in reply to Should I write your code ?

OK! You've heard from the masters, please listen to the pleas of a novice.

Please don't write my code. Help me with the problems that I'm asking about with an explanation. If the problem is a bit complex, perhaps you could show me an example or give me a link. I'll only learn if I do it myself.

As a novice, I realize that I may be doing something else terribly wrong besides the problem I'm asking about. If I do this, please tell me what those mistakes are and give me some pointers to help me correct them. RTFM is a perfectly acceptable thing to be told, *if* you can point me to the relevant docs.

Don't write my code, but don't stop teaching me either.

Dave

Code On!

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Re: Re: Should I write your code ?
by chaoticset (Chaplain) on Mar 17, 2002 at 01:45 UTC
    ++dthacker, for saying what I would have said had I been paying attention. :)

    A few notes I'd like to chime in: Usually, with any question, there are three kinds of right answers. There's the right answer that shows how but not why, the right answer that shows why but not how, and the right answer that shows how and why.

    That is, for question A, there is
    • "This is what you want to do instead."
    • "That's the wrong method you're using."
    • "That causes this kind of problem. Here's how to avoid it."
    It's easy to look at the three and guess which is the most informative; it's the last, which tells you how and why. I've found that often times one is left out of instruction to the detriment of the reader, who then is left to figure out "When do I use this?" or "But what does that look like in code?" with some other manual/tutorial/explanation.

    From this beginner, please, if you see something I'm doing wrong, don't hesitate to correct me and explain it at the same time. I'm here to learn, and, hopefully, one day teach.

    -----------------------
    You are what you think.
[reply]

      I agree, in principle. Sometimes, however, the code given as an example in such a case as you describe is riddled with myriad incorrect assumptions, out-and-out coding errors, misused idioms and common mistakes and is so far from my own coding style that after addressing all the above, there's no longer any question to answer.

      My own approach to situations like this is sometimes to simply write a completely new code snippet which accomplishes what I estimate was the original goal, without so much as the slightest resemblance to the original, along with an explanation to the effect of, "here's how I might try to do this."

      And sometimes (here on Perl Monks, anyway), I leave it to those more adept than I.

      dmm

      If you GIVE a man a fish you feed him for a day
      But,       TEACH him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
[reply]

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