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How many times do you answer your own question?

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:46 am
by TheMoose
So I'm getting ready to hit SUBMIT to post another question about some PHP problems I had been having for the past hour or so, and then BAM, the error reveals itself and all is fixed. I can't count how many times this has happened to me, and although petty, it bugs me because I feel so dumb that I was about to ask a question that the was right there in front of me.

So, how many times has this happened to you? :D

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:16 pm
by Weirdan
It's very rare situation for me... most of the questions I asked here had got no answer anyway :)

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:19 pm
by feyd
Weirdan wrote:It's very rare situation for me... most of the questions I asked here had got no answer anyway :)
Yeah, I'm sort of in the same boat. I think I've asked like three things... most of which have had no answer, as far as I remember. Everything else is either theory based, so the answer is often more subtle..

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 12:22 pm
by sweatje
This is actually a very common occurance. The act of formulating your question in order to ask it in an intelligent manner often is the catalyst in your own thinking to solve the problem. You probably have similar experiences explaining problems to a co-worker and the solution occours to you half way through your explanation.

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:03 pm
by Chris Corbyn
sweatje wrote:You probably have similar experiences explaining problems to a co-worker and the solution occours to you half way through your explanation.
Every week! I'll turn around, start explaining the issue (maybe even pull out a whiteboard marker and start scribbling on the board) and then I'll word something in a way that makes the solution seem black and white.

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:16 pm
by Roja
Yup, another "quite often" here.

For me, here is my process for problem solving:

- (optional) conceptualize solution
- Write code
- Problem? Research problem with code (Including google and the manual)
- No solution from research? Trial and error a bit
- Still no solution? Don't think about it, do other stuff for a bit (let it stew in the back of your brain)
- STILL no solution? Write up the problem, including listing all the things you've tried.
- Present the problem to friends, and possibly to forums.

Usually I resolve it somewhere along the way before posting to forums. The act of writing up the problem - including all the things I've tried - leads me to ask basic problem solving questions. Did you check your syntax? Does it generate errors? Which lines are the errors on? etc.

Doing that exercise typically results in finding the answer.

Its important to note that you have a vested interest in doing all those steps before posting - you look smarter, because your problems aren't head-slapping DUH! moment questions, and are actually quite complex/confusing.

Keep doing that, and eventually, you post mostly in Theory or other highlevel topics, and you win an award like Unique Theorizer, or most complete response.. :P

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 1:20 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Usually I will sit and think about my problem before posting a question about it. Sometimes I ask some pretty elementary questions because I have either not taken enough time to think about it or because my brain is not working properly at the time :D .

There have been some occassions in which I have discovered the solution just before or just after hitting submit.

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 2:52 pm
by Oren
I'm the first one to vote for "Never" :P
I haven't asked here any questions. I did ask for opinions, sometimes for an explanation about OOP, but not a solution for a specific problem.

This is because of 2 main reasons:

1. I try to avoid asking questions and I try to solve my problems myself using the manual. If that doesn't help I use google, searching in the forums, trial and error... anything before I would start a new topic asking for help. I don't feel like making a new topic asking for help each time a problem occurs instead of trying to solve it by myself.

2. I don't code anything serious right now... Actually, I don't code at all (almost) since I'm too busy right now.

P.S Makes sense... You don't code - you don't have any questions :wink:

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 8:32 pm
by alex.barylski
I *always* ask questions before I know the answers or even tried to find the answer...

My reasonsing is...why waste time searching for something when someone may already know the answer and can point me in the right direction immeditaely???

Posted: Thu Jun 15, 2006 11:45 pm
by daedalus__
/agree

hockey-san how you do, my son?

daedalus-san vewy vewy drunk right now

he turn twenty tomorrow

spent $30 on champagne!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:01 am
by feyd
Daedalus- wrote:/agree

hockey-san how you do, my son?

daedalus-san vewy vewy drunk right now

he turn twenty tomorrow

spent $30 on champagne!!!!!!!!!!!!!
piece of advice: don't go onto forums when you're drunk.

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:20 am
by RobertGonzalez
Daedalus- wrote:/agree

hockey-san how you do, my son?

daedalus-san vewy vewy drunk right now

he turn twenty tomorrow

spent $30 on champagne!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Happy birthday. Now put the drink down and step away from the computer. Slowly. Now go run around the neighborhood naked screaming at the top of your lungs "I AM ALMOST TWENTY!".

Ok, all but the last part.

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 12:57 am
by bdlang
Daedalus- wrote: he turn twenty tomorrow
Ok, the topic change and drunken posting aside, Happy Birthday. It just so happens mine is tomorrow as well. (36 for me tho...)

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 1:07 am
by RobertGonzalez
Dude, you are O-L-D old! :wink:

I'll be 32 next month.

Happy birthday to you.

Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2006 9:10 am
by TheMoose
If I get stuck on something, I will sit there for like 10 minutes looking through my code trying to see if I can find anything wrong. I'll do some searches and see if it's just a syntactical error, and it usually ends up being logic. This is when I decide to post a question, because it's hard to search for an answer that is completely subjective, and because more eyes looking at my code will point things out that I missed. I'd rather ask a "duh" question than not ask any questions at all. It's how I learn :)