Re:Ask HN: How to be productive with big existing code base
by jrochkind1 on Thursday February 28, 2019 @09:44AM
(#19271585)
> People are more likely to tell you about how they think something works when they are correcting you than when you ask directly for help. No clue why that's a thing, but it is.
While some of that might just be people's enjoyment at telling other people they're wrong, I think it's actually often something else. It's just easier to _respond_ to something than it is to start with a blank slate.
The question "How does this work?" is a blank slate. Even when asking it for yourself about a gigantic new codebaes, you form hypotheses and then 'test' them in some way, as you say, "testing conclusions". When you give someone a theory, you've just given _them_ a 'conclusion' they can 'test' against their own domain knowledge. :)
While some of that might just be people's enjoyment at telling other people they're wrong, I think it's actually often something else. It's just easier to _respond_ to something than it is to start with a blank slate.
The question "How does this work?" is a blank slate. Even when asking it for yourself about a gigantic new codebaes, you form hypotheses and then 'test' them in some way, as you say, "testing conclusions". When you give someone a theory, you've just given _them_ a 'conclusion' they can 'test' against their own domain knowledge. :)