Stuck is a normal working condition in technology — half this course is learning to be stuck WELL. The order to try things in:
- Read the error message, twice. It names the line and, usually, the crime. Debugging Step by Step turns this into a method.
- Check the site. The class page says what we did; the concept pages explain every idea; every practice set in Exercises has worked answers folded below.
- Ask your partner or your table. Explaining the problem out loud fixes a startling fraction of it — see rubber-duck debugging, which is a real professional technique with a silly name.
- Search like a professional. Finding Answers Online is a taught skill in this course: what to type, which results to trust, and how to credit what you use.
- Ask me in class. Build time is what it is for.
- Come to a help session. Times on Help Sessions. Bring the specific broken thing; “my program doesn’t work” is hard to help, one error message is easy.
Name where it broke
“It crashes when the answer is zero, on line 12” is a bug report a professional would be proud of — and it is halfway to the fix.
One more thing: if the trouble is bigger than the course — time, workload, something at home, or anything happening online that worries you — tell me straight away, in whatever way is easiest. That last one especially: see Staying Secure Online, and know that asking for help with an online problem never gets you in trouble here.