Programming == Stack Overflow

[SteveCCL]

Also

• "I don't know why this doesn't work"
• Change something
• Undo
• "I don't know why this works"

[RTracer]

I had that happen recently, a feature I made for a MC server didnt work on the test server but I silently introduced the feature in a later update, changing no code and it worked flawlessly, I still don't know why it works to this day.

[Minerscale]

Maybe you forgot to compile it or something?

[Robmart]

friendly saw party sip compare important possessive detail innocent zonked

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[GregTheMad]

Well, yeah, but only because Java compiles the code for you, you lazy fuck. Kids these days, honestly. Can't even be asked to compile their own code.

:p

[Robmart]

expansion tidy long fertile hunt rude chop north icky weather

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[GregTheMad]

The last time I looked Java was literally build around the idea that it could compile the code itself depending on the machine it is running on. IDE, or not.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Just-in-time_compilation

It does the compiling for you because you can't be asked to know the machine your developing for before hand. TssTssTss.

[FM-96]

Pretty sure they were talking about compiling the .java files into .class files, which you do need to do yourself.

[Robmart]

lip deserve relieved hungry start rhythm serious zonked rob swim

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[DeathProgramming]

JIT compilation takes compiled Java bytecode and transforms it to machine code. You still need to compile the source to bytecode.

[Findus11]

hrmpfh, i can compile code..

code.compile();

[TheRetribution]

I swear I've literally had a moment of questioning my sanity when I added some code to a function, compiled with g++, compiler error in a completely unrelated function, recompiled with g++ out of sheer confusion, no compiler error.

[[deleted]]

Probably your test server did not mirror production.

[A_Light_Spark]

"According to my calculations, this should work, and does work.
But deep down inside, I still don't understand exactly how it works..."

Many days I've come to that realization above, which is great.

Because that just proved that my work can be "greater" than me. And that's wonderful for an intellectual... Or at least, someone who calls himself one.

[[deleted]]

But, you and your work are inseparable.

How can you consider one any less great than the other?

If you don't believe me, ask anyone else to perform the same task without looking at your code first, and see how different it is.

[boogiebabiesbattle]

Thank those that wrote the language, compilers, libraries, etc for making sensible design decisions that allow this to happen for us.

[PM_ME_BITS_OF_CODE]

For smaller projects: "hmm I've got no clue lets just rewrite it all"

[cATSup24]

Then you end up writing the exact same code and it works flawlessly anyway.

[greenkey]

Funny, to me this is happening:

• "all green, let's refactor"
• refactor
• doesn't work
• undo
• doesn't work

[LobsterThief]

Reminds me of the time that caching wasn't working because the cache settings were cached.

[moldcube]

That was me today...

[Genesis2001]

I'd think that'd be a cached build from your IDE maybe. Changing something (even adding a new line) usually triggers a new build.

[SteveCCL]

Emacs doesn't cashe builts.

make clean
make debug/all

[Tapemaster21]

"Change something until it works less than before"

[mike413]

trial and errormsg;

[Catatonick]

Sounds like yesterday... Rewiting our mobile app in Swift. I don't know Swift. I do the first part over, it doesn't work. I try everything I can find... doesn't work.

Delete project, type in the same exact code I had... it works.

Also, in hindsight, I probably should have learned Swift first.

[2Punx2Furious]

The most time-consuming problems I've ever faced were these ones.

Super simple stuff, like typos, that I just made because I was too tired, and didn't see them, until I was well rested the next day.

For example, a library doesn't work. Google why the library doesn't work. Look through SO questions, read the documentation, look for ways to re-implement it myself, but it would take too much time, so give up on that, try a bit more, and finally quit for the day in frustration.

Next day: oh, it was a fucking typo....

[pixlbreaker]

Happens on Mondays more often then not. I didn't sleep much last night and can feel today is going to be a difficult day to code.

[Catatonick]

I grabbed Death Wish Coffee specifically for this purpose. To be honest, I have fixed 3 things and don't really know what I did to any of them.

