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Get better at Googling

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Re: Get better at Googling

#111

Post by kjjjjjjjjjjjjjj »

net_greybeard wrote: post #92

Google is okay for research on how other people have achieved something. But generally these days I am of the opinion it just teaches you bad habits. I really wish people would just read the docs instead of just googling. I am working on a large typescript solution and almost every error in the application is due to the original developers not reading the docs and instead just googling stuff from stack overflow. Also…

Most docs just give you the primitives but don't explain HOW TO DO SOMETHING. I can't even count how many times I am learning some new thing and I have to find a tutorial on medium to figure out how to get something to work because its either undocumented or you need inside knowledge.

Re: Get better at Googling

#112

Post by yepthatsreality »

t-writescode wrote: post #108
yepthatsreality wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see older developers do it too. And which sites do you find this information on. Is it in the documentation? Wouldn’t it be quicker to just know what docs will tell you that info each time instead of searching for “Java function signature” or “JS pass-by-value” and going to the same place. You’re welcome to continuously search for stuff if that workflow is useful to you, but it’s not very efficient.

How do you find the docs? Do you just keep a giant list of bookmarks for every project and sdk you might use? Or, do you Google the docs?

Yes I keep bookmarks or often document the links in my brief of the project. Or I've used the links so much I know the site path to get to a doc.

You're trying to find a hole in my logic, but you're ignoring what I'm saying:

Searching the web isn't an important skill, just as going to the library to research isn't an important skill. The skill is reading, research, and organizing research itself. Google just makes it easy to be lazy about research and gives you the impression that with a few keywords, the research is organized for you.

Re: Get better at Googling

#113

Post by 8note »

matusp wrote: post #60

Not sure how is this related to the SW development, this is just a general set of Google keywords. I might sound like an old fart, but I feel like it is much more helpful to learn your way around the docs as a developer. I regularly see people googling all kinds of basic language knowledge that can be found in documentation. However, googling might lead to outdated or incorrect information, especially when people jus…

I find documentation tends to not tell you about alternative ways to do something similar.

You can't find the right way to do something until you've read most of the docs, vs finding the way people do it by examples is quick.

I don't need to learn how to write a novel to order lunch in a new labguage

Re: Get better at Googling

#115

Post by elondaits »

eitland wrote: post #62
tyingq wrote: post #18

The article is missing several operators that are useful. Like inurl:, intitle:, allintitle:, etc. The "AROUND" proximity search is neat as well, especially for words with dual meaning. like: bootstrap AROUND(6) cpu Finds "bootstrap" within 6 words of "cpu", which culls out most (not all) of the unwanted results about the bootstrap js library. This article seems to cover most of the ones I'm aware of: https://ahrefs.…

From the linked article: > “search term” > Force an exact-match search. Use this to refine results for ambiguous searches, or to exclude synonyms when searching for single words. Author claimed they tested all of the operators, but this one in particular I can confirm haven't worked reliably for me for over a decade and across a number of machines and accounts. Some times it can be traced down to things like me searc…

Try opening the “Search tools” menu in the results page and selecting “Verbatim”... I think that makes “literal” searches work, because otherwise Google uses synonyms and language analysis to attempt to match your search to results.

Re: Get better at Googling

#116

Post by net_greybeard »

xxpor wrote: post #106
net_greybeard wrote: post #92

Google is okay for research on how other people have achieved something. But generally these days I am of the opinion it just teaches you bad habits. I really wish people would just read the docs instead of just googling. I am working on a large typescript solution and almost every error in the application is due to the original developers not reading the docs and instead just googling stuff from stack overflow. Also…

Google/DDG is usually the fastest way to find the docs. Documentation sites are usually terrible for discovery.

It is fine for finding the docs. However people use it to find quick, frequently out of date or just wrong solutions on the net.

For example. If you are using the babel compiler and its plugins you will fine lots of answers that are wrong on Stack overflow because they were written when Babel 6 was the major version was popular. Whereas reading the docs (the doc site is quite good IMO) will get you the correct answer every time but comes much lower in search results. Using the babel 6 suggestions can lead you to into some sort of NPM hell.

Re: Get better at Googling

#117

Post by not2b »

I recall that Google turned off filetype:mp3 at the height of the Napster / Limeware days to stop music sharing. It looks like it is ignored still.

Re: Get better at Googling

#118

Post by mlejva »

Given what the post is about, I wanted to share what my friend and I are working on.

It’s an app called Devbook [0].

Our goal is to build a search engine for developers. Currently, it allows you to search Stack Overflow and certain documentation. It’s fully controllable using just a keyboard and completely free to use. It works in a way that you don’t have to leave your coding editor.

[0] https://usedevbook.com

Re: Get better at Googling

#119

Post by pizza234 »

net_greybeard wrote: post #92

Google is okay for research on how other people have achieved something. But generally these days I am of the opinion it just teaches you bad habits. I really wish people would just read the docs instead of just googling. I am working on a large typescript solution and almost every error in the application is due to the original developers not reading the docs and instead just googling stuff from stack overflow. Also…

> I really wish people would just read the docs instead of just googling. I am working on a large typescript solution and almost every error in the application is due to the original developers not reading the docs and instead just googling stuff from stack overflow.

It's a bit more complicated than that. I do read the docs, but using the web is essential for me, for a few reasons:

- nowadays, a dev doesn't work on an area that can be included in a single book; one touches several different frameworks, and reading that docs for all of them can be just unfeasible

- the docs may not be good; you may be surprised that even the Linux API doc can be really bad

- there may be issues that require workarounds that are not described in the docs

- best practices may not be obvious even when reading the docs

- one can't assume that in a big doc, it's obvious where the solution for a problem is, which may force to read way more than expected

I think a dev can "google more than RTFM'ing" and still produce a good solution, if they intend to - that is, to process the information rather than blindly copy/pasting.

Thinking about it, the major problem seem to me unprocessed copy/paste, rather than "googling instead of RTFM'ing".

Re: Get better at Googling

#120

Post by aastronaut »

t-writescode wrote: post #108
yepthatsreality wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see older developers do it too. And which sites do you find this information on. Is it in the documentation? Wouldn’t it be quicker to just know what docs will tell you that info each time instead of searching for “Java function signature” or “JS pass-by-value” and going to the same place. You’re welcome to continuously search for stuff if that workflow is useful to you, but it’s not very efficient.

How do you find the docs? Do you just keep a giant list of bookmarks for every project and sdk you might use? Or, do you Google the docs?

DDG might has a helpful !bang[0] available or zeal[1] (or dash[2] for macOS) can also be of help

[0]: https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q=

[1]: https://zealdocs.org/

[2]: https://kapeli.com/dash

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