How often do you "Google" while programming? • Hacker News Board

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#11

Post by viraptor » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 9:52 AM UTC

My search history page says ~70 queries/day on work days and ~30 on weekends - majority of that stuff is about programming. So yeah it's not a problem.

That said - I don't even bother remembering the links to documentation. When I need something I just go to "python docs multiprocessing" or similar address and hope that I'm lucky. Search is the new URL ;)

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#12

Post by c1sc0 » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 10:04 AM UTC

I remember only 5 years a gruffy old sysadmin preaching "Can't you guys code without googling all the time? Programming is not what it used to be." I listened to his advice for a while & I'm thankful for it. I now try to do big conceptual work in offline mode but google like crazy for all the nitty-gritty details.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#13

Post by jedbrown » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 10:40 AM UTC

viraptor wrote: post #11

My search history page says ~70 queries/day on work days and ~30 on weekends - majority of that stuff is about programming. So yeah it's not a problem. That said - I don't even bother remembering the links to documentation. When I need something I just go to "python docs multiprocessing" or similar address and hope that I'm lucky. Search is the new URL ;)

Same here, but that might not be the best example since there is `pydoc multiprocessing`, perhaps integrated with your editor.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#14

Post by jwdunne » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 11:54 AM UTC

I google all the time at work. Hell, I google all the time at home and 90% of the time it's about programming in some way or form.

I think Google is one of the greatest and most useful tools in my very meager toolbox.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#15

Post by hackerking » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 12:36 PM UTC

yep if i want deeper explanation of funcations and their uses mainly, probably 20 times a day i would say if im just crusing, if im speeding 50-60 times a day,

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#16

Post by clueless123 » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 2:12 PM UTC

Technology changes fast. So fast, that now days the most effective strategy is not to know everything, but to know how to find relevant docs efficiently. Of course you also need basic skills for understanding and using them properly.. Now that, comes from experience.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#17

Post by benkant » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 2:33 PM UTC

$needle, $haystack

or

$haystack, $needle

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#18

Post by Throlkim » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 3:44 PM UTC

benkant wrote: post #17

$needle, $haystack or $haystack, $needle

I google this nearly every time I use a PHP function.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#19

Post by exline » Tue, Aug 31, 2010, 10:11 PM UTC

Its perfectly ok. A lot of times others have already ran into the particular problem and already solved it. You need to understand the solution, just don't blindly accept some random solution found on the internet. If you do this, then your code will get ugly fast and you will not know what it is doing. But there is nothing wrong with finding a solution, studying it, understanding it, and then using it in your own code.

Re: How often do you "Google" while programming?

#20

Post by mikeknoop » Thu, Sep 02, 2010, 7:00 AM UTC

benkant wrote: post #17

$needle, $haystack or $haystack, $needle

I can't remember off the top of my head but it should be ($needle, $haystack) if it isn't because of the appearance order in the English colloquialism "NEEDLE in the HAYSTACK".