🤖 Claude AI Setup Guide

🤖 Claude AI Setup Guide#

Meet Claude (created by a company called Anthropic), your friendly AI programming assistant! Claude can help you understand code, debug problems, and learn new concepts.

💡 Instructor Disclaimer: Your instructor has no connection to Anthropic (the company that makes Claude). We’re using Claude because many programmers and data scientists from the technology industry agree it’s the best AI tools for programming, writing and explaining things clearly (as of the time when this camp is created)!

🛑 Age limit#

Claude only allows user to register for an account if they are > 18 years old. You will need to set up this account under the supervision of your parents. We will use Claude together in the classroom under the supervision of the instructor.

📋 Step-by-Step Setup#

Step 1: Create Your Account#

  1. 🌐 Go to claude.ai

  2. 🖱️ Click “Continue with Google” if you wish to sign up using your Google account. Or enter your email address to sign up through emails.

  3. ✅ Verify your account (check email sent from Anthropic)

Step 2: Start Your First Conversation#

  1. 💬 You will see a conversation box where you can ask Claude questions

  2. 🎯 Try this first message:

    Hi Claude! I'm learning R programming in a kids' data science camp. 
Can you help me understand what this code does? What does the "<-" mean?

   ```R
   a <- 1
   b <- 2
   c <- 2 * (a+b)

   print(c+1)
   ```

  3. 📖 Read Claude’s explanation

  4. 🎉 You’re ready to learn and code with Claude!

🎯 How to Ask Claude for Help#

🔮 Magic Phrases for Young Coders#

For Understanding Code:

  • “Can you explain this R code like I’m 10 years old?”

  • “What does this function do in simple terms?”

  • “Why isn’t my code working?”

For Getting Help:

  • “I’m trying to make a graph in R but I’m stuck”

  • “How do I fix this error message?”

  • “Can you help me write code to [specific task]?”

For Learning New Things:

  • “What’s a fun way to practice for loops in R?”

  • “Can you show me how to make colorful graphs?”

  • “What are some cool things I can do with data?”

🛡️ Safety Guidelines#

🚦 Green Light (Always OK)#

  • ✅ Ask for help with R code

  • ✅ Request explanations of programming concepts

  • ✅ Get suggestions for fun coding projects

  • ✅ Ask about data science careers

🟡 Yellow Light (Check with Instructor)#

  • ⚠️ Asking for homework answers (you are in charge of your own learning journey now, great power comes with great responsibility!)

🔴 Red Light (Never Do)#

  • ❌ Share personal information (address, phone, etc.)

  • ❌ Requesting personal information about others

  • ❌ Ask Claude to do all your work for you

  • ❌ Copy and paste the code/answer Claude give you without thinking, validating yourself

  • ❌ Use Claude for non-educational purposes during camp

💡 Pro Tips for Talking with AI#

  1. 🎯 Be specific: Instead of “my code is broken,” explain what you were trying to do, communicate to AI in a clear, specific way like talking to another human

  2. 💙 Be polite and say “Thank you”: Research shows that when you talk to AI in a polite, encouraging way, like saying “thank you”, “please”, “good job!”, the performance of AI increases

“please”

  1. ➕ New conversation: Create a new conversation window everytime you have a new question or a new task. AI can get confused when your conversation with it gets too long

  2. 📋 Share your code: Copy and paste your R code so Claude can see the exact problem. It’s even better if you can wrap your code inside of the 3 tick marks like this:


   ```
   INSERT YOUR CODE HERE
   ```

  1. 🫨 Debug errors: If you encounter errors that you don’t know how to fix, copy and paste the entire error message to Claude and asks it to explain the problem

  2. 🤔 Ask “why”: Don’t just ask for fixes - ask Claude to explain why something works

  3. 🎮 Make it fun: Ask Claude to suggest creative coding challenges

  4. 👥 Collaborate: Share cool Claude tips with your camp friends!

🔄 Using Claude with Posit Cloud#

Perfect workflow for our camp:

  1. 💻 Write code in Posit Cloud

  2. 🤔 Get stuck or curious about something

  3. 🤖 Ask Claude for help in a new browser tab

  4. 📚 Learn from Claude’s explanation

  5. 💻 Apply what you learned back in Posit Cloud

  6. 🎉 Celebrate your new understanding!

happy

🆘 Troubleshooting#

“I can’t create an account”

  • Ask a parent/guardian to help with email verification

  • Make sure you’re using a valid email address

“Claude isn’t understanding my question”

  • Try being more specific about your problem, explain to Claude like explaining to your a friend

  • Try create a new conversation window using the orange “+” button on the top left, sometimes the AI get confused when your conversation with it gets too long

  • Include your actual R code in your question

  • Include the complete error messages in your question

  • Ask your instructor for help phrasing the question

“Claude gave me code that doesn’t work”

  • Double-check you copied the code exactly

  • AI isn’t perfect - that’s why you are the one in charge to decide what is right and wrong!

  • Ask your instructor to help debug

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