How to program if you are blind • Hacker News Board

Re: How to program if you are blind

#11

Post by renanbirck » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 2:36 AM UTC

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

From what I see, anything in SO that doesn't have code in it and that attracts attention will eventually get locked.

I sometimes notice this pattern on other Stack Exchange sites: non-technical questions, with some rare exceptions, tend to get closed/deleted.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#12

Post by pablasso » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 2:57 AM UTC

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

Stackoverflow has always been that way, this kind of questions were just more tolerated at the beggining.

But I don't get why is this a problem? Stackoverflow is for pragmatic questions and is great a it. If you want discussion there are other communities in stackexchange, such as 'programmers'.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#13

Post by yen223 » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 3:01 AM UTC

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

> "It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere"

That's exactly what StackOverflow is meant to be.

I feel like I'm the only one who appreciates what StackOverflow is trying to achieve here - to be the place to document hard, solid facts - nothing more. If I wanted to read commentary and opinions on programming, there's always HN or Slashdot.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#14

Post by ktt3ja » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 4:58 AM UTC

Is there a video of a blind person programming somewhere? Even though I see the description, I still don't understand how someone can possibly program without being able to see.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#15

Post by davorak » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 5:06 AM UTC

yen223 wrote: post #13

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

> "It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere" That's exactly what StackOverflow is meant to be. I feel like I'm the only one who appreciates what StackOverflow is trying to achieve here - to be the place to document hard, solid facts - nothing more. If I wanted to read commentary and opinions on programming, there's always HN o…

It seems like this type of question should fall in to http://programmers.stackexchange.com/ domain as well or at least much more so the StackOverflow.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#16

Post by davorak » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 5:07 AM UTC

logn wrote: post #6

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

Exactly. I've desperately needed answers to a handful of questions in the last 2 weeks alone that were all locked. I think unless you can quote an error message there's a good chance it will be locked. Didn't know server hard drive space came at such a premium. Honestly what good does it do to lock a question? I can see wikipedia wanting to groom their site to maintain some credibility and focus to achieve high overa…

Why not post to one of the other stackexchange.com sites like http://programmers.stackexchange.com, there is a wide variety now one probably fits the kind of questions you want to ask.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#17

Post by hakaaaaak » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 6:36 AM UTC

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

It should be easier to mark a question as duplicate or incorrectly tagged with version of language or framework, but aside from that, I don't agree. Without that site, I'd be lost.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#18

Post by jsmeaton » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 6:58 AM UTC

logn wrote: post #6

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

Exactly. I've desperately needed answers to a handful of questions in the last 2 weeks alone that were all locked. I think unless you can quote an error message there's a good chance it will be locked. Didn't know server hard drive space came at such a premium. Honestly what good does it do to lock a question? I can see wikipedia wanting to groom their site to maintain some credibility and focus to achieve high overa…

Locked means you can't add information, you can still read it. If you needed answers, ask a new question. You're not supposed to ask your own questions within someone elses question, and that is exactly why some of these questions are locked.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#19

Post by csomar » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 7:18 AM UTC

danso wrote: post #5

zainny wrote: post #2

Locked. I honestly don't know why anyone would bother contributing to Stack Overflow at this point. It seems to basically be the hosting ground for answers to hard factual questions answered in most documentation/materials elsewhere, and a virtual wasteland of locked/deleted questions that are actually of use in the non-black and white world we live and work in. This real world ambiguity seems like it is completely i…

It was locked fifteen months after the question was asked...I think its prudent to protect a significant discussion from the noise that it will inevitably generate as people discover it via long tail in years to come

This question exists because it has historical significance, but it is not considered a good, on-topic question for this site, so please do not use it as evidence that you can ask similar questions here.

Re: How to program if you are blind

#20

Post by Qantourisc » Wed, Feb 13, 2013, 7:51 AM UTC

You need either an amazing memory (to remember all the code), or a Braille screen that supports all those annoying signs like { }. The downside is going to be no code overview ... to help with that the braile reader should support | like ribbins: this way you can set the space/tab symbol to | (in programs like Vim). This will allow you to more easily follow indentations.

After thinking and writing about it, I'm more concerned about other applications, cause to write code you just need a text-editor. Browsing, Office, ... is going to a far more painful experience...