Instructors¶
Office Hours
Ziao Yin he/him
Hey everyone, I’m Ziao! I recently graduated from UW with my bachelors in Biochemistry and Computer Science. I’ve previously served as a TA in the Allen School for ~11 quarters, with much of that time spent here in CSE 123! When I first started here at UW, I had absolutely no knowledge of computer science and had no intention of majoring in it until I took the intro series. Enjoying the intro series was what made medecided to try my shot at the CS major and TAing. Been hooked ever since and am excited to be your instructor this quarter!
Between studying and TAing, I’ve spent my undergrad years spending time outdoors, hunting down good food, and skiing. Also a big puzzle lover 🧩 (currently making my way through a 1000 piece clear puzzle).
Teaching Assistants¶
Chris Ma he/him/his
Hi, I’m Chris, full time rock climber and doom scroller. I do a little TAing on the side. This is going to be my 3rd quarter TAing. For me, the best part about my job is getting to interact with students. I love to talk about anything from sports to fashion and whatnot. I’m TAing over the summer because I care — and if you’re here over the summer, clearly you do too, so let’s have a fun time yeah?
Eeshani Shilamkar she/her/hers
Hi!! I’m Eeshani :> This will be my 3rd quarter TAing CSE123. I’m an electrical and computer engineering major going into my 4th year. Lowki, I never know what to write in these bios but I’m a dancer and my on-repeat looks like Baekhyun, RM’s solo albums (Indigo <3), KATSEYE, Ateez! Ok byee.. see ya around! :P (feel free to reach out if you have any questions!)
Nichole Tian she/her/hers
What’s up 123?? I’m Nichole and I’m so excited to be your TA this quarter! When I’m not busy daydreaming about Java, I like to play tennis, knit, listen to music, and bake :P I’m also an avid reader (my favorite author is Khaled Hosseini) and big fan of reviewing pens (the Muji Polycarbonate Ballpoint Pen is 11/10). Ask me about any of these things, I’d love to talk!
Packard Stephenson
Hey I’m Packard! I’m a sophomore / junior (idk what you call it since it’s summer quarter ðŸ˜) majoring in Computer Science (but also might be switching to Computer Engineering) and minoring in Physics. Ask me about Nathan Fielder, Survivor, anything bass guitar related, or how many home runs I think Big Dumper is going to hit this season! See you in class 😈 (all of you are gonna go to section, right??)
Trien Vuong he/him/his
Hey y’all! My name’s Trien, and I’m currently a Junior majoring in Computer Science. In my free time, I mainly enjoy playing video games (currently Monster Hunter Wilds and TFT), watching shows, and eating delicious food. This is my ninth quarter TAing CSE 123, and I’m super excited to get to know y’all.
Getting Help¶
Having questions or getting stuck on something is entirely expected in the learning process. If you find something challenging with your studies, that is a sign you are learning! Learning is not something that you need to do alone though! In fact, connecting with your peers or asking a member of the course staff for help can add extreme depth to your knowledge.
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Synchronous Help (Office Hours): One place to go to get help is our Office Hours hosted throughout the week. TAs staff office hours for many hours a day to provide you the help you need when you need it! This is a great place to go if you want to review a particular course concept, work on a practice problem with the help of a TA or your peers, or get help on a Creative Project or Programming Assignment if you are running into difficulties.
Tip
A common misconception is that you can only go to office hours with specific homework questions. That is not true! If you have any questions about course concepts (e.g., from class that day), you are super encouraged to go work on that concept with a member of the course staff at office hours! Getting help with a concept earlier, when you first are feeling unsure, is much better than saving it until you need it on the homework.
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Asynchronous Help (Ed Discussion): With a class of our size, directly emailing a member of the course staff is not always recommended. There are many of you and only few of us, so if you email one person directly we can’t make a guarantee how quickly we can respond! To alleviate this one-on-one communication of email, we have a course discussion board that will be a much more lively place for discussion and a way to make sure you can are helped more quickly. The message board is set up so that all of the course staff can help you, which will make it more likely for you to receive a quicker response!
Ed Tips
- If you are asking a general question about the course logistics or content, you can make a public post. This way other students can benefit from seeing your question, and you can even answer each other’s questions to share your perspectives!
- If you want, you can choose to post anonymously so that other students in the course can’t see your name. Note that anonymous posting does not hide your identity from the course staff.
- You’re encouraged to answer each other’s questions as well! Explaining a topic to someone else (even on a discussion board) is a great way to help you better understand the material. The course staff will still look over student answers and can nicely point out some misconception if there is one so that everyone benefits.
- If you have a question that’s pretty specific to your homework solution, or, is about some personal details that you would not want to share with the class (e.g., DRS accommodations), you can make a private post on Ed that is only visible to the course staff. This way, any member of the staff can respond to get you the help you need!
- For sensitive matters that you only want to discuss with Ziao, you can instead email Ziao if that makes you feel more comfortable. Note that the response time for the instructors’ email is longer than posting on the Ed board.