Quota and Stack Exchange fail me in a particularly noticeable way. A few years ago I decided to really learn Java, I think this was around Java 7 time frame. I’ve programmed now for over 50 years, so naturally I knew Java well enough to read most of it even though I’d never developed with it.
This is where Quora and Stack Exchange seem like they would be very useful for answering questions about say type erasure or why my Eclipse configuration was giving me problems. What I discovered was that because of the almost universal use of Java by universities, the answers to every basic Java question were all over the place. So many questions, so many answers of questionable quality. It was like strolling thought a College stopping random students and asking them for help with Java. Somewhere, there is that really bright CS student providing good advice, the problem is finding him.
For just slightly more difficult Java questions (like “what does this Hibernate error message mean”) there might be no answers. Apparently, not to many students are using Hibernate.
Anyway despite having to take Java related answers with a grain of salt, Stack Exchange (and spin-offs) have been great for answering so many of my questions (LaTeX is actually fun to use because of Stack LaTeX Exchange).
This is where Quora and Stack Exchange seem like they would be very useful for answering questions about say type erasure or why my Eclipse configuration was giving me problems. What I discovered was that because of the almost universal use of Java by universities, the answers to every basic Java question were all over the place. So many questions, so many answers of questionable quality. It was like strolling thought a College stopping random students and asking them for help with Java. Somewhere, there is that really bright CS student providing good advice, the problem is finding him.
For just slightly more difficult Java questions (like “what does this Hibernate error message mean”) there might be no answers. Apparently, not to many students are using Hibernate.
Anyway despite having to take Java related answers with a grain of salt, Stack Exchange (and spin-offs) have been great for answering so many of my questions (LaTeX is actually fun to use because of Stack LaTeX Exchange).