From Confusion to Clarity: The Significance of Smart Questions in Programming
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I’m sure we have all at least once come across these types of questions such as: “How do I code this” or “What part of my code do I need to fix in order to get the error to go away”. To be honest, I might’ve been asking these “not so smart” questions whenever I needed help or if I was lost. But I’ve realized over the years that such vague questions will never help me get to the solution that I need in order to fix that issue, and especially after reading that essay that was written by Eric Raymond called “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way”. In short, he has helped me understand further that good questions lead to better, faster answers. On the other hand, bad questions lead to frustration, confusion, or even no response. His essay analyzes two StackOverFlow questions, one that follows Raymond’s principles and one that does not, to illustrate how asking “smart” questions leads to more effective responses.
Why These Principles Matter In Programming Communities Like StackOverFlow
Asking a question correctly is a crucial activity within programming communities such as StackOverFlow, as this directly influences the speed and efficiency with which someone gets help. By asking the right and relevant questions, it will help encourage more helpful responses. Nobody would want to spend their time asking random, and vague questions as they will be harder to engage with. StackOverFlow relies on a model of peer-to-peer help where expert programmers answer questions voluntarily. If the question is not well-structured or lacks important information, the chances of getting a correct and timely response will be greatly decreased. Yet instead, a clear question or an interesting one perhaps, will call for expert-level answers which is what we are all looking for.
In addition, asking well thought out questions will improve problem solving skills and will even help others too. Well-defined questions will compel programmers to deeply think through and analyze their problem. Oftentimes, the act of writing out the details leads to self-discovery of the solution before the question is even posted! Which I know so well because this has happened to me multiple times. When we try to structure a good question, we think about what we are stuck with and it helps us organize our messy thoughts and suddenly find an answer to the problem, on our own. But even if not, those questions that you may have may probably be issues that later on, new programmers will come across which in that case, those questions will continue to serve useful for many years.
The “NOT SMART” StackOverFlow Question (POORLY CONSTRUCTED)
Let’s start with the question that is considered as “not smart” according to Raymond.
The “not smart” question I found:
“How to code a very simple login system with Java”.
In their question, the replier seemed like they wanted to create a system that will verify the username and password from the file. They probably came on here to ask for a solution so that the outcome would say something if the login was successful or not but all they did was basically describe what they have coded so far without any other details. While a general approach is mentioned, there is a lack of detailed information regarding the current code structure, the file format being used, or the specific challenges that they have encountered. They don’t go into much details about what they have tried so far or exactly where their difficulties lie.
Answers to this question are all over the place, from general advice to requests for clarification. Without more specific information, answers can really range from some which may not be as complete as the person asking may want, given the ambiguity. As Raymond explicitly states in his essay, one needs to be specific, provide context, and demonstrate that one has tried to solve the problem by themselves when asking questions. In this way, the community will be more likely to give specific answers and suggestions that may help the person lead to his issues.
The “SMART” StackOverFlow Question (WELL CONSTRUCTED)
Now let’s look at the smart question that was being asked in the website.
The “smart” question I found: “Why is processing a sorted array so much faster than an unsorted array?”.
This question is asked by an individual who has found that in C++, for an interaction, the execution speed on a sorted array is remarkably higher compared to the unsorted array. The author of the post provides example code which really shows such a huge difference in execution speed (in which she provides the actual result that she got when compared), and hence wants to know the reason behind it. I really love how the question is specific: sorted vs unsorted arrays. Although it may seem like a simple question, their question is very specific and since there is a code provided and ontop of that has comments on it, one can easily reproduce the scenario. The question shows that the observation is deep enough, meaning that the user must have tried to solve the problem before asking for help. Although the title describes the problem in one phrase, the body explains his issues clearly. As a result, the question received quite a lot of attention along with many detailed responses that explain such factors as CPU cache behavior and branch prediction. This probably helped the person to achieve a really deep and better understanding of the problem.
Insights About This
Comparing these two questions and other ones as well, I was able to see true differences in the type of answers or responses that each person gets. By following Raymond’s rules and asking smart questions, I can see how other people are able to get a hold of what you are really trying to ask for help or guidance on. But on the other hand, if I were to only ask vague and not well-framed questions, there is a high chance that even if I were to get responses, they will be either asking me for clarification or an answer that I was not looking for (which is obviously going to be not their fault but yours). Or at times might not get any responses at all since they don’t know what I am specifically asking for or even think that my questions are too foolish enough for the person to even spend their time to answer it.
Overall
In conclusion, I now better understand how significant and important it is to create well-structured and framed questions in order for us to receive quick and relevant responses. Then not only that but also for the others to find our questions and have them take their time to help us with what we are struggling with. Through the principles introduced by Eric Raymond, software engineers and coders in general will grow to be better communicators which can help fellow programmers out.
Plus, asking “smart” questions isn’t only about getting help, but it’s also about becoming a better problem solver in order for us to be able to consider things from many different aspects.
This essay was reviewed using AI(ChatGPT) for grammar checking to ensure and correctness and improve readability.