The Macintosh Operating System

This page will introduce you to the Macintosh OS X Operating System and the basic skills that will be needed to write programs in this environment. Since most students have had some experience with MS-windows based systems, this page will also explain how to do basic tasks from someone with an MS perspective. Mastering the use of the operating system is NOT an academic part of the course, so feel free to give and take help.
As we begin to learn programming, we will practice these skills repeatedly during class. They will soon become intuitive.
OS X (operating system ten) version 10.2
Mac OS X is the newest in a long line of Graphical User Interface (GUI) operating systems. They wer 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. The OS X is the first to be fully UNIX compatible. We are currently running a version of 10.2. Version 10.3 has just become commercially available.

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. This 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 in 5419 -- personally, I have fewer icons.

The second picture shows how the Dock may appear in other campus clusters. Note that there are many similarities and some differences.

The icons on a dock are divided into two groups: here, the first dock has these icons on its left side: 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 will appear between these last two Icons.

Toolbar
The horizontal bar that appears at the top of the destktop. It always contains information about (and pull-down menus for) the currently running application. The toolbar for the Finder appears as

Clicking any window puts information for that (window) application in the toolbar. Clicking the desktop (the background) puts the Finder in the toolbar.
The Apple Menu
The leftmost Icon on every toolbar (e.g., see the Finder Toolbar above).

Icons
Pictures. For example, the Internet Explorer Icon, which is typically on the Dock (see above). Icons represent applications (that you can run), files (data for applications that you can run), or folders (repositories for files that you can examine) by double clicking.
Clicking
Pressing and quickly releasing the mouse button.

Double Clicking
Clicking twice, in rapid succession. This takes a bit of practice for beginners.

Dragging
Pressing the mouse button and moving the mouse while the button is pressed.

Folders
Folders organize data. Double clicking a folder shows its contents (the applications, files, and subfolders that it contains). Here is a manila folder icon:

Window
A window shows a running application and the data it is working on. Single clicking an icon on thedDock, or double clicking an application or a file (connected to an application) starts that application (working on the data in the file), creating a window.

To terminate a window, click its red/X window control (see below). To terminate an application, select its name on its Toolbar and then select Quit.

Window Control
A control on the top left part of a window that affects its size.

or 

If a window is minimized, click its icon on the dock and it will re-open on 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 on the dock.

Context Menu
Pressing on some icons will show a list of commands you can perform on them.

Miscellaneous Operations

Renaming Folders and Files

You may  need to rename folders every so often; doing so is a little trickier compared to MS-windows.

To rename a folder or file (if it is a file with an extension, the extension should generally remain the same):
  • Click the folder or file icon.
  • Click the name under it.
  • Type the new name in the highlighted box.
    • Press Enter or click the desktop. The folder or file should now have the name that you typed.
    Enabling Scrolling in the Java Console Window
    Java programs often input/output text in the console window. If scrolling is enabled in these windows, you can look at all the text printed. In Mac OS X, all text windows (like the console window created by Java) automatically implement scrolling. Use the scrolling tab (on the right border) to examine earlier or later lines.
    Special Instructionr for Using the Macs in the Clusters

    Logging On

    The following instructions are for logging onto any machine running Mac OS X in CMU clusters; these include WeH 5419ABCD (90 machines), Hunt Library (the Apple Orchard, 40 machines), Cyert 100 (20 machines). You can do coursework from machines in any of these clusters.


    Logging Off

    When you are finished working on a cluster machine, you should always log off. Before logging off, make sure to backup (via Andrew) all your files that contain useful information. Then ...