Health and Well Being

Many students enter CS4414 feeling anxious, worried or even panicky about their ability to handle a significant coding course. Some of those students are right to worry! But if you felt comfortable coding in Python or Java, and have mastered the object oriented features of one of those languages, you won't have a tough time transitioning to C++.

We all need to be wary of becoming depressed, though, because a depressed student sometimes lacks the energy to keep up with any of their courses. CS4414 is tricky because it isn't easy to catch up if you disconnect for a few weeks. If you find yourself slipping into that mode, ask for help!

At Cornell, all of us are here to help one-another. Feel free posing questions about the course materials to any TA, or in Piazza, and to help others by answering their questions if you can. Do not post programs, but it is fine to pose a line of code and a compiler error message and ask for help understanding it. It is not a violation of academic integrity to ask for help understanding material from the class.

If you are feeling worried about your own safety, or have reason to worry about others, consider talking to the Cornell counsellors at EARS (607-255-3277 (EARS)). This Cornell service is staffed 24x7 by experts who have seen many kinds of situations, who can understand your own personal concerns and circumstances, and who can help you find a path forward even in seemingly impossible conditions. They have been in difficult situations themselves, and know how it feels, and they really can help. And they will keep their discussion with you in strictest privacy.

If you need to talk to someone now, please call the Ithaca Crisis Line at 607-272-1616, the National Suicide Hotline at 1-800-273-8255, or text HOME to 741-741.

One last comment: Alcohol (and other substances) don't lend themselves to thinking clearly, and you'll spend 5x more time on your code if you work when buzzed. So don't do that.