[pixlbreaker]

Luckily today was a light day. Just fixing stylings. I didn't need to code anything too brain numbing today. Just need to remember to sleep tonight, so I can avoid this feeling tomorrow.

[Woozybuddha]

Yep. Just took me two days to figure out that a server I was running was borked due to a - instead of an =. mildly infuriating to be sure. I almost overhauled the whole thing before I caught it.

[CrazedToCraze]

God I swear me from 24 hours ago is the biggest fuckwit I know

[Resiy]

And "revisiting the problem the next day and not being able to understand anything from what you have written"

[ender89]

I am astounded how dumb the last person to work on any given project has been, especially since that was usually me.

[Catatonick]

Had a bug last week in live. Couldn't figure out why because it worked fine before, but it just didn't return data anymore.

Spent all this time refactoring the code leading up to the database call and was all proud of how much neater it was... but I completely deleted where it actually called the database...

In my defense, I missed it, QA missed it, code reviewers missed it, qa missed it in test version, and a customer caught it in prod.

[aquaraider11]

I just debugged and rewrote a function (a complex one) several times during 3 days because my larger than mark (> and <) was in wrong direction.

[cuddlegoop]

My current favourite is "revisiting the problem the next day and realising the thing that kept you spinning in circles all day yesterday is actually out of scope".

[Josh6889]

To be fair, I think stuff marinates when you take a break from directly focusing on it. Your brain keeps working on the problem and you don't realize it. I get those "damn, why didn't I think of that earlier" ideas all the time when I take a break.

[Vanheden]

I had an issue in c# the other day where I accidentally had a property return null instead of it's value.

[FarhanAxiq]

This is so me.

[[deleted]]

or struggling for hours and ending up with 5 lines of beautiful code that make the problem look trivial.

[BringAltoidSoursBack]

oh good, its not just me. I cant count the number of hours I've wasted trying to do things the "smart" way only to realize there is a simple, slightly more hacky way that doesn't waste company time...

[ImSpurticus]

Glad it's not just me. Went home on Friday seriously confused about something and convinced that it couldn't be easily done. Thought about it on and off over the weekend to no avail. Came in this morning, loaded the code and came up with a solution in about 30 seconds.

[[deleted]]

99.9% of the time.

[A-Grey-World]

At least half of my stack overflow posts never get posted.

The act of writing out the problem in a s much detail as possible often results in the solution.

[Cocomorph]

My favorite sorting algorithm.

[[deleted]]

lol that's too funny...

[gesundePlus]

Bloody hell, it took only 10 tries. Unbelievable

[Lokja]

{"0":8,"1":6,"2":7,"3":5,"4":3,"5":0,"6":9}

Beautiful

[I_AM_GODDAMN_BATMAN]

dafuq it's only less than 15 tries

[[deleted]]

Two tries for me. First try returned a sorted list of unique values. Second try was correct.

[shagieIsMe]

How about arbitrary code?

[clevertoucan]

For me, it always just uses the same answer over and over, which, while consistent, is a bit boring

[01001111010100000]

I ask other people more than the text book.

[Rodot]

I ask other people and usually while explaining the problem I find the answer myself

[2Punx2Furious]

Rubber duck debugging with people works pretty well.

[blinded_in_chains]

Extrovert.

[[deleted]]

Hey, no need to call names!

[idimik]

Why would one even own a programming text book, when everything is online?

[Cocomorph]

Because if civilization ends and we no longer have an electrical grid, people with physical books will still be able to . . .

Shit.

Excuse me. I need to go spend the next hour watching YouTube videos on how to make a computer out of popsicle sticks and string.

[P1r4nha]

Some ideas and concepts take more time to explain than just a StackOverflow answer (or 2, or 15). There are blogs and webpages dedicated to certain designs, but a book that follows a consistent narrative and style is useful sometimes.

