Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
codeahoy.com
Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
1–10 of 181 posts
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#2Another essential point here is when you get 'fancy' error messages. Google is amazing at finding why (and usually, The Patch) when you fail to compile random packages.
I have my own little cross-distro builder[0] and I /rarely/ bother trying to dive into autoconf/make hell before cut+pasting the exact error message into google! That very likely saved my sanity many times over :-)
Otherwise I agree with the article -- Given the number of environments and languages around, actually 'knowing' trivialities like exact library names and such is a waste of good neuron..
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#3[deleted]
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#4This small post is spot on. The search queries could have been typed by me. One of the important things a developer has to learn is how to actually use Google for software investigation. Especially with the acronyms and very short names that we use all the time, its important to know how to structure your Google queries. Writing Google queries to quickly find the correct solutions is a skill on its own.
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#5Google is certainly a 100% essential tool for programming. I use it constantly, every day, and I am sure basically every single developer does the same. The most essential point in the post, imo, is that on any given project you have to wade through the details of dozens of components and tools. There's only so much room in the average brain.
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#6I often joke that my ability to formulate good Google queries is the single most important part of my software engineering skillset. Except, you know, I'm not really joking.
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#7Let's say tomorrow there was some major catastrophy in which every disk drive or tape drive was wiped, and every computer had reset. How would we fare in rebuilding society?
I guess it would be similar if in 1950, all of books lost their ink or all of scientists/engineers had amnesia. I'm not trying to make a point other than it is interesting to think about it.
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#8> “Never memorize something that you can look up.” - Albert Einstein
Here's the actual [1], and perhaps more meaningful, quote:
"[I do not] carry such information in my mind since it is readily available in books. ...The value of a college education is not the learning of many facts but the training of the mind to think."
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#9I not only use Google frequently, I use it to search for things I myself have written in the past.
I can't count the number of times I've Googled for a programming question where the answer is found on a Stack Overflow page I've written. If it's a particularly old answer that I've completely forgotten, I've even thought to myself, "Wow this genius sounds just like me!"[1].
[1]: ... as well as "This idiot has no clue what he's talking about!"
Re: Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently
#10I use DuckDuckGo frequently (´꒳`)