Virtual Programming Laboratory (VPL2.0) Tutorial
Virtual Programming Laboratory (VPL) enables you to write, compile, and execute parallel programs using a Web interface. You will not need to log in to your Unix account or type any Unix commands. You need a username and password in order to log into this system, and the system assigns you a semi-private user space that cannot be accessed by your classmates or other users of the NPAC systems. Yet your user area can be seen by your professor, TA, or the developer of this software.
Warning: Use Netscape 4.0 or newer versions of Netscape to run VPL. Older versions of browser have Javascript bugs that may cause problems while running VPL. Using IE may causes some problems so if possible try to use Netscape.
Warning: You can have only one active copy of each window. Always use the provided "close/quit" buttons to close the activated windows. Otherwise, windows remain locked and seem to be "open" to the system although they are actually "closed".
There are four basic tools included in this lab:
Directory Manager:
allows you to manage your user directory. It consists of three frames:
Make Dir: Makes a new directory with the given name.
Remove Dir: removes the currently selected directory. If the directory is not empty, you will need to remove the files in it first.
Rename Dir: renames the currently selected directory with the given name.
Copy File: copies the currently selected file into the same or another directory with the user-supplied name.
Remove File: removes the currently selected file.
Rename File: renames the currently selected file. This command CANNOT be used to move files into another directory. In order to do that, first copy the file into another directory, and then remove the original file.
View/Print: opens a separate window to display the contents of the currently selected file. You can print the file by using the browser's (i.e., Netscape) PRINT button.
Edit File: opens the currently selected file in the editor window.If no file has been selected, then it opens a scratch file.
opens the laboratory window for HPF or MPI Labs. See below.
HPF/MPI Labs:
You can select a file to be compiled by clicking on the file names in the file manager window.
In order to manage disk space occupied by each user wisely your executable files are implicitly named in a special way. You will not be able to have several executables or see these files in the directory manager, but believe me they are saved for you somewhere!
You can redirect the output to the same directory the file is in by typing the name of the output file. If you want to move the output files to somewhere else, do it by using the file manager.
In order to manage disk space occupied by each user wisely your executable files are implicitly named in a special way. You will not be able to have several executables or see these files in the directory manager, but they are saved for you somewhere!
You can redirect the output to the same directory the file is in by typing the name of the output file. If you want to move the output files to somewhere else, do it by using the file manager.
Text Editor:
The embedded file editor allows you to generate new files or edit the existing ones without leaving this virtual lab environment.
Operation Buttons:
For problems or more help, contact gcf@npac.syr.edu --or-- saleh@npac.syr.edu.