Send email to Jack Applin

No Pictures

• Do not take a picture of your screen, either with a phone, or a screen capture.
• If you want to show me part of your code, or an error message, then copy & paste that text, so that I can quote the relevant portions of your code back to you in my answer.
• If you don’t know how to copy & paste, learn now. Are you really planning on being a professional Computer Scientist who doesn’t know how to copy & paste?

Greeting

• Call me “Mr. Applin” or “Jack”. I’m neither a “Professor” nor a “Doctor”, so avoid those. Plain “Applin” only works if you’re my wrestling coach. “Hey” is for horses.

We are not texting

• You’re not texting with your friends. Use capital letters, periods, etc., as appropriate. Avoid LOL, OMG, etc. It’s not English class, but we really should communicate in English.

Identify yourself

• Sign your email with your first & last names. I’m not good at associating faces in class with names, much less email addresses. Your first name is probably not unique.

Be specific

• If you’re asking for an extension, ask for something specific. Don’t just say “May I have an extension on HW2?”. Instead, say “May I have an extension on HW2 until 10:00ᴘᴍ Tuesday?”.

Ask a question

• If you say “I don’t know how to do the homework”, I’ll just agree.
• What, specifically, are you having trouble with?
• Similarly, throwing code at me and declaring that “this doesn’t work”, will tempt me to just agree.
  • What part is failing?
  • What did you expect it to do?

I’m a programmer, not an advisor

• I don’t have the power to grant overrides, or late add/drop. You should contact an advisor for those; they’ll contact me if they require my permission.
• I don’t know:
  • which classes are required for your major
  • what grade is required in my class for your major
• I’ll tell you what I know, but I’m not the right person to ask.

Don’t whine

• “I’ve been working in the lab for nine hours!” only tells me that you have poor judgment. Get to the point.

Don’t give orders

• Telling me to “Respond ASAP” will not make me respond faster. In fact …

Keep it simple

• If your email is a list of seven questions, then I won’t respond to it until I’ve considered all seven questions. That’ll take time.

Don’t expect an immediate response

• I am not a 24/7 email consulting service; I am paid to teach classes and hold office hours.
• If I choose to answer email, it’s on my own time.
• I don’t keep the same hours that you do.