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How to ask questions and find the right answers
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Florian Plank
November 09, 2013
Programming
2
350
How to ask questions and find the right answers
An introduction to finding help online when beginning programming. Given at RailsGirls Oulu.
Florian Plank
November 09, 2013
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Transcript
H W TO ASK QUESTIONS AND FIND THE RIGHT ANSWERS
You will f*ck up.
You will f*ck up. Every day.
And that’s okay.
And that’s okay. It’s the best part, really.
“Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.” Khalil Gibran
(A story of a button.)
Getting ahead in 5 easy steps
Admit that you have a problem. 1
Walk away. 2
Narrow it down. 3
A Is something broken? B Are you stuck?
- What does it take to trigger the problem? -
What is it that you want to achieve? - What happens instead? A
- What is it that you want to achieve? -
What is involved? - Where are you getting stuck? B
Research. 4
A “Do you have a name”? Check the documentation.
None
None
A + B Too fuzzy? — Use a search engine.
Don’t bother with site searches.
None
?
What does it take to trigger the problem? What is
it that you want to achieve? What happens instead? A WHEN THEN BUT
What is it that you want to achieve? What is
involved? Where are you getting stuck? B WHAT WITH HOW
- Leave your emotions at the door. - Formulate your
question with the answer in mind. - Be speci c in your terms. - Consider variations of your problem. - e order of the search terms matters. - Let the results guide your next question.
A + B Evaluate the results.
- How old is an answer? Check the date. -
How trustworthy is the source? - Explanation or just a code snippet? - Close, but no cigar? —Can you adapt an answer to your use case?
Ask for help. 5
None
(What is Stackover ow and how does it work?)
So, you think you’re ready to ask a question?
Have you exhausted all other means?
Did you search for similar questions?
Really?
Really? Alright then —
None
None
- Leave your emotions at the door. - Be speci
c, be brief.
None
None
None
- Leave your emotions at the door! - Provide all
necessary context. - Show that and what you’ve tried. - Be speci c, be brief. - Make it relevant to others. - Keep an open mind. - Be nice.
None
- Use as little tags a as possible. - Don’t
use buzzwords. - is is not a honey pot!
None
None
Now wait. Go, do something else. Be patient.
…
Found what you needed?
Found what you needed? Take some time to understand.
Comment. Ask follow–up questions. Be grateful.
…
Repeat. ∞
Experts Beginners
Experts Beginners Highly specialized questions Universal questions
Someone somewhere had the same problem than you before.
Give up.
Give up for the moment
Give up for the moment, but never for good.
Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
Writing Ruby is a magical experience, but Ruby is not
magic.
Here’s something to get you started:
None
None
@polarblau