Costa > Courses > cs1555 > Piazza

About Piazza »

This semester, instead of using email to handle questions regarding assignments, we will utilize the Piazza system that provides a simple and efficient way to organize all responses (including the ability to search posts) and also allows for students to reply to questions.

The course page on Piazza is at the following URL: https://piazza.com/pitt/summer2019/cs15552055/home

Setting Up Piazza

An email from Piazza has been sent to your Pitt email account. You should click on the provided link to activate your Piazza account. Please make sure to provide your proper first and last name in the registration process, so that we can contact you if any problems occur. You may still post anonymously, if you want.


Using Piazza

Please check the email notification settings to make sure you are not getting an email notification any time someone posts something. This is probably going to result in too many emails, so feel free to update the setting accordingly (You will find these in the settings menu, at the top right corner of the screen). Regardles of the global setting, you always get notified if someone posts a follow-up to a question you have posted.

To post a new question, please click on the New Post, and specify whether this is a note (i.e., a general comment) or a question (i.e., something that you expect an answer to). Please make sure to select the proper folder for your post (e.g., hw0, hw1, etc).


Piazza Guidelines
Here are some guidelines that you should keep in mind when posting messages in Piazza:
  • Please remember that everything you post is public-- everyone will be reading it. As a result, in any posts you make to Piazza, make sure that you do not give away any details in doing any of the assignments -- this could (and will) be construed as cheating. If you have questions about an assignment that require you to give specific details of your solution, please visit office hours or send an email to cs1555-staff@cs.pitt.edu You can also send an email to the instructors from within the Piazza system, if you prefer.

  • Please do not post any assignment code on Piazza, even as a private message. Visit office hours for any code related questions.

  • Keep posts on Piazza course-related. As you are all expected to read the forum on a regular basis, and many of you are quite busy, people don't have time to read stuff they shouldn't have to. In relation to this, Piazza is not for posting "test" posts. (We have Assignment #0 for this!)

  • Please read all questions and responses that are on Piazza before asking a question. If you ask a question that has already been answered, you are wasting everyone's time. We realize that there is a bit of a lag between the time something is posted and when it actually appears in the group, so this is somethings unavoidable. However, please try to avoid it as best as possible. Utilize the excellent search facilities that Piazza offers!

  • Make it easy for other students to find your question - just in case they have the same question and want to see the answer! Use a meaningful subject heading. "Help" and even "Help for a03q3" is not very meaningful. "Clarify contract restrictions for a03q3" is much better.

  • Make sure your questions/posts are in the appropriate folder (e.g., hw0, hw1, hw2, ...). This makes all questions nicely organized by assignment.

  • Tag your post with all the applicable tags. Start a tag by typing the hash character (#). A drop-down list of tags that are currently in use will appear. Use one of them, if applicable. If not, create a new one. However, any tag you create should be applicable to many posts, not just yours.

  • Please don't post things to the group that give no useful information to people. Posts like "I have the same question as this one posted" or "I agree with this comment" serve no useful purpose, and waste people's time.

  • Please keep complaints about the course out of the newsgroup. If you have a concern about anything to do with the course, the best way to deal with it, and to get results, is to take it to the instructor. Piazza is not a complaint forum.

  • Please be respectful of your peers and others in your posts.