Workshop Preparation

For those who are new to GitHub and Macaulay2, we will help you set up your computer at the workshop. However, if you would like to do some preparations before the event, here are a few steps that would help you hit the ground running:

I. Clone the workshop repository

If you use macOS or Windows and prefer a graphical interface, you can use GitHub Desktop. However, learning to use the terminal can be very helpful:

0. Make an account on GitHub.

1. Open a terminal and check to make sure you have SSH access to GitHub by running the following:

ssh -T [email protected]

you should see a message like "Hi ! You've successfully authenticated." If you don't, you might need to check the key settings for your account or possibly generate a new key.

2. Clone the workshop repository using the following command:

git clone [email protected]:Macaulay2/Workshop-2024-Utah.git 

II. Install Macaulay2

• If you use macOS, install brew and use the Macaulay2 tap:

brew install Macaulay2/tap/M2

• If you use Ubuntu, use the Macaulay2 PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:macaulay2/macaulay2
sudo apt install macaulay2

(Tip: you can also use brew on Ubuntu and most other Linux distributions.)

• Otherwise, follow the appropriate instructions here.

III. Setup your editor

Most Macaulay2 users use Emacs editor to take advantage of various integrations that make development easier, and the workshop is the best time to learn Emacs and get used to it. Here is a table of useful Emacs shortcuts:

Shortcut	Action
F12	open M2 in a buffer
F11	send line/section to M2
C-x C-f <filename>	create/open a file
C-x C-s	save the current file
C-x k	close the current buffer
C-x o	switch to another buffer
C-x <right/left arrow>	rotate between buffers
C-x 2	split buffer horizontally
C-x 3	split buffer vertically
C-x 0	merge buffer splitting
C-Shift _	undo!