Smart questions are very important to smart software engineers because only intelligent questions can provide software engineers with useful information and learning opportunities. When a programmer encodes a program, he will encounter many errors and problems. Some problems may not be solved by the programmer, so it is best to ask others for help. However, if the programmer asks an unwise question, he/she will not receive the correct answer at all, nor will he learn anything from it. The worst thing is to waste time in the process of asking and waiting. Knowing how to ask questions is very important for programmers.
Sometimes it is difficult to understand what is a smart question or a nonsmart question only through an article. A more effective way to learn about a question is to take a look at other programmers’ problems as examples. The question “What is the most efficient way to deep clone an object in JavaScript?” can be considered a clever question. In the coding process, time complexity must be considered, especially the program must run a large amount of data, and sometimes time is difficult to calculate such NP problems. In this question, the inquirer clearly wants to know the most efficient way to deep clone an object in JavaScript, and gives the current code function that it is using. Questions stimulate other thinking, they respond to the question with different answers. Both the inquirer and the responder may learn something from it.
On the other hand, “Isn’t this correct in C++?” This is an example of an unwise question. The program encountered a problem because the programmer forgot to initialize the variable, which is very easy to fix just by debugging. In addition, his/her teacher has pointed out the problem with the code. Therefore, programmers should not ask the same question again. This question wastes the time of repliers, and does not learn anything from it.
In short, asking a smart question will get a good answer and learn from it. Unwise questions will only waste time. Before a programmer asking a question about the program, he/she should search on Google or debug the program. Not smart questions will show people your coding level, and people may say RTFM or STFW, and call the asker like loser or “luser”. Everyone has a busy life, so it is important not to waste other people’s time.