The top quark was discovered at the Tevatron in 1995. For the last decade the
study of its properties has been a major theme in the worldwide experimental
high energy physics program. The advent of the LHC opens up a new era in top
quark physics; because of the large ttˉ cross-section and the high
luminosity, the LHC can be thought of as a top factory. Here we present the
prospects and plans for ttbar physics at CMS at an early stage of the
experiment, covering from the initial establishment of the top signal, to the
first measurements that become possible for an integrated luminosity of 100
pb−1, considering a realistic detector performance.Comment: ICHEP0