We expect that all students will need help at some point in this course. If you find yourself needing help, this is not cause for embarrassment: it is completely expected, and our goal is to ensure that you are able to receive the help you need. A good rule of thumb is that if you spend an hour on the assignment without making any progress, seek help! Please be sure to seek help early and often through any (or all!) of the following resources:
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Your Study Group Building a support system of friends with whom you can struggle and work through the challenges you encounter is one of the best ways to seek help. You will quickly learn how much you can figure out working together!
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Discord: I have created a discord server that you can use for any questions related to course logistics, material, or assignments. You can get coding help through discord, or just use it to get to know your classmates better. Please use discretion and don't broadcast your code in a way that other students can easily copy it. Posting code snippets is fine, but if you are going to cost a large segment of code please send a private message to me or the UTAs. The invite link for the server is here.
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Student Hours: The instructor and the TAs are always willing to help you during our student hours. Please make frequent use of these times! Even if you don't have specific questions, you can come to student hours just to work until you do have a question. If you want to get one on one help but none of the official student hours work for you, then you should not hesitate to schedule a time with the instructor.
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Homework review sessions: Each week the UTA will hold a review session to walk through the solutions to the previous week's homework. All of these review sessions will be hosted on Zoom (link on Canvas, passcode CS1502). You are encouraged to attend the review sessions synchronously and ask questions about the solutions. However if you can't make it, the review session will be recorded, and you can watch it asynchronously through the Panopto video tab. Take advantage of these review sessions! If you are missing points on homework, these review sessions will help you see what level of detail and rigor you need to get full points. These review sessions will also help fill in any and all cracks in your understanding, and prevent you from developing misunderstandings that start to snowball as the course goes on.
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Email: Please send me emails as often as you need! But note that in my class, you are never allowed to apologize for sending an email or asking for help, and you are never allowed to dismiss your own questions as "dumb".