbar, select Go | Home
  • Double Click the MyAFS folder icon.
  • Drag any project folders from this folder onto the Desktop.
If you Zipped your project folder before uploading it, then it must be Unzipped after downloading. Mac OS X should do this for you automatically. Click the Desktop; if you do not see the unzipped file Double Click the downloaded zip file and Click the Desktop again.