To log into Glue/Grace machines you should use an SSH client. (SSH client is a program that runs on your system. For most *NIX machines just type ssh in the terminal. in windows you can use PuTTY). You should be able to log in using you university directory ID and password. There are Solaris and Linux servers accessible to you but we strongly recommend that you only use Linux machines so for example you should type ssh yourname@linux.grace.umd.edu . The class directory is /afs/glue.umd.edu/class/fall2009/cmsc/423/0101 . Within the student sub-directory, each of you should already have a directory set up. This is where you should do all your work. The public directory will contain common files that you might need for projects or assignments.
You can either write your programs locally and then transfer them to the servers (using scp or other SSH file transfer tool like WinSCP for Windows) or just simply edit and compile the programs directly on the servers. As you need to make sure that your code compiles and runs on the servers anyway I recommend that you do everything on the servers. You can write the programs with the editor of your choice but I recommend a simple *NIX editor like emacs, vim, nano etc.
GNU C and C++ (gcc and g++) compilers are installed on all these machines. Java is also available (see below for setting it up). Though not particularly recommended scripting language interpreters for Perl, Python and Ruby are also acceptable. If you want to use any other programming language please talk to the TA first.
Some popular software is already available on these servers. type tap to see a list of available applications. For example you can type tap java6 to use Sun java compiler and runtime environment (javac and java) and tap R to use R statistical programming environment.
When you are ready to submit your assignment, use the submit command on the glue system as follows:
submit 2009 fall cmsc 423 0101 <nn> <file>
where <nn> represents the number of the assignment (for the first homework this is '1') and <file> is the file with your completed assignment. This command will copy the file into a special directory that only the instructor and TA can see. Note, if your submission consists of multiple files, make sure you either tar or zip all the files into a single submission.
If the assignment description contains a specified way that your program should be compiled and run then make sure that it does, otherwise write a short README file that explains how to compile your sources (if applicable) and how to run them.
If you have any questions do not hesitate to send the TA an email with CMSC423 in the subject.