Lecture 0: GitHub Classroom Assignments

Getting Started: GitHub Classroom Assignments¶

How to accept assignments, work in your repo, and submit answers for this course.

What Is GitHub Classroom?¶

• GitHub Classroom distributes assignment repos to students

• Each lecture has a corresponding assignment (e.g. lecture-01-introduction)

• When you accept an assignment, you get your own private repo with:

  • Exercises for that lecture

  • AI-assisted tools (MCP) in Cursor or Codespaces

  • A devcontainer for a consistent environment

Step 1: Accept the Assignment¶

1. Open the invitation link (from your instructor or the lecture slides)

2. Sign in to GitHub (create an account if needed)

3. Join the classroom if prompted (select your identifier)

4. Click Accept this assignment

5. Wait for GitHub to create your repo — you’ll get a link like github.com/YourOrg/lecture-01-introduction-YourUsername

Step 2: Open Your Repo¶

1. Codespaces (browser): In your repo, Code → Codespaces → Create codespace on main. Devcontainer starts with Python and curriculum tools.

2. Cursor (desktop): Clone the repo, open in Cursor. MCP curriculum tools connect when the devcontainer is running.

Step 3: Complete the Exercises¶

• Exercises are in exercises/chNN/ (e.g. exercises/ch01/ex_1.md)

• Write your answers in the Markdown files or Python files as indicated

• Use the curriculum tools in Cursor/Codespaces to search exercises, read lectures, and get resources

• Run tests locally if provided: pytest tests/ or npm test

Step 4: Submit Your Answers¶

• Commit and push your changes to your assignment repo

• git add . → git commit -m "Complete ex 1" → git push

• GitHub Classroom records your submission

• Autograding (if enabled) runs on push and shows ✅ or ❌ in the Classroom UI

Accept Your Assignment¶

{{CLASSROOM_URL}}

Go to the classroom, find the assignment for your current lecture, and accept it to get started.