[sf-perl] Getting Help (was Re: Debugging a CGI script - how)

David Fetter david at fetter.org
Mon Mar 10 09:03:03 PDT 2008


On Mon, Mar 10, 2008 at 03:49:08AM -0700, Rick Moen wrote:
> Quoting David Fetter (david at fetter.org):
> 
> > I've seen Eric Raymond's smarmy and condescending "How to Ask
> > Smart Questions"....
> 
> He had some insufferably smarmy and condescending co-author, too.

You missed a great chance to let Mr. Raymond take the blame for this
one.  Very sad, really.

> That essay has become much too verbose and oddly organised:

Its verbosity is not even in the same league of problem as its
authorial voice, which is quite often mistaken for that of a spoiled
14-year-old boy.

> As Tolkien put it, it grew in the telling.  I'm aiming at some point
> to write something a whole lot shorter and punchier, with some sort
> of much more link-ey and less linear structure.
> 
> I really rather like the Java Ranch variant, FWIW:
> http://faq.javaranch.com/java/HowToAskQuestionsOnJavaRanch

The voice of this one (as of this writing) is just great. :)

Omnibus thing for potential question askers to consider:
http://wooledge.org/mywiki/XyProblem

Cheers,
David.
-- 
David Fetter <david at fetter.org> http://fetter.org/
Phone: +1 415 235 3778  AIM: dfetter666  Yahoo!: dfetter
Skype: davidfetter      XMPP: david.fetter at gmail.com

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