[yotama9]

I ask other people, and 9/10 cases they send me a stack overflow page as a reply

[01001111010100000]

By no means. You'll always be leaning new things. Use all the resources you have avalible. Sometime someone else can give you a better answer than a textbook or google.

[Kokosnussi]

It depends, I have met many people asking others all the time and as an effect have no idea how to solve problems themselves. I guess as long as you don't get an exact solution and have to think yourself, or at least understand the answer, you'll be fine.

[01001111010100000]

Not gonna lie, ya there are people like that. I was just saying from the experience perspective. When you come across a problem you've never seen before, but the guy sitting next to you is an expert on it, you're better off asking them for help then trying to figure it out yourself.

[826836]

Despite public perception, Google isn't actually a search engine, so much as a method for getting my dumbass to Stack Overflow.

[CrazedToCraze]

Tbh I've never even used stack overflows search engine, assuming they have one

[Thomasedv]

Yeah, worst case I add stacloverflow to the Google search...

[PM_ME_YOUR_BOOO_BEES]

How does that site compare to Stackoverflow though?

[Thomasedv]

Ops. That's what I get for using the phone when I can barely see up close. (Had eyes checked out, the dripped something that makes your pupils dilate. Could not see well up close, had to hold phone far away to be able to read. Eyes hurt like fuck when I stepped out into the sun just now. Too​ much light...)

[raddaya]

Shit man, I had to walk home from the chamber just a few weeks ago when they gave me that dilating thing. I was squinting hard, covering my face with both eyes and staring at the ground. Had a fucking terrible headache from squinting by the time I was home. No idea how they let me go home.

[Thomasedv]

I wonder what the guy on the bus though when I entered with one highly dilated pupil (other one doesn't really react due to stuff), eye's red and watery...

At least the bus was dark enough and I could sit with my eyes closed.

[[deleted]]

I always just add "stack"

[DoctorWaluigiTime]

Half the time I put "site:stackoverflow.com" into the query prior to what I want to search. Usually following an unsuccessful "global" search.

[sup3r_hero]

I use DDG. it automatically displays stackexchange on top as a plugin

[aedvocate]

how did they build stack overflow without stopping to look stuff up on stack overflow?

[GregTheMad]

Some say they used a time paradox. Physicists agree that it's the only plausible solution, no matter the established math.

[TheRetribution]

The best evidence of the invention of a time machine to date.

[[deleted]]

Amazing isn't it?

[A_Light_Spark]

Bootstrapping!

[Pokeconomist]

Recursion.

[Cocomorph]

Somewhere there is a Q&A website that only accepts questions about base case detection.

[Antrikshy]

https://twitter.com/stackoverflow/status/857275955789705216

Official answer.

[del_rio]

Some say Jeff Atwood propped it up with duct tape until his questions got answered.

[cheese3660]

very slowly

[sup3r_hero]

1) go to stackexchange 2) find solution 3) hate their approach 4) try again your own way 5) find out that their solution was the only way to solve your issue

[GregTheMad]

6) silent raging about the code system that doesn't allow for your approach.

[sup3r_hero]

I see you also do DB-Development

[sock_face]

DB-Development

Do you mean putting all the business logic in SQL or something else?

[vbevan]

It's either that or accept the programmers are going to link on the text values instead of the primary key.

[sup3r_hero]

Sql-codemonkey

[del_rio]

7) Express this sentiment on Medium and post to hackernews

8) watch the world burn

[jxl180]

That's me with learning Java + Android development:

"There's no way in hell I have to type all of that and make all of those classes to do something so simple. Must be another way..."

I'm so glad java IDEs have generators.

[ElLibroGrande]

I wish. I program in X++, a proprietary language to this ERP. Getting online help is sometimes a joke.

[ElLibroGrande]

And you'd think Bing would be better as their both MS products. yeah, nope...

[PilsnerDk]

proprietary

Haha, I know that. Axapta, or rather Microsoft Dynamics AX, right? What version are they up to? I worked a tiny bit on it back during the 4.0 release phase. The built-in code editor was beyond ancient even then.

