The first project is finding lane lines on the road in a recorded video. The lecture part runs smoothly, learnt a lot of new information as well as Python programming skills.
The problem starts from section 16: Project Intro, in which we need to use GitHub (https://github.com/udacity/CarND-LaneLines-P1). I have experience with GitHub in Linux (Ubuntu), but not in Windows. Things starting to get worse in "Step 1: set up the 'CarND Term1 Starter Kit' "(https://github.com/udacity/CarND-Term1-Starter-Kit/blob/master/README.md#carnd-term1-starter-kit) , then even worse when starting "Anaconda Environment" (https://github.com/udacity/CarND-Term1-Starter-Kit/blob/master/doc/configure_via_anaconda.md). The 'miniconda' never installed properly using the provided link, so I downed the full version of 'Anaconda' (https://www.anaconda.com/download/). The Udacity course "Anaconda and Jupyter Notebooks" (https://classroom.udacity.com/courses/ud1111) is useful for quick review, you got the basic feeling about went through the materials.
After installing 'Anaconda', I got totally confused to the following instructions. I did some search and found a guy with similar difficulties: "The Anaconda installation guide is so confusing. " (https://discussions.udacity.com/t/the-anaconda-installation-guide-is-so-confusing/312695). Based on the answer and my own trial and error, considering GitHub (A good beginner’s Git and GitHub tutorial: https://blog.udacity.com/2015/06/a-beginners-git-github-tutorial.html) is heavily used in the future, I followed the following steps:
Install the 'Git' (https://git-scm.com/downloads), open "Git CMD", clone the environment by pasting "git clone https://github.com/udacity/CarND-Term1-Starter-Kit.git"
Open "Anaconda Prompt", navigate to the "CarND-Term1-Starter-Kit"folder by using "cd CarND-Term1-Starter-Kit"
If you are on Windows, rename "meta_windows_patch.yml" to "meta.yml"
Set up the environment using "conda env create -f environment.yml" in "Anaconda Prompt"
Verify that the carnd-term1 environment was created in your environments by using "conda info --envs" in "Anaconda Prompt"
Activate the environment by using "activate carnd-term1". This MUST be done each time you begin a new working session i.e. open a new terminal window.
Now, we move to "Step 2: Open the code in a Jupyter Notebook". Everything worked fine until "Click on the file called 'P1.ipynb'." We don't even have the "P1.ipynb" in the "CarND Term1 Starter Kit". Got the answer immediately from the forum: How and where do I write the code for the Term1Project1? (https://discussions.udacity.com/t/how-and-where-do-i-write-the-code-for-the-term1project1/388155).
Quoted from the reply of subodh.malgonde (Forum Mentor): "You actually need to setup your environment using the starter kit. Just downloading the starter kit won’t be sufficient. Once you set up the environment you need to clone this github repository - CarND-LaneLines-P1. You will editing and running your code in something in the file P1.ipynb. The extension .ipynb stands for iPython notebook. You will be using Jupyter notebook to open/edit/run this file." So, steps summarized as:
Open "Git CMD", clone the environment by pasting "git clone https://github.com/udacity/CarND-LaneLines-P1.git"
Open "Anaconda Prompt", navigate to the "CarND-LaneLines-P1"folder by using "cd CarND-LaneLines-P1"
Activate the environment by using "activate carnd-term1".
Open jupyter notebook by "jupyter notebook". Follow the instructions to open jupyter notebook in your browser.
BTW, a hint for people with non-CS background: "cd" is a command used to change the current directory (i.e., the directory in which the user is currently working) to the directory you would like to go. Thus, you can clone package to wherever location you prefer by first change directory in "Git CMD". Then, you also need to change the directory in "Anaconda Prompt".
OK, tools are set, coding time!