1 00:00:04,340 --> 00:00:08,480 So because of the size of this course and the sheer amount of a range of 2 00:00:08,480 --> 00:00:13,140 topics covered in it, you might from time to time have a question you need help with. 3 00:00:13,140 --> 00:00:17,060 So this video is all about showing you how to get help in that situation. 4 00:00:17,060 --> 00:00:20,980 So firstly, what you need to do to get help is to log into the course, 5 00:00:20,980 --> 00:00:24,440 and when you log in you've got these options, as you can see on the screen there. 6 00:00:24,440 --> 00:00:29,880 Choose a Q&A. When you do that, you can click on Ask a question, and enter a title 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:33,980 about the question and some detailed description, and I'll talk more about the 8 00:00:33,980 --> 00:00:37,960 types of, or how to go about describing the problem, and then post the question. 9 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:42,200 So it's literally that easy, and one of, myself or Jean-Paul Roberts, my 10 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:45,800 teaching assistant, or even a member of another student, member of the community, 11 00:00:45,800 --> 00:00:49,130 will pop in there and actually help you out. So, here's an example post just to 12 00:00:49,130 --> 00:00:53,020 give you an idea. So note the title and the description there, 13 00:00:53,020 --> 00:00:57,420 but also, the other thing I want to show you is, if you've got some source code that's not working, 14 00:00:57,420 --> 00:01:00,540 and this is a programming course so that's probably, in a large amount of cases, 15 00:01:00,540 --> 00:01:05,400 the reason why you're posting. So if it's not working, don't do a screen image. 16 00:01:05,400 --> 00:01:08,810 I suggest you actually post the code. So click here and you can 17 00:01:08,810 --> 00:01:13,280 paste the code directly in, and notice that when you do that, it gets all nicely 18 00:01:13,280 --> 00:01:17,360 color-coded and formatted. So that's the preference, that makes it easy 19 00:01:17,360 --> 00:01:22,420 for other people to actually take that code and try and use it, because if you post an image, 20 00:01:22,420 --> 00:01:25,360 if you take a screenshot of the problem you're having, it's not possible 21 00:01:25,360 --> 00:01:29,440 for someone to grab your code and paste it into their IDE, into IntelliJ, 22 00:01:29,440 --> 00:01:33,700 and get a result, trying to figure out what's going on. So if you posted a source code, 23 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:36,979 it just makes it a lot easier, and again, doing it that way means that it's all 24 00:01:36,980 --> 00:01:40,729 nicely color-coded and formatted and you're just improving, increasing the 25 00:01:40,729 --> 00:01:43,780 chances is what I'm trying to say, of getting a resolution. 26 00:01:43,780 --> 00:01:48,800 Alright, but keep in mind that I mentioned images. You can upload images. Sometimes images are preferable, 27 00:01:48,800 --> 00:01:51,900 if you've got some other issue or you want to supplement what you've shown, 28 00:01:51,900 --> 00:01:55,000 or what you've put in your description, with an image. That's how you can upload 29 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:58,760 an image as well, so that's also included there. So do that if you need to. 30 00:01:58,760 --> 00:02:02,280 And the other thing I want to point out, though, is before posting a question, 31 00:02:02,280 --> 00:02:05,560 realize that the chances are probably fairly high that your question may already have 32 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:09,460 been answered, so for that reason, before posting a new question, 33 00:02:09,460 --> 00:02:14,800 I strongly suggest you try the search facility. Now the search, very simple as you can there. 