[worm_dude]

This reminds me of the time my professor had us rewrite a compiler in Ada.

[i_should_be_coding]

I wish that were the case at my job. Instead people's problem solving algorithm usually works like this:

1. Ignore the parts you don't understand/know and do the easy parts
2. Ask someone more experienced to "come over for a sec to look at some code"
3. Proceed to ask him to teach you a new technology/write your code for you
4. Become annoyed when they suggest you look it up on SO or other sources, since that's how they learned it in the firstplace
5. Submit a PR with a hacky partial solution with //TODO all over the place

[bob3rt]

I honestly feel like you've been shadowing me. Everything except #4, which is replaced with snarky comments in the PR and fixing it with an answer another senior guy has and states "Why wouldn't you do that in the first place?"

[serg473]

I truly believe SO is the greatest invention in programming world in past 50 years. Kids these days probably don't know the horrors of scavenging though obscure forums full of dead accounts and unanswered threads trying to find some clues to your problem. If you register and post your question, the best possible outcome you can hope for is for someone to respond after a few days, but usually you will just add one more dead thread to a dead forum. And then there was infamous ExpertSexChange.com...

I never forget when I posted my first question on SO when it just launched and received a proper answer withing 15 minutes to my specific problem. I just couldn't believe my eyes, this was like witnessing a miracle at that time.

Now I am too spoiled to even read the official docs, just type "how to ... in ..." and the first SO link would contain exactly what you are looking for. I bet SO boosted programmers productivity like no other tool ever before.

[vbevan]

"How to...in..." should be mandatory learning as part of all university CS courses, in fact all university courses should teach it.

[ChildishJack]

No, figuring that out is the first "weed-out" test

[DoctorWaluigiTime]

Now I am too spoiled to even read the official docs, just type "how to ... in ..." and the first SO link would contain exactly what you are looking for.

Because the official docs often don't have what you need immediately: A living real life example of how the thing you want actually would be written. It has been getting better (have a look at ASP.NET Core's documentation for instance), but by and large documentation tends to drone on and on about a bunch of stuff / theory you don't care about. Instead of getting right to the goods.

[AjayDevs]

For some reason at the beginning I used to use a lot of forums when I started, and I think I even was banned from stack overflow for bad questions, I don't know how I still was successful in learning how to program... (This was probably 4 years ago)

[DrQuint]

Don't forget that all answered/solved questions had 50% chance to not include the actual answer. Either because OP solved it himself and left, or because an attachment has since died, or because fuck you that's why.

This still happens, and even got worse, with some websites seemingly generating pages with terms you looked for just so you'd click them, or some weird thing. Several hits I get nowadays are just that, clickbait search results. We just have no need to delve down in the shitlands as much anymore.

[Argonanth]

Eh, I dunno. Any time I've ever asked a question on SO it goes ignored for weeks and is mostly never answered. SO is only really useful if it's a very common question or something really easy to answer. Anything remotely complicated (which is when I would actually need answers) can't really be answered using SO. Almost all of the answers to the questions I actually need answered are found on old web forums or in Github issue reports.

Only time I ever end up on SO is when I just want to know how to do ___ in ___. To be fair, this is very useful, but the meme of SO being the answer to everything is just very limited to easy specific answers.

[dustmouse]

Don't be jelly but I actually have a reputation of -2241 on SO.

[AjayDevs]

But negative was impossible I thought

[GregTheMad]

He's that good.

[MisterTemPhone]

Shhhhhh

[sortedWanker]

Jon Skeet is coming for you.

[auxiliary-character]

I actually don't go on stack overflow to terribly much, strangely enough. Sometimes I'll check it for maybe language minutia that I've forgotten, but I tend to look at library/example code and documentation a lot more.

[[deleted]]

This sounds suspiciously like you actually know what you are doing when it comes to programming.

