How to get help with your programming problem
As a fledgeling programmer, you will run into a lot of cryptic error messages. Unfortunately, these error messages are often not very helpful for fixing the problem with the code. It can be incredibly frustrating to try all solutions under the sun until finally nailing what caused the programme to crash. Fortunately, there is a lot of help available online that makes it much easier to solve these pesky problems. However, mailing list and online message boards are often a bit intimidating. Asking a “stupid” question or forgetting to provide crucial details can rouse the scorn of other users. So, here is a handy guide on how to ask for help with your programming problems online. As a bonus, following these steps might help you to solve the issue on your own.
1. Isolate the problem
Do not fall into the trap of just dumping your problem in an online forum. It will not go down well if you just post your entire code and its output there. First, the message board is not there to do all the work for you. Second, there is no added value for other people if they can’t extract the similarities between your issue and theirs. Instead of the ‘this doesn’t work, please fix approach’, try to isolate the problem. For instance, find at which line the code fails. This is usually apparent from the error message. Then, check if there any syntax…