Help Me!

Within these castle walls be forged Mavens of Computer Science ...

— Merlin, The Coder

Prerequisites

• W1002 The Client, the Server, and the Shell

Background

Read: Asking for Help

Caution

Be sure you've set your location before attempting to use helpme!

Getting Help

We all need some help sometimes and all of us have more to learn. If you need help, ask, and sooner rather than later. Of course, this doesn't mean that you shouldn't try things on your own and struggle a bit, but it does mean that you shouldn't allow yourself to become stuck and get behind. Here are some options for getting help:

1. Ask a nearby colleague. Unless you're being assessed (homework, quiz, test, etc.) asking a colleague is a great first step toward pursuing an answer to a problem. Be sure to thoroughly read, understand, and follow the Model Collaboration Policy and provide written credit in your assignment citing anyone that does provide you with assistance.
2. If you're outside of a classroom environment, send an email to your guide. Be sure to provide sufficient information to make your question clear, perhaps including excerpts of code. Insufficient information will, at best, result in a delay.
3. If you're in a classroom environment, use the helpme command (described below).

helpme

helpme is a simple, but very useful command that will queue your request in a classroom. The request will likely be displayed on a monitor and you'll be able to see your position in the queue.

To view an overview of available subcommands:

john-williams@codermerlin:~$  helpme

To request help:

john-williams@codermerlin:~$  helpme please <subject>

If there's a monitor present in the room you'll see your name appear within a few seconds. Go ahead and try it now, replacing "<subject>" with some text that you need help with. For now, you can simply try:

john-williams@codermerlin:~$  helpme please emacs

In the event that there's no monitor in the room (or if you can't see the monitor from where you're seated, you can check your position with:

john-williams@codermerlin:~$  helpme where

If you're able to resolve your question before someone comes to help you, you can cancel your request with:

john-williams@codermerlin:~$  helpme nevermind

Go ahead and try it now.