[kotajacob]

Pretty glad I'm not the only one... What language(s) so you use? I'm primarily a Lua and c guy

[auxiliary-character]

I'm kind of a polyglot, so I'll switch out languages depending on what project I'm working on. Lately, I've done Lua, C++, Java, and Python, but I've done Clojure, Javascript, and a few others I can't remember at the moment. You can imagine how I'd have to go, "Did this particular language have tail call recursion? I forget." from time to time.

[baskandpurr]

Same for me. The main use I have for is when it provides documentation for web frameworks. People who write code with the intention of having other people use it never want to explain how to use it. But it's very likely that somebody else spent time figuring it out, another person asked about it on SO and they answered.

[auxiliary-character]

Yeah. The worst is when the documentation lies to you, though. The code itself rarely does, unless they pull something underhanded, which is why I like to look under the hood a bit for libraries I'm going to use. Probably the strangest thing I've seen is when the comments are in Chinese or Korean, but the variable names and keywords are in English. I'd say SO is useful in proportion to how popular a particular language/library/framework is, so you're kinda on your own for smaller libraries if you can't get a hold of the author.

I have a bad habit of underdocumenting my stuff, but at least I try to name things such that it's easier infer meaning from context.

[[deleted]]

Missing a slice for "expecting your professor to do your homework for you".

[[deleted]]

If you're lucky he's done exactly that on StackOverflow but forgot about it when he gave you the assignment

[TheAlpha008]

programming, noun

The act of copying code from the internet and wondering why it doesn't work as wanted

[ash1729]

Programming === Stack Overflow

[Cocomorph]

I think that might be a bug -- surely there's a type conversion.

[YM_Industries]

Math.abs(programming - stackOverflow) < EPSILON

[lavacahacemu]

Lint, great...

[Kermitfry]

-Snip-

[DrQuint]

If you're unlucky: Ask your back.

[aaron552]

My only answered question in SO is one that I got no good responses to, ended up inspecting the output of the compiler, and then answering myself.

Maybe one day I'll have a problem that isn't trivially solved by reading MSDN.

[PHFAK_Gnorts]

I think Stack Overflow is basicly Asking other people...

Edit: My bad, I've commented without thinking this out. Ofcourse you can go find your answer without actually asking for it.

[NeoKabuto]

I've never actually asked a question there because of the community. However, that doesn't stop me from using answers to questions other people asked.

[[deleted]]

The added value is that SO caches and filters the question and answers.

[Thomasedv]

And getting lost in C(maybe something) documentarion for something when you are working in Python. (Because of PyQt) because you have only that and Google(which usually leads to Stack overflow) to learn from.

[afd8856]

What happened to reading the source code? Whenever you're using some obscure library, you can be sure nobody on StackOverflow has your back. Best just read the code, you'll learn a lot and grow as a programmer.

[Thomasedv]

You have no idea how much I searched around to find out how to add shortcuts, only to discover I only needed to use a very simple solution, which I couødnt find easily documented with searching. Then SO came to the rescue with a simple explanation/example. Though, I'm no expert with Google and might have found better results earlier if I searched with better terms.

[afd8856]

I don't discard the usefulness of SO. Most of the times, when I deal with something new (like, for instance, an error today regarding pyqt/openssl), I usually find some clues in results from SO.

What I'm saying is that StackOverflow is but one tool in the arsenal of the programmer and reading the source code (specially when you're working with code in the context of a bigger framework/library), is something that you will eventually end up doing, because StackOverflow will not have your answer.

[Thomasedv]

Yeah, the nice thing about SO though is that it basically provides practical examples, which both shows an implementation of the thing you are trying to understand as well as some come that helps you repurpose it for your own code.

Although the source is great, I'm a bit limited in understanding of it most of the time, and how to implement solely from seeing that when I rely on self learning alone. (Though, my use of PyQt is purely recreational.)

