41-appendix.Rmd

# Appendix

These are some additional materials I use in my classes.

## How to get help in this class

> This is the contents of a document I send out every semester. I use Slack to help students with code problems outside of class. It's much easier than other options, such as email. A suggestion: set ground rules on when you will and won't answer Slack messages.  

1. **Use Slack**. Email is a miserable way to handle technological questions. I'm not answering code questions via email. On Slack we can have a back and forth where we solve this quickly instead of waiting on each other to respond to an email.
2. **Don't use screenshots**. Tell me what you're trying to do and then copy and paste your code into the Slack message.
3. **Always copy and paste the error message you are getting**. There is a near infinite number of things you could have done and a nearly limitless number of errors you could be getting. Both help.
 
**Slack tips**

* Slack uses Markdown in messages. Did you know your code blocks in R Notebook are Markdown themselves? If you copy the whole block -- with the ``` and everything, Slack will format it like this:

```
simulations <- rbinom(n = 1000, size = 39, prob = .309)

hist(simulations)

table(simulations)
```

* Using the Slack app will also mean getting alerted to messages right away. If you are logging in through a web browser, you won't know when I've responded. If we're having a Slack conversation and I see you log in, send me a message, then disappear right away, I know you're using a browser and when that conversation drags because you aren't getting messages, **I'm going to get frustrated**. You likely aren't the only one asking for help at that moment.