This is probably a stupid question, but...

deku12345

So I'm majoring in computer science at Cal Poly, and on the syllabus for one of my classes it says:

"All code will be tested on the department Unix systems. If you wish, you may develop code on a different system and then port it, but the projects must be working on the department Unix systems when you submit them. "

I took a few courses in java at my high school, and I was never aware of any difference between a Unix based system and anything else. Or is this something that applies only to C? Does this mean I should do all my coding on a Unix based OS such as Linux or Mac? Or will it matter at all? (I'm running Windows now fyi.)

I feel kinda silly asking this question, but I've never dealt with anything but java on a windows OS.

Drooling Iguana

If you're just using the standard C libraries it shouldn't make much of a difference, but if you're writing code for the Windows API it won't work in UNIX, as would be expected. Regular text-based stuff should be fine, though.

An introductory course probably won't cover anything that wouldn't work the same in Windows or UNIX (with the possible exception of file access) so you should be fine coding in Windows, provided you make sure to test your code in UNIX before handing it in.

deku12345

Oh duh. I get what its saying now. Somehow I thought it meant that there were libaries unique to Unix or something.

'Spose I should read up on Unix then.

Drooling Iguana

There are libraries unique to UNIX. Every OS has their own APIs. The standard C libraries are the same on all platforms, though.

apas

*GASP*- I missed a thread! And many others, at that rate.

This should answer your problem.

At that rate, this should, too.

Drooling Iguana

If you're going to link to xkcd comics, link to the actual comic pages. Not only is it good form in general, but it's especially applicable to xkcd since no xkcd comic is complete without its rollover text.