Forum

This is the course’s open Q&A board. Post whatever you would otherwise keep to yourself after class: a step of a lab that will not run, a result you cannot interpret, a paper you found and want to argue about.

Why here and not by email. An answer sent to one person helps one person. The same answer here is read by everyone stuck on the same line of code — which, in a lab week, is usually half the class.

How it works

• Write a post in the box below — it becomes a thread of its own. Reply underneath any existing post to answer or add to it.
• You need a free GitHub account to write (reading is open to anyone). If you do not have one, sign up here — it takes a minute, and you will want it for your own code anyway.
• Posts support Markdown and code blocks: paste your traceback between triple backticks and it stays readable.
• Threads are public and posted under your GitHub username, so use a name you are comfortable being seen with.

What makes a good post

• Say which lab or lecture you are on, and what you already tried.
• Paste the error message, not a paraphrase of it. The exact text is the fastest thing to search for.
• For a conceptual question, state the version of the idea you currently hold — it is much easier to fix a stated belief than to fill a silence.
• Answering a classmate is encouraged, not discouraged: explaining a concept is the surest way to find out whether you actually understood it. The teaching team reads every thread and steps in when something is off.

What does not belong here

Grades, personal circumstances, and anything you would not put on a public page: email us instead — addresses are on the Course Info page. Solutions to a lab that has not yet been submitted stay off the forum until its deadline has passed.