Tracebacks and Asking for Help

Tracebacks and Asking for Help#

Learning Objectives#

After working through this topic, you should be able to:

  • Read Python tracebacks and focus on the important parts

    • What type of error

    • Where did it happen

    • What exactly happened

  • Describe an error precisely in your own words

  • Ask your fellow students and instructors for help

Materials#

Video:

Download the slides.

See an excellent blogpost by Matthew Rocklin that shows how to ideally ask for help.

And the realpython post on how to read tracebacks.

Quiz#

What does a Python traceback help you to do?
Which part of the traceback should you read first to diagnose the error?
Which exception type occurs if you set a list as a dictionary key?
What should you be looking for when reading a traceback?
What is the proper way to ask for help when encountering a traceback?