Getting Help

Getting Help: Online Discussion, Office Hours, & Tutoring References: Textbooks & Web Resources Advice from Spring 2014 Data Structures Students Advice from Fall 2011 Data Structures Students

Your work on the homeworks and the labs for this course should be completed on your own, following the Collaboration Policy. However, you are encouraged to ask lots of questions about the material when you get stuck. Please ask your instructor, graduate TAs, undergraduate lab programming mentors, and fellow classmates for help.

Don't be shy or worried if you can't always figure things out all on your own. Please ask for help. We're happy to give you hints, programming tips, and guide you through debugging.

• Programming Advice from the TAs
  Helpful hints about problem solving, debugging, compiling, C++, and good programming & commenting style. This advice will help you program and debug effectively and efficiently and ensure you earn maximum credit for your hard work.

• See also: Advice from former Data Structures students

Submitty Discussion Forum

Post your questions about homework and general questions on the Submitty Discussion Forum. The TAs, instructor, and other students will help answer your questions. Be sure not to post partial or full solutions to the lab or homework problems when asking your questions or answering a classmate's question. Posting a line or two of code that is causing a compiler syntax error is ok.

If you registered at least a week before the first day of classes, you should be automatically added to Submitty, you will use your RPI RCS username & password to log in. Contact the instructor if you cannot access Submitty.

Instructor & TA Office Hours

A very important resource for help outside of class are the instructor and TA office hours. You may attend the office hours of any other TA (not just your lab TA) for questions about the course material or the homework. If you have questions about the grading of your homework, please see the TA who graded your assignment during their regular office hours or make an appointment.

• Weekly Office Hours Schedule
  Office hours get very busy as the deadline approaches. Start the homework early and take advantage of the less crowded office hours early in the week.

• Instructor & TA Contact Information
  Short questions over email are ok. But please come see us in person for more involved questions. Please do not email your homework assignment to the instructor or TAs. We can login and view your submitted homework files if you encounter a problem at submission time and have a short question related to homework submission.

Additional Tutoring

In addition to the Instructor and TA Office Hours for the course, you may also want to check out:

• Advising & Learning Assistance Center (ALAC) Drop in Tutoring
  Drop in Tutoring is staffed by upperclass Computer Science majors. Note that Drop in Tutoring tends to get busy and crowded on Wednesday and Thursday nights before a homework deadline.

  ALAC can also connect you with upperclass students available to serve as one-on-one private tutors (generally for pay).

• RPI's chapter of Upsilon Pi Epsilon (UPE) offers CS tutoring to undergraduates in small groups. Interested students should send an email to with the course name and the times available for tutoring.