Smart Questions Make Smart Essays
25 Jan 2018
Introduction
One phrase that I have constantly heard throughout my life is: “there is no such thing as a stupid question,” and while I believe that is true, I also believe that a question can be asked in a way that can make it look like a stupid question. This sentiment is loosely shown in Eric Raymond’s How To Ask Questions The Smart Way. In his essay, Raymond lists out some of the qualifications that must be met in order for any software developer to ask questions the “smart” way. The rest of this essay will focus on two questions found on StackOverflow, a question-and-answer website built specifically for programmers: a “smart” question that resulted in a “smart” answer, and a “not smart” question that resulted in a condescending answer.
Smart Question on StackOverflow
One of the smart questions found on StackOverflow is titled: Why is it Faster to Process a Sorted Array Than an Unsorted Array? The question first provides some C++ code and some Java code that measures the time it takes to process an unsorted array and a sorted array, and then the question concludes by simply reiterating the question: “why is it faster to process a sorted array than an unsorted array?” This question would be labelled a “smart question” because it starts with a question header that is meaningful and specific, it is grammatically correct, and it provides examples that shows that clearly demonstrate what is being analyzed.
Not-Smart Question on StackOverflow
One of the… not as smart… questions found on StackOverflow is titled: Make This Script Work. The question starts off by stating that this is part of an assignment where a program must be able to go through the numbers 1 to 100 and print out only the even numbers. The person asking the question then clarifies that he/she has been able to do this in a for-loop (as well as how easy it is to do it in a for-loop) and asks if it’s possible to do the same code with a while-loop. The question ends with his/her “very clunky code” and a disclaimer stating that they have tried to use the “random.sample” function with no success. This question is not a “smart question” because its header, “Make This Script Work,” contains no description as to what the actual problem is, it labels itself as a question only targeted to solve a homework assignment, and it is a question that appears to be a question that doesn’t need to be solved at all since the person asking the question already successfully met the requirements of the assignment through the implementation of a for-loop.