Dioxin 29 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Both of us did and you took offense. Not our problem.Not sure where I took offense. You never proved your statement. Your only proof was a post you saved just to prove the point - definitely not a majority. A needle in the haystack. If that's how you do things, then good for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Nezz 2052 Share Posted December 23, 2015 A professor of mine really has a problem with stack overflow, but I can never remember why. I believe something about how they're all idiots. But I have nothing to back that up. I have definitely read a few answers that were not even close to correct, even so far as to be going in opposite direction that the question needed. I'm also not really a fan of how a lot of answers I've seen have just been straight code, no comments, no references, just code. I've seen them be marked as the answer, because I mean it answers the question. It's just a poor way to answer the question. (again, no, I don't have any links on hand for it because I generally look at an answer once then never look again) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dioxin 29 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 A professor of mine really has a problem with stack overflow, but I can never remember why. I believe something about how they're all idiots. But I have nothing to back that up. I have definitely read a few answers that were not even close to correct, even so far as to be going in opposite direction that the question needed. I'm also not really a fan of how a lot of answers I've seen have just been straight code, no comments, no references, just code. I've seen them be marked as the answer, because I mean it answers the question. It's just a poor way to answer the question. (again, no, I don't have any links on hand for it because I generally look at an answer once then never look again) Trust me, they aren't all idiots. We tend to use software of SO users quite often: Eclipse, IDEA, Gradle, Maven, Ant, Visual Studio, Java (many Oracle employees on there), ect... I could go on, but you get the point: a lot of big time developers find SO to be a great resource, so it can't be TOTALLY bad. Doesn't really matter though, I'm just saying I've personally have gained a lot from it. I'm not saying everyone must like it. My point was I would not be the developer I am today if it weren't for StackOverflow (and I'm sure others would vouch that I'm a pretty decent dev). To be honest, I'd probably only be familiar with Java and basic web design if it weren't for SO helping me branch out, so I felt it would be nice to share my view on the site. I will agree that there is lazy content. But it's not all like that. You need to understand that it's not a walkthrough site at all - it's totally up to the person answering to supply sources. It's not a rule, as long as the answer helps the asker. That's why you must truly understand how the site works to really benefit from it. In my opinion (and opinion only), the good outweighs the bad by quite a bit. I find myself learning a lot more than suffering harm from the bad content. It seems everytime I bring up SO, it gets belittled with very little proof. All I'm asking is for you to ask "Why do a lot of seasoned developers use it if it's so bad?" - it's definitely not the perfect site, but I find it to be one hell of a resource. Of course, that's just my personal opinion Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pandemic 2703 Share Posted December 23, 2015 I like StackOverflow in general, but you should never take random code / advice without looking up the documentation yourself and fully understanding what it does, otherwise you could make some critical mistakes, either security or performance wise. Weighted voting would also be a nice addition I'd imagine, but who knows Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dioxin 29 Author Share Posted December 23, 2015 I like StackOverflow in general, but you should never take random code / advice without looking up the documentation yourself and fully understanding what it does, otherwise you could make some critical mistakes, either security or performance wise. Weighted voting would also be a nice addition I'd imagine, but who knows That would be an awesome addition, I might post it on the meta if it's not already suggested. Yes, there is a lot of bad content (wouldn't say a majority - keep in mind how much content is on there), but even bad questions may be about a subject you have yet to stumble across. That subject could end up being your favorite. Discovery is what I find to be the biggest benefit on SO. Can't study something if you don't know it. You could simply find an interesting subject, then study it independently on your free time. That's the point I'm trying to get across, might update my original post to express it better. Although like I've said before, this is simply my opinion, not fact at all, based on experience not statistics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuclear Nezz 2052 Share Posted December 27, 2015 Ye, I mean I personally like stack overflow, and it's generally where I go when I have questions. or rather, I google the question and stack overflow is the first 3 links. I think for someone who is new to programming, stack overflow isn't all that useful. They'd benefit more from looking up specifics on the language, like on oracle.com for java tutorials and such. But for things like looking up information on stack vs heap, stack overflow can be really nice. Generic questions like that in my experience are involved in a lot of questions there, and you can find a lot of information very quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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