Our favorite thing to do when we do not know how to do something is to google the questions to find the answer. Sometimes we do not know what to ask and as a result, our problem is not solved. After every search, we notice that there are other individuals that ask the same question. Suddenly you ask yourself, “what else do I search for to solve my problem? Did I ask the right question?” This is where smart and bad questions come to play.
In the Stack Overflow Bad Question Example, the person is specific on what he needs help on and provides a few lines of code for his question. However, he does not give details on what he has done to attempt to make the drop down menu on click. Instead, the user mentions only how he messeed up. For example, the user states, “My drop down is messing up. Can somebody help. I can’t make the drop down menu hide when clicking other element (menu). Also the hover of the main menu does not stays while the drop down menu is shown.” Rather than explaining the things he has tried, he only mentions what he did wrong, which may give other users a difficult time in figuring out what works and what does not work. Even if he showed a few snippets of code, the user could have made this question better by explaining what his lines of code does. He could have mentioined why he chose to use those lines of code and specified what does what.
In the Stack Overflow Good Question Example, this user also asks for help on for a drop down menu on click, rather than hover. Instead of stating what he did wrong, this user states what he wants to create and adds that he also made an effort to look for examples. This proves that he made a few attempts on his own before finding help for a solution. On top of that, he aadded a few lines of code and explained what the code attempts to do. Unlike the other user, this user states what he has working and what he does not have working. For example, he says, “At the moment I have working code where on “mouseover” a tooltip appears.” This allows helpers to get an idea of how far he got in his lines of code. This is an intelligent way to ask a question because you can tell he made a lot of effort to deliver enough details for his question. He did not sound like he was begging for help. Instead, he allowed users to get knowledge of how to help him by giving steps on what he did and what he needs help on.
After reading the article, “How To Ask Questions The Smart Way,” by Eric Steven Raymond, I learned that miscommunications may lead to difficulties in the real world and the world of software engineers. It is important to be clear and concise when you ask a question. This allows the helpers to understand what you are having trouble with. I learned that if I have a question that is too difficult to answer, I need to ask myself what I did wrong and attempt to work on it even more. Taking extra steps to do something allows me to solve my problems and see if I really am stuck or know how to solve it myself. From now on, I will make sure I have done everything I can to accomplish what I am trying to do before I ask a question.