Asking the Right Questions
19 Jan 2018Asking the Right Questions
As a someone learning to program I find that a lot of time I run into very basic or stupid errors and very rarely have a problem in designing the solution. Because of this I have found that I can very easily find some sort of solution before asking for help from a TA or Professor. However, on the occasion where I cannot find a solution I might post about it on a forum or pose it to a group of friends or classmates. That’s where the concept of a good question comes from. After reading “How To Ask Questions The Smart Way” I find that a lot of my questions were very stupid. Of course, the questions weren’t the most thought provoking and was really just a matter of something misused or missing. Thankfully I had Great TAs to help me out.
A Bad Question
The importance of a great question can be seen online in all types of forums however let first look at one of the bad ones. (unfortunately the question was removed so I only have a picture.)
This question is clearly showing no sign of effort put in, at least that the viewers know of. It looks like the poster just got this assigned in class as a project or at their job and for one reason or another thought that everyone would just create the program for them. In the end it was down-voted and closed. This is what is called a loser by the article. They have no intention of trying to develop their own program and are looking for free labor. While this might not be true, and the poster meant something else entirely because of how they posted it, it looks like he just didn’t want to pay or put in the effort to create the program. As a result, he got no help and it was closed.
A Good One
Now for a good question. URL: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/25918057/how-to-set-a-fixed-width-with-cout
While this is not the most complicated question and has probably been explained elsewhere the user showed that he had made some attempt at figuring it out and just couldn’t, he also provided a sample of what he wanted it to look like and what it looked like when he tried it. He also provided his code that produced the output. This let the viewers get a clear picture of what was going on, so they could help him. And in the end, he did get a clear and clean answer. He got what he wanted, and the helper got a problem to mull over and solve so both parties are happy.
The Importance
It is important to ask smart questions online because otherwise you’re wasting peoples time, as well as wasting your own time. If by doing a simple google search on the error you’ve been getting would’ve resulted in an answer and yet you spent over a week waiting for a response to your question, wouldn’t you feel stupid? I certainly would. By asking smart questions, we avoid duplicate questions or questions that are basic. After all going on to stack exchange to ask for a program is stupid. Why would anyone willing spend time on something that the poster could do when they could do other more productive stuff. It’s a waste of time to ask a stupid question.