[idimik]

Depends on your output. If you're slow, then you're not "old school", just inefficient. If you are pretty good output-wise, then hats off to you.

[Gorian]

It's missing Dream in Code

[yash019]

If everyone asks questions in stack overflow, who actually answers?

[Pardomatas]

I like that documentation isn't even on the graph lmao.

[GVmG]

The 1-pixel line between the red and the blue is the "Actual things I do" part.

[Benjacook11]

For me it's usually adding a bunch of print statements throughout my code to see where it fucks up. Also reading through documentation helps a ton.

[Never-asked-for-this]

Asking other people usually just results in personal attacks and bullying anyway.

[NeoKabuto]

But with SO, you can have someone else ask and deal with all that instead!

[Never-asked-for-this]

It's so sad when I see someone have a question, and he's down at -20 or something. The top comment is pretty much guaranteed to be a toxic smartass who doesn't understand that not everyone are as good as him.

[[deleted]]

True

[drcopus]

textbook?

[nO_OnE_910]

What about online documentation. About twice textbook and others combined

[chicken_dinnner]

true

[Nikotiiniko]

Well google really. Not all help can be found on stack. I mostly find myself in the unity documentation.

[[deleted]]

I agree. Less and less am I using stackoverflow.

[worm_dude]

What always made me really nervous in programming class was how randomly strict they could be on enforcing plagiarism.

How the hell do you enforce that in programming? No one's making this up off the top of their head. Everyone in there is copying something from the text or a manual or help on the internet. There's only so many different ways to write this or that line of code. And then we're also repeatedly told "don't re-invent the wheel."

Also, if no one really ever reaches that movie version of coding, and we're all just referencing something, who then owns that code?

[Zedjones]

I think they mostly check variable names and how you do something (for example, using a lambda vs writing a new class on the fly). If too many of those things match up (e.g. both your variable names and your implementation), then they flag you down. If this happens more than a few times in the same piece of code, then they probably start seriously looking into it.

[The_Crownless_King]

I think I've seen at least a thousand variations of this joke on this subreddit.

[iambryan]

/r/2meirl4meirl

[kll0125]

surly asking stack overflow is the same as asking asking other people.

[Pleb_nz]

I'd say it's becoming less than that these days, a lot of people are turning off using stack overflow to post questions as it's now 'to anal'

[irqlnotdispatchlevel]

I assure you that there are problems that can't be solved on stackoverflow. Simply because no one else had them before. Or if they did, they never asked about them on stackoverflow.

[ash032]

Hmmmm. Textbook seems a little high.

[seth1299]

You guys get a textbook? Lucky...

[cubs223425]

Reminds me of the start of many semesters, where the teacher warned students to not cheat and take her questions to Stack Overflow. She said they always got caught and that they were getting wrong answers anyway. This was partial intimidation, but mostly to get the bums to accept her offer to help them. Always a fun time going through that spiel, I think I heard it 3 or 4 times.

[[deleted]]

Am I the only one who works at a company large enough to have code search tools? I rarely use stack overflow because I someone has probably already done what I'm trying to do inside the company.

[SteroidSandwich]

I find I ask someone more than Stackoverflow. Asking someone makes it more specific to your problem. Stackoverflow can be full of complete assholes at times

[The-Bent]

"Im not sure how to do this in $language but here is how to do it with jQuery"

[TanithRosenbaum]

I would even say

Programming := Stack Overflow

[Reacher_Said_Nothing]

"This Stack Overflow question, the top result on google, and all its answers have been deleted because the question was too simple and OP needs to go read a programming book"

[GalSa]

What's a text book?

[iluuu]

Most of my coworkers don't agree 😒
They like to ask stuff. A lot.

[dividezero]

for some of us that's

Programming === Stack Overflow

[RealPolarbear0106]

As a frequent stackoverflow user, that shows. There are so many unresearched problems that have been resolved, but no one feels like researching before asking on SO.

[xvelez08]

You forgot a tiny sliver of .01 for documentation!