[Tutor] Tutor

[Danny Yoo]

On Fri, Dec 5, 2014 at 12:05 PM, Joel Goldstick
<joel.goldstick at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Dec 5, 2014 at 11:37 AM, Marina Woodson
> <marina.woodson at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I am looking for a tutor. I have a project due in a couple of days and cannot complete the code on my own. How does this system here work?
>
> You may find someone who would be willing to help you, but the way
> this works is you state your problem, show the code you have written,
> and ask a question.  You should include which version of python you
> are using, and also cut and paste any traceback errors that are
> displayed when you run your code.  Be thoughtful with your subject
> line,so as to attract people who might know something about what you
> need to learn.


I want to second that there are plenty of folk here who like to help.
But as a caveat: you may have heard the phrase: "There's no such thing
as a bad question."  In a sense, this aphorism is right, but in
another sense, it's wrong.  There are certain questions that will
produce bad results in context.  In the context of a volunteer mailing
list that teaches programming, there are few things that kill
enthusiasm more quickly than a "question" of the form: "My project's
not working.  Fix it for me."

Instead of a request for someone to finish your homework, make effort
to ask a good question: try to isolate the problem you're having,
reduce it down to a small question, and try to verbalize what you're
having difficulty with.  That is, direct your goals from:

    "I need to get this project done tomorrow."

to:

    "Here's something I don't understand.  I thought this and this
would work, but it doesn't.  Can you help me understand why?"


Good luck!