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All right guys.
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It's Angela from The App Brewery again.
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So at this stage I'm presuming that you've probably at some point in your life done a tutorial or a
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lesson somewhere else out there on the Internet and inevitably at some point you'll probably get stuck
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on a problem.
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Now I spend a lot of time thinking about how I can make the course such that you get stuck less often
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but with programming it’s almost a core part of the learning process that you do get stuck and you get
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yourself unstuck.
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So I tend to find that when I get stuck on something I try to see it as a challenge because usually
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when I solve it and when I figure it out there is a huge sense of satisfaction and there's usually some
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associated growth.
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Now having taught over 100000 students online and offline I've seen people struggle in lots of different
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ways.
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And I just wanted to summarize the steps that you can go through when you get stuck on any sort of programming
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problem and the framework that you can use to get yourself unstuck in the quickest way possible.
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Now the first step is to evaluate what is the expectation versus what is the reality.
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What did you expect your code to do or what did you expect to happen and what actually happened.
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So every time you run your code,
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think to yourself what do I expect to happen and then see what really happened and try to figure out
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what is causing the difference.
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Now while you're writing code it's inevitable that you will end up creating errors. And this can happen
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when you've made a mistake or spelled something wrong or even when you're just trying to install a piece
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of software. And those errors are usually accompanied by bits of text or the error message. And you can
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see this in your browser or in your code editor.
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And most of the time it might seem like these error messages are written by aliens because they don't
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seem to make any sense.
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But you can quite easily figure out the human meaning in English for it by just putting it into Google
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and you'll usually get lots of different answers as to what the cause might be and how you can fix the
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problem.
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And one of the web sites, if you don't already know about it, it's going to shortly become your very best
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friend, and that is stackoverflow.com.
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So I recommend searching for any errors that you come across into Google and then heading towards the
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Stack Overflow web sites that come up as a result.
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And this is exactly what real life developers do every single day.
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And in fact I've worked in teams where we will all just go to the pub and have a drink and end the day
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if Stack Overflow is no longer working.
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So it's all a part of the developer workflow.
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Now if that still doesn't help, or you’re confused by the results that you're getting back, then it's a good
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idea to re-watch some of the video up to the point when the code started breaking or it started doing
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something unexpected, because in the videos there are always step by step instructions and it's really
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important that you check to make sure that you haven't made a typo here or there or you haven't capitalized
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something that shouldn't be capitalized and just re-watch the video right before when your code broke
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in order to try and figure out what might have gone wrong.
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Now the next step is you can check your code against my code. At the end of every tutorial module,
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there is a completed project that you can download, and you can scroll through the completed code, compare
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it to your own, and see if there were any typos, any errors, any mistakes, and if it helps you can even
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copy and paste sections from the completed code into your own module just to see if that line or that
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paragraph helped to fix the issue.
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And if that still doesn't solve it then the next step is head towards the Q & A.
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So, underneath every lesson there is a Q & A section, and it's a good idea to check in the lesson when
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your app has broken to see whether if anybody else had similar issues to you. And, if you can't find anybody
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with the same issues, then ask in the Q & A. But make sure that you ask your question in the lesson
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where you're having the issue. That way it makes it much easier for other students to be able to learn
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from your mistakes and also for me to be able to quickly identify what the problem might be.
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And if you have a question about anything in the tutorial it's a good idea just to include the timestamp
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at which it occurs in the video so I can quickly watch it and figure out what you're referring to so
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that I can better answer your questions.
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Now, when you are asking questions in the Q & A, the way to get the most helpful responses and solutions
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is by following a four step approach.
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So firstly, tell us, to myself and other students,
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what did you expect to happen, then
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what actually happened, and then include a screenshot of all of your code that corresponds to this situation,
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and then include a screenshot of the debug console that includes any errors,
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if there were any errors or if your app has crashed.
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Now, to take a screenshot of part of the screen in Windows, all you have to do is hold down the Windows
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key, Shift and S, and then you'll get these little crosshairs show up and you'll be able to take a section
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of your screen as a screenshot, and, once you let go of the mouse, it will save this to your clipboard ready
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to be pasted into Paint or any other application.
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If that doesn't work for you be sure to just Google how to take a screenshot of part of the screen and
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you'll see lots of videos that can help you with this as well.
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If you're using a Mac computer, on the other hand, this shortcut is gonna save you a lot of time, and it
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might be worth noting this down in your notebook. When you use Command, Shift and 4, you get this little
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crosshair that shows up and you can start clicking and dragging the area that you want to take a screenshot
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with and it will save it automatically to your desktop, which then you can upload into the Q & A area
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for the lecture.
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So that's just a brief step by step process on what to do and how to get help when you get stuck and
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it's important to remember that everybody gets stuck sometimes.
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I've spent days trying to find a bug in my code and it turns out to be just a comma that was misplaced
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or a semicolon that was accidentally deleted, and one of the greatest joys, for me anyways, is figuring
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out these problems and fixing them. So don't worry if you do get stuck. Everybody will try to help you.
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And just remember that getting stuck and solving it is all a part of the learning journey.