Now you've finally matured into the kind of developer who can ask interesting questions - the type that are not easily answered by studying docs or source code. Sometimes because you're not asking the right questions, sometimes because your problem is obscure, sometimes because it's a little bit "subjective" - but above all, it should be interesting to other people who also know how to read docs and source.
I No Longer Need StackOverflow
11–20 of 94 posts
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#12You have reached the inflection point. This is when you start contributing to StackOverflow.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#13I'm capable of debugging stuff myself, but I still always go to SO as my first port of call when I hit a roadblock. If I can find a comprehensive answer in 1 or 2 minutes of searching around, which I normally can unless it's really niche, that's far better than wracking my brains looking through somebody else's unfamiliar code.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#14Very often Stack Overflow _is_ the documentation. Library recommendations are off topic in Stack Overflow anyway...
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#15It's not always a question of "needing" something, it's a question of whether you spend 5 minutes searching for the answer or 50 minutes, or 5 hours.
It's a tool. Use it.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#16And the entire beginner community went to http://www.downforeveryone.com/ at the same time
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#17>Whenever a library behaved in an unexpected way, I started digging into the code to really understand what was going on. Instead of asking StackOverflow if an API exists or a library has a particular feature, I read the docs instead. Instead of asking if my theory will work, I figure out a way to test it, and try it on my own machine.
Yes. Or you could use Stack Overflow, and also learn something you didn't know by reading the answers.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#18It's not always a question of "needing" something, it's a question of whether you spend 5 minutes searching for the answer or 50 minutes, or 5 hours. It's a tool. Use it.
Convenience is good but i have to agree with him on this one.
Understanding the technology in a deeper way is a lot more useful in the long run.
And once you understand it answering other questions you may have gets a lot easier and arguably that 5 hour investment in the beginning may be a bargain.
He spends 5 hours to understand it first you spend 5-10 minutes on each question and you may run into dozens if not hundreds of questions depending on what you're doing at the end of the day you may just come out even but do that long enough and you're worse off using SO for shortcuts instead of just learning how it works.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#19Well looks like the poster doesn't use SO quite well on a normal day then. What you describe as a newfound way to program is actually what should be considered normal. SO isn't about getting an answer to some code problem or your homework or something like that. To benefit from SO you should have an informed question that displays a good degree of personal research. THEN it's time to tap for the collective developer…
Or you know, you can't remember if Find is find(needle, haystack) or find(haystack, needle) and SO is the first result when you google.
Or any of the other "everyday" queries which are quicker to resolve via google + SO than the "real" documentation.
Re: I No Longer Need StackOverflow
#20Maybe we should run an experiment. Block SO from our routers/browsers (whatever works) and then see how we feel coding without SO. The time frame for this block should at least be a week.
I have a feeling we'd feel better about reading the proper documentations as opposed to trying out random answers from SO.