34 00:02:14,800 --> 00:02:17,040 Just type the question here, as you can see, 35 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:21,080 and it brings up an answer. So notice that you can search all questions, 36 00:02:21,080 --> 00:02:26,140 all our lectures rather, or a specific lecture. So you might want to hone your results 37 00:02:26,140 --> 00:02:28,989 to a specific lecture. That can be a good idea if you've got a problem with a 38 00:02:28,989 --> 00:02:32,650 specific lecture, and try and search just within that lecture, but you can also 39 00:02:32,650 --> 00:02:36,480 search across all lectures as well and there's lots and lots of questions, 40 00:02:36,480 --> 00:02:39,140 a huge amount of questions here. So make sure you take advantage of that. 41 00:02:39,140 --> 00:02:41,640 It'll definitely help you out. 42 00:02:41,640 --> 00:02:43,080 Alright, now the other thing I want to just 43 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,960 quickly raise is being, or just some tips on actually asking questions, 44 00:02:46,960 --> 00:02:50,340 and this'll help you in your future career as a programmer as well. 45 00:02:50,340 --> 00:02:55,880 Firstly, be as specific as you possibly can. So if you, let's just say you're 46 00:02:55,880 --> 00:02:59,880 getting stuck in a particular lecture. Now if you just post a question and say, 47 00:02:59,880 --> 00:03:03,800 'I can't get this code to work, I can't get the code from this lecture to work', 48 00:03:03,800 --> 00:03:07,500 that's technically correct. It's probably not working for you, but it makes it 49 00:03:07,510 --> 00:03:10,510 really hard for anyone else to try and help you, because you haven't given us 50 00:03:10,510 --> 00:03:14,200 any information to work with. So basically, let us know the lecture 51 00:03:14,200 --> 00:03:17,919 that you're working on, paste in the code you've used, using what I showed you 52 00:03:17,919 --> 00:03:21,280 earlier in the video and maybe a screenshot of the exact area if you need 53 00:03:21,280 --> 00:03:25,120 to do that, as opposed to the code, you know, the actual error message and so forth you're getting. 54 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:27,660 Now this is great practice for when you become a 55 00:03:27,660 --> 00:03:31,560 programmer in the real world, so because if you're starting out in a new job, 56 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,840 and you're stuck and you go to your team leader or to another programmer for help, 57 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:39,360 then you really do need to give them as much information as possible. And that's 58 00:03:39,370 --> 00:03:42,760 because people in general aren't gonna be happy if you just say, 'this is not 59 00:03:42,760 --> 00:03:46,320 working, can you help me?' or something similar, because we're all busy in 60 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:50,680 today's society. So you need to be as specific as possible in the real world, 61 00:03:50,680 --> 00:03:53,980 and certainly that would apply here as well, and that by doing that, being 62 00:03:53,980 --> 00:03:57,669 specific and saying exactly what's wrong, that's really going to help you get 63 00:03:57,669 --> 00:04:01,920 answers quicker and make you a better programmer as well, in the long term. 64 00:04:01,920 --> 00:04:06,260 The other thing that's also useful, is it's usually better to ask a new question, 65 00:04:06,260 --> 00:04:10,080 rather than appending your question to another question that's been previously answered, 66 00:04:10,080 --> 00:04:14,040 unless your question is completely related to that one, if that makes sense. 67 00:04:14,040 --> 00:04:18,740 And the reason for that is that some of this depends on the notification system of Udemy. 68 00:04:18,740 --> 00:04:20,820 Sometimes some of the older questions, 69 00:04:20,820 --> 00:04:23,780 if you post a follow-up question to a question that's maybe been answered 70 00:04:23,780 --> 00:04:27,620 six months ago, those notifications don't always come through to 71 00:04:27,620 --> 00:04:29,700 the people who are trying to answer these questions for you. 72 00:04:29,700 --> 00:04:34,200 So it's usually better to post a new question and get an answer to it that way. 73 00:04:34,200 --> 00:04:36,600 But again, always make sure you use the search facility first because 74 00:04:36,600 --> 00:04:40,140 that's going to help you a lot, and give you the skills to make you a great 75 00:04:40,140 --> 00:04:43,240 productive programmer. Alright so that's support. 76 00:04:43,240 --> 00:04:48,160 Let's finish the video here and I'll see you in the next one.