Getting help

You might need to get help during the project. Do not worry, this is expected.

😕 If anything here is unclear, please send a mail to the list (see below) to ask for clarifications. We might indeed want to update the site to make it clearer.

Useful resources

You might want to use the following resources first:

• The Zstandard RFC is the authoritative reference for Zstandard. Every question you might have about the file format should find an answer there.
• Nigel Tao has authored a seven part blog series explaining in details various parts of the standard.

Mailing-list

📧 A mailing-list has been created for all course and project related exchanges. Please use it. If you do not remember its address, please look in your received mail folder and look for the name of the class (NET7212).¹

You can ask a question about anything related to the project or course on the mailing-list. When sending a mail, make sure that:

1. You use a sensible Subject: field (e.g., "How can I convert a String to lowercase?" rather than "Help!!!").
2. You include enough information so that people can actually help you ("it does not work" will not help others helping you) 🔮.
3. If you want us to look at your code, ensure it is committed and pushed to GitLab and state clearly which branch or commit we should look at.

Also, do not hesitate to send a mail on the mailing-list if you think you have the answer to a question asked by others, or if you think our answer is not the best one.

✋🏻 When sending or answering a mail, always keep the mailing-list as a recipient: everyone in the class deserves to see the question and the answer.

⛔ Do not send an email about the project or the course content directly to the lecturers in private email—we insist in sharing the knowledge between all participants.

During the lab sessions

The lab sessions are supposed to be used… for working on the lab topic, not the project. So unless you are done with the lab assignment, please refrain from requesting help about the project. However, if you want to discuss something related to the project with the lecturer, feel free to take some time off the lab session to talk about a particular point.