The Art of Asking Smart Questions
10 Sep 2024
Why do Smart Questions Matter?
Effective communication is crucial for solving complex problems, particularly in software development. Strong communication skills enable developers to collaborate more effectively, exchange ideas seamlessly, and resolve issues faster. Asking smart questions is a vital part of this communication, as it streamlines the process and helps to convey the specific issue clearly to others.
Eric Raymond’s “How to ask questions the smart way” provides extensive insights, showcasing the impact of smart, specific, and concise questions.
A “Smart” Question
Question
A great example of a smart question is What is the “->” operator in C/C++?. In this question, the developer is surprised by the behavior of the --> sequence in C/C++ and asks about its functionality. The developer includes a concise code snippet illustrating the issue, specifying the environment where the code was run, and seeks clarification on where the behavior is defined in the C/C++ standards.
They are puzzled about why this compiles and ask where in the C/C++ standard this syntax is defined. The user does not assume the problem is with C/C++, instead, they genuinely ask for clarification. This question exemplifies Raymond’s principle of being specific and informative. The asker clearly shows what they have observed, provides context, and asks for help in understanding the behavior. Additionally, they don’t jump to conclusions about what might be wrong, which allows the community to provide precise, well-informed responses.
Outcome
The community responded effectively, explaining that --> is parsed as two separate operators: -- (decrement) and >. The top-voted answer (with over 9K votes) explains how the C/C++ parser interprets this sequence, referencing the appropriate sections of the C++ standard. The detailed and thoughtful answers reflect the quality of the question, with several answers engaging in discussions about operator precedence and syntax in C/C++.
A “Not So Smart” Question
In contrast, the question What should I do for this log in problem? is an example of a not-so-smart question. The developer struggles with navigating to the correct page after login but provides no details about the issue. The description is vague, leaving out crucial information like the code they’ve tried, what works, what doesn’t, and any error messages they have encountered.
Question
The user states that they can’t navigate to the right page after logging in but doesn’t provide any code, context, or specific details. There’s no mention of what technologies are being used, what’s expected versus what happens, or any debugging attempts they’ve made.
This question violates many of Raymond’s principles. There’s no specific description of the issue, no evidence of any effort to resolve the problem before asking, and it feels more like a demand for a solution than an invitation for collaboration. It’s a clear example of a question that could be improved by following the guidelines outlined in Raymond’s essay.
Outcome
The community’s response was minimal and unhelpful. In fact, the question was quickly closed by the StackOverflow community for lacking sufficient debugging details.
Conclusion
I learned that providing context and showing prior effort is essential for asking a smart question. I also learned that this is crucial to become a better developer.