Being a programmer, we have all the resources and answers at our fingertips. If you have a question, chances are, the internet has an answer. The internet allows us to look up our questions, read articles and manuals, watch YouTube tutorial videos, and even ask others for help. But when it comes to asking others for help, everyone has their hand up and there is only a handful of users who can help. Some programmers choose to take shortcuts and the easy way, asking simple questions, also known as “dumb” questions, that have answers that are easily accessible. This is where getting users’ attention and asking a “smart” question gives you a greater advantage and increases your chances of getting help and soon your answer.
A “Dumb” question is something that you can easily ask Siri or Alexa for the answer. In other words, the answer is right in front of you. Either after doing a quick Google search, reading articles or manuals, going back to your notes, or watching a 2-minute YouTube video. Asking these types of questions in a forum, or StackOverflow in this case, does not get answers right away or at all because they are considered a waste of time. If you ask a “dumb” question, you are basically telling someone else to do your work.
An example of a “dumb” question that I found on StackOverflow is from a user named Piyusha Kothawade. Kothawade’s header reads, “XMLHttpRequest.handleError (http://localhost:3000/main.7f4ca7158af3e942ff90.hot-update.js:330:14)”. Their subject header is literally just an error message. To most people, it just looks like a bunch of random characters. One easy step to make this a “smart” question is to summarize your problem into your subject header, you can even follow it up with “Anybody got ideas for any tests or troubleshooting techniques so I can pinpoint the source of the problem?”. As mentioned in Eric Raymond’s “How to ask questions the smart way”, many tech support organizations use an “object-deviation” technique. The “object” specifies what thing is having the problem and the “deviation” explains the deviation from the expected behavior.
As we open Kothawade’s post, they go on to explain that they have been getting this error by trying to fetch API using Axios while using no capitalization and punctuation. Although I may not know the coding language and syntax, it is still hard to follow along with what they are trying to ask let alone explain their problem and what the error actually means. They continue to provide code and later say that they don’t know what’s wrong and that it would be great if anyone could help. So far there are no answers or any replies. Although it has been posted today, it has already been viewed 8 times. This is proof that having a “dumb” question does not get answers.
Now that we know what is a “dumb” question, all of you must be asking what is a “smart” question. One great example is from the user that goes by the name Michael McGurk and their subject header reads, “Javascript For Loop breaks when number > 10. Any pointers?”. Although this is a simple question, it is way better than the previous question and it is straightforward. The user then goes on to provide us with their code, even a link to their JSFiddle that has their updated code. They then pinpoint where the problem occurs, explaining that the code worked perfectly until line 11 where the for-loop breaks once the value is greater than 10.
Something that McGurk’s post had that wasn’t in Kothawade’s was the way McGurk closed out their post. They sincerely apologize for simply adding a link and continue to show their gratitude by saying, “Many thanks for taking a look at this”. This post has correct capitalization, and punctuation, and is easy to understand and follow.
After reading Raymond’s article, I was able to gain a better understanding of what makes a question “smart”. Now that I know what is expected, I am confident if I ever need to post a question to a forum, and can increase my chances of getting an answer. I suggest reading Raymond’s article if you haven’t already, especially if you wish to continue Computer Science. You will find many new insights, along with a sprinkle of humor here and there.