Re:Friction Between Programming Professionals and Beginners
by SilasX on Wednesday February 10, 2016 @12:56PM
(#11074520)
>Ask yourself, would this be the answer you give to a 12 year old girl who's taken an early interest in programming? Or a single mother who's trying to switch careers to improve her lot in life? Or your own mother, for that matter? Is it really constructive to be so abrasive?
It depends on what "RTFM response" we're talking about. if it's simply,
1a) "Duh, read the docs" 1b) "RTFM"
then yes, it's abrasive and experienced programmers should cut it out. But we sometimes get the same flack for
2a) "Ah, that's called the controller and section 7 covers it."
2b) "Oh, I see. The term you're looking for is database indexing -- you should be able to get some good hits with that search term. Or 'add mysql index' for your case."
If someone is really like the diligent younger-me programmer you're referring to, they'll have already explained why the manual doesn't help.
You have to be careful not to equate the two kinds of levels of work (though obviously, politeness is always important, regardless of their level of effort).
It depends on what "RTFM response" we're talking about. if it's simply,
1a) "Duh, read the docs" 1b) "RTFM"
then yes, it's abrasive and experienced programmers should cut it out. But we sometimes get the same flack for
2a) "Ah, that's called the controller and section 7 covers it."
2b) "Oh, I see. The term you're looking for is database indexing -- you should be able to get some good hits with that search term. Or 'add mysql index' for your case."
If someone is really like the diligent younger-me programmer you're referring to, they'll have already explained why the manual doesn't help.
You have to be careful not to equate the two kinds of levels of work (though obviously, politeness is always important, regardless of their level of effort).