As a software engineer, we spend just as much time debugging, asking for help, and relearning, as we do writing code. In a world where the internet makes collaboration and research constantly accessible, the ability to ask good questions can be just as important as our ability to write clean code. In his essay “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way”, Eric Raymond outlines the ideal format and expectations for seeking guidance in open source forums. This essay will explore the importance of asking “smart” questions by analyzing examples from StackOverflow. The contrast between questions that follow Raymond’s guidelines and those that do not highlights the importance of asking questions in a smart way.
A great example of a smart question that follows Raymond’s is this one:
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/14425568/interface-type-check-with-typescript.
The user asking the questions in a smart way by first explaining the context of thier question: they understand that typescript interfaces are erased at runtime, include a snippet of code showing their attempt to use instanceof and how it fails, and are asking a focused question (Is it possible to check interface compliance at runtime? If not what is the best practice). This question received helpful and detailed responses because it clearly demonstrated that the author had attempted to research and understand the issue, and defined the problems & what they have already tried. The amount of quality answers speaks to the quality of the question.
Though StackOverflow has strict community guidelines preventing “not smart” questions, ChatGPT has helped me generate an example of a low quality question. “HELP!! For Loop not working!!, I am trying to make my for loop work but it doesn’t. Please write a for loop for me. What’s wrong?”. This is an example of a question that violates all of the principles behind Raymond’s article. The question is undesirable as it contains a vague header that relies on urgency rather than the content. The question also doesn’t demonstrate any snippet of code, contextualize what language they are using or what research has been done, or use a respectful tone. Questions like this will not attract kind or even helpful responses as the user seems entitled and not looking to genuinely improve their knowledge with other help.
Maybe in life there is no such thing as dumb questions, but in open source forums there just might be. The two examples shown above clearly demonstrate that asking smarter questions leads to smarter answers. The smart question stands out because the user clearly performed prior research, asked a precise question, and asked in a respectful tone. Constrastingly, the not so smart question showed the users lack of respect, effort, and detail that can easily annoy readers and fail to generate helpful responses. It is just as important how you ask a question as what you ask. When one needs help, it is essential to slow down and approach the community in a way that demonstrates a way for knowledge and respect. Not only will this generate a better response, but also help others.
Stackoverflow might be designed for technical question use, but behind every Q & A is a human conversation. Raymond’s guidelines help us become better communicators in a highly logical field. By putting time and effort into asking questions in a “smart” way, we build a more professional and respectful community of software engineers.
Disclaimer: Parts of the Essay were developed with the help of ChatGPT, to assist with generating a bad question that would violate Stackoverflow guidelines. Thoughts and insights are my own.