CourseSetup

In order for class to run smoothly, it's best to have everyone come prepared. Please make sure you have the following setup. If you have questions, or can't get parts of this installed, please let me know in advance, and I can offer to help.

Client Stuff

You should have the following on your laptop:

• (required) A program (that you know how to use!) for editing Python scripts. Preferably, this is a program that will help you write Python (e.g., provide color syntax highlighting, etc.)
• (required) A program (that you know how to use!) for editing HTML. This program should be one that lets you edit the actual HTML code, rather than only allowing you to edit things in WYSIWYG mode.
• (optional, but good to have) A UML editor. An open source possibility is ArgoUML?. There's a free (but not Open Source) improved version called Poseidon Community Edition (both of these are Java, and should run on Windows, Linux, or Mac OSX). You don't have to know UML, but we'll use these tools to make new content types).
• (optional, but good to have) WingIDE?: http://www.wingide.com. This is a commercial product, but you can get a 10 day trial. This is an excellent IDE/debugger for Zope/Plone that we'll use in class. You can also use this your Python editor and HTML editor (above), if you don't already have something you prefer for those.
• (optional, but good to have) A second web browser, so you can use two different browser programs at once. I'd strongly recommend Firefox and highly recommend that you install the Web Developer Extensions (http://ftp.mozilla.org/pub/mozilla.org/extensions/web_developer/web_developer-0.8-fx.xpi from within Firefox), as they'll prove very useful.
• (required) The client for ExternalEditor?. This is installed by default when you install the full Plone installer for Windows. For Linux and OSX, you may have to install this yourself. Get it at http://www.zope.org/Members/Caseman/ExternalEditor

Zope/Plone Setup:

You'll be happiest if you have Zope/Plone on your laptop. If you can't get it running, I can set up and instance for you on my laptop, but this will make life slower and less pleasant for both of us. :(

It's fine to install Zope/Plone by hand, or use on the packaged installers. However, you should know:

• Zope: any version >= 2.7.3. But not Zope 2.8 or Zope 3.
• Plone: any version >= 2.0.3.
• Archetypes: we'll use the newer version of Archetypes (all serious developers are already doing this). In your $INSTANCE_HOME/Products, delete "Archetypes", "generator", "validation", and "PortalTransforms?"
• Unzip the Training add-on products into your $INSTANCE_HOME/Products.