How come almost every professor in college wants me to not know something and ask questions? Aren’t you supposed to know everything you are doing in class and isn’t asking questions about course material implying that you are not prepared for class accordingly? That were the views I had when I came to college and took my first classes. I was trying to figure out everything on my own and avoided asking questions at all costs. I would rather look at advanced code on some dubious stack overflow websites, of people asking questions that were only slightly related to my problem, then to just ask one of my classmates or email a professor. “Ask questions! Even if you think they are stupid, there is a high chance some of your classmates have the same.” That is, what seemingly every professor in a proper course tells you to do, yet only few do so. For myself, it took me about three semesters and dozens of wasted hours to acknowledge that asking for help is not a sign of stupidity or unpreparedness, but rather a powerful tool for everyone, no matter at university or work. And it took another semester to swallow my pride and to start asking my peers and professors for help, because I did not understand something. Nowadays I usually try the textbook or internet for up to an hour and then begin to start asking classmates or professors. Asking questions is really something that can only benefit oneself and it is almost irresponsible not to do. But how to ask a question? Should I just vaguely refer to my problem as a whole and request a specific answer or should I specifically address the problem, point out what I have tried to fix it and provide my done work with it; that be rhetorical, I hope. I have searched the web, more specifically stack overflow, for some examples of good and bad questions and I came across some good examples.
“I have this JSON file (file inserted) and I wrote this script (inserted script). How can I parse a file and extract single values from it?” This is an example of a bad question for numerous reasons. To list a few: -It was titled “Parsing values from a JSON file parse json”. -The “JSON” data is invalid. -The code throws an Exception. -What “single values” are they trying to extract?.
First of all, the code provided throws an exception. A single dry run would have shown that. Secondly the whole JSON data is invalid, this also could have easily been handled with one run. The title was far too general and appeared in every JSON file related search. And after all, the question the users ask is terribly unclear. Link to the Question
“I’m running my app on localhost port 80 with an alias (I need this for php backend) The frontend is running with VueJs + Webpack + Hot Module Reload on port 3000 using a proxy. I setup my webpack.config.js and everything is fine, except that I can’t figure out how to remove the :3000 from the url. If I open my-alias instead of my-alias:3000 Hot Module Reload fails with (inserts error message). Here’s an extract of my webpack.config.js: (inserts file extract code)”
This is obviously an example of a good question. The user: -Clearly states the problem, says what exactly he wants and what he is working with -Has an very unique and specific title (How to remove the port from URL in Webpack Dev Server hot reload?) -Points out what he has tried and where he has failed -Provides error message and code extract from where he thinks the problem is Link to the Question
When comparing this question to the previous one, everyone will understand which is a good and which is a bad question. One will also instantaneously be more willing to help the person that clearly specifies what he wants to do, what he has tried and where he fails, than the person that still needs to be asked several question in order to get the information the other already filtered out at stated.
Seeing this example, it should be obvious how to effectively ask questions. Do not let the bad example discourage you from asking question, because you might think someone makes fun of you or thinks you are asking them in a bad way. When you ask for help, just assess the situation, and specify your problem. Asking questions and collaboration in general are probably one of the best resources there is. I mean how many great papers and revolutionary studies were done in collaboration? People are just more effective and powerful when they work together and share their minds and thoughts.