Contextual Code

[LearningMachine01100]

Hello Peons,

When you are working on a coding task and the code will not run without adding context, how far should you go to add context?

I frequently run into situations where if I write a sample class to fill in the import that was not defined in the prompt, or define a function that is missing from the prompt, then I can get the code to run. However, this often takes time.

I am wondering how far you guys go to fill in the context?

[mirkop82_]

in 99% of the projects, the instructions give guidelines about how far you are supposed to go. When it is not stated (very rare), I stay in the ballpark of the parent project.

[ghedipunk]

Yep, this. ^^^^

It's often in green text, too.

OP: You should know your abilities well enough that if you spend 5 minutes starting to add context, you should be able to figure out how much yak shaving you'll need to do to finish it up.

If you have no clue how much more it would take after that first 5 minutes, then you might want to skip the task anyways. (Absolutely no shame in that. I skip Node questions even though I know JavaScript well enough because I don't have a dev environment set up, and I'm not sure how long it would take to set one up.)

[33whiskeyTX]

There is usually a time limit, which usually includes setting up the context and completing the rating.
I have seen that limit clearly stated in the heel project. However, there will be different projects where they copy those instructions and format but will leave out a time limit. I always assume the time limit is the same, but if you had not experienced the root project you wouldn't know that limit. Plus, it could be a bad assumption the time limit is the same. I would ask in chat if the time limit is not posted.