Q. Are the readings in the class sections online mandatory? I understand that they will 
help with the lecture that day, but will any information from the readings pop up 
on quizzes/exams  that wouldn't be known from the lectures?

A. The textbook is complementary. Technically, there will be nothing on the exams  
that was not said in class, or could not be derived based on what was said in class. 
If a student takes all the notes, 
understands everything well, and can work out example and homework problems, 
he  is ready, whether or not she has read the textbook. 

However, in-class lectures only provide the key points, while the textbook works out 
many more examples, and in greater detail. 
Besides, not everything I say in class, or put on the blackboard, is copied down 
into the notes I post on the class site. But the textbook surely contains everything. 
I certainly advise everyone to spend the time going over the appropriate 
chapters of the book, especially their concrete  examples. 


Q. With regards to numderivative.cc, that you provided us for the homework, 
should the code compile on any C++ machine?

A. The compilation should be straightforward on any unix/linux/ machine, see 
the second commented line of the file (g++ -o numderivative numderivative.cc ). 

If you have a mac, installing xcode will give you c compilers. 
After that all you have to do is use the Terminal to run Unix command and compile your code.

If you have a windows machine, try installing Cygwin. 
The following tutorial describes all the necessary steps to download and install both 
the unix interface and c compilers.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjZQVHbu5E4

You TA may have further advice.

	My expectation for windows users is that, by 3rd week of class, 
they have either got an access to a unix/linux machine 
or have installed a unix emulator (e.g. cygwin). 

It is strongly advised that you try the Unix interface and learn the basic commands, 
however, if you are away from your machine and need to run a simple c code, 
as a last resort
you can try to use one the online tools listed below. 
Be advised, these are experimental tools and may not work in many cases.
http://www.tutorialspoint.com/codingground.htm (Links to an external site.)
https://www.codechef.com/ide (Links to an external site.)
https://ideone.com/ (Links to an external site.)
 

This said, I am also 100% sure that tons of  C++ compilers 
exist for pure windows too, even without 
an emulator.   


In general, a 3000 level course assumes that 
students can modify/write/compile/run simple programs written in the most 
widely used languages  such as C or C++.