Ask Question Intelligently

As a result of the growth of the internet, people can easily ask questions on internet forums. However, asking question in the “smart way” is still important. According to Raymond’s essay How To Ask Questions The Smart Way, there are benefits if we ask the "smart way": we can learn a lot when we prepare our questions; we can receive more correct answers related to those questions; we can receive answers or suggestions faster.

Raymond suggests some strategies that we can do in order to ask question in the "smart way". First strategy is to do search before we ask. On the one hand, it proves to the people who can solve those problems that we have tried our best and we are not lazy. On the other hand, what we learn from doing search also gives more information to people who want to help. Second, we should choose suitable forums. For example, I should ask an algorithm question in Stack Overflow or GeeksforGeeks rather than Android Developer forum. Third, using meaningful and clear language to ask as many people as we can. Raymond suggests that we should ask the whole group instead individual developers. Moreover, we should make our statements as clear as possible and show the codes that relat to our questions.

First, he used a specific header with tag, so people could know what kind of question it is immediately. He described the problem and the expected output, and he also showed his code along with the error messege he received. I think he provided enough information to other people. The result is that he received the correct answer very fast, and people would like to help him since he showed his efforts.

"How to split array in Javascript"

He just asked how to split an array "AK, BK, CC, CS, DH, GR, KZ, MS, OD, YU "

into 'AK', 'BK', 'CC', 'CS', 'DH', 'GR', 'KZ', 'MS', 'OD', 'YU' without any other information.

Based on Raymond’s idea, the person didn’t prepare before he asked. First, I don’t think he even tried to solve the problem since he didn’t post any code there. I searched this problem in Google, and I found a solution with some examples that someone wrote many years ago. If he did search, he should have solved that problem by himself. Furthermore, he asked a wrong question. In fact, he needed to split a string not an array. People may confuse when they see this title. The result is that some people commented that they didn’t want to help because he didn’t show his efforts. However, some people still answered his question later.

Compared two cases above, even though both of them received correct answers finally, the person who ask the "smart way" learned more during the process he prepared the question. In conclusion, we should try our best to solve problems before we ask question. When we really need help, ask questions the "smart way".