Getting Help
In general:
- Email me or Mr. McCullen any time. We're both very accessible.
- Come to office hours! You can come to Mr. McCullen's or any TA's
consulting hours without prior notice.
- Get help sooner rather than later. Consulting hours get very busy
right on the night a project is due, so you're more likely to get all
the help you need if you come earlier in the week.
- Think twice before looking stuff up online. You should have all the
programming knowledge you need for the labs and the projects from the
lectures, examples, and textbook.
During lab:
- Try a few times on your own, ask a neighbor for help (lab assignments
are collaborative), then call me over. Don't spend the entire time
struggling on your own if you get stuck.
For projects:
- Before asking for help, make sure you have first:
- read the notes file for the project
- studied the examples in the course pack
- reread your notes
- looked it up in the text book
- tried doing it another way
- checked for common bugs
- If you're still stuck, DO ask for help. There's not point wasting
hours puzzling over an error when more often than not, we can give you a
list of possible causes without a second thought.
If you're struggling:
- Contact me and/or Mr. McCullen as soon as you realize you're in
trouble. Everything in this course is cumulative, so falling behind can
quickly become disastrous.
Other problems or concerns:
- Email me about lab assignments and grading questions/mistakes. Email
Mr. McCullen first for most other problems, including missed project
deadlines.
Last updated 1/6/13