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I'm an older developer and I google constantly. I deal with Java, Typescript, Scala, Ruby, Python, and bash on a regular basis and sometimes I forget the synta

by deeg 5y ago

I'm an older developer and I google constantly. I deal with Java, Typescript, Scala, Ruby, Python, and bash on a regular basis and sometimes I forget the syntax or method for an operation. I can usually find it within seconds.

yepthatsreality 5y ago
I see older developers do it too. And which sites do you find this information on. Is it in the documentation? Wouldn’t it be quicker to just know what docs will tell you that info each time instead of searching for “Java function signature” or “JS pass-by-value” and going to the same place. You’re welcome to continuously search for stuff if that workflow is useful to you, but it’s not very efficient.
- t-writescode 5y ago
  How do you find the docs? Do you just keep a giant list of bookmarks for every project and sdk you might use? Or, do you Google the docs?
  - yepthatsreality 5y ago
    Yes I keep bookmarks or often document the links in my brief of the project. Or I've used the links so much I know the site path to get to a doc. You're trying to find a hole in my logic, but you're ignoring what I'm saying: Searching the web isn't an important skill, just as going to the library to research isn't an important skill. The skill is reading, research, and organizing research itself. Google just makes it easy to be lazy about research and gives you the impression that with a few keywords, the research is organized for you.
    - mitchdoogle 5y ago
      You're right that the real skill is not googling, but it seems like you're doing the same thing as everyone else. You don't have all the syntax and functions memorized, so you have to look things up occasionally, ya? You just skip Google and go straight to the docs. Googling is so quick though, any efficiency lost over clicking a few links seems minimal and not worth arguing about.
    - t-writescode 5y ago
      > You're trying to find a hole in my logic, but you're ignoring what I'm saying I think you're ignoring what everyone else is saying and that is that Googling is not about Googling, it's just a tool for researching. It's not all about Googling some random blog post about how to manage cache invalidation, it's shorthand of knowing how to use search engines to get you to the right page, documentation, scholarly article or yes, random blog, about cache invalidation.
      - yepthatsreality 5y ago
        ...that’s what I’m saying.
        CRConrad 5y ago
        But even after it was explicitly spelled out to you, you still don't get that it's what everyone else was saying too?
        yepthatsreality 5y ago
        Yeah, sure that’s what happened.
  - aastronaut 5y ago
    DDG might has a helpful !bang[0] available or zeal[1] (or dash[2] for macOS) can also be of help [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q= https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q= [1]: https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/ [2]: https://kapeli.com/dash https://kapeli.com/dash
- tiagod 5y ago
  Honestly, the documentation builtin search engine is usually way worse than google's. If I type something like "python 3.4 queue docs" I'm at the right docs page for that exact module and version in seconds.
- deeg 5y ago
  I have hotkeys and chrome/firefox extensions to make it very fast to start and navigate a Google search. I don't have to remember all the different docs; I can use the same key-based workflow for all my searches. Over time I've gotten a feel for what sites have better answers for different questions. E.g. StackOverflow is great for explicit syntax questions because the answer is targeted to the question, unlike documentation which is trying to explain the whole syntax.

by deeg 5y ago

yepthatsreality 5y ago

I see older developers do it too. And which sites do you find this information on. Is it in the documentation? Wouldn’t it be quicker to just know what docs will tell you that info each time instead of searching for “Java function signature” or “JS pass-by-value” and going to the same place. You’re welcome to continuously search for stuff if that workflow is useful to you, but it’s not very efficient.

t-writescode 5y ago
How do you find the docs? Do you just keep a giant list of bookmarks for every project and sdk you might use? Or, do you Google the docs?
- yepthatsreality 5y ago
  Yes I keep bookmarks or often document the links in my brief of the project. Or I've used the links so much I know the site path to get to a doc. You're trying to find a hole in my logic, but you're ignoring what I'm saying: Searching the web isn't an important skill, just as going to the library to research isn't an important skill. The skill is reading, research, and organizing research itself. Google just makes it easy to be lazy about research and gives you the impression that with a few keywords, the research is organized for you.
  - mitchdoogle 5y ago
    You're right that the real skill is not googling, but it seems like you're doing the same thing as everyone else. You don't have all the syntax and functions memorized, so you have to look things up occasionally, ya? You just skip Google and go straight to the docs. Googling is so quick though, any efficiency lost over clicking a few links seems minimal and not worth arguing about.
  - t-writescode 5y ago
    > You're trying to find a hole in my logic, but you're ignoring what I'm saying I think you're ignoring what everyone else is saying and that is that Googling is not about Googling, it's just a tool for researching. It's not all about Googling some random blog post about how to manage cache invalidation, it's shorthand of knowing how to use search engines to get you to the right page, documentation, scholarly article or yes, random blog, about cache invalidation.
    - yepthatsreality 5y ago
      ...that’s what I’m saying.
      - CRConrad 5y ago
        But even after it was explicitly spelled out to you, you still don't get that it's what everyone else was saying too?
        yepthatsreality 5y ago
        Yeah, sure that’s what happened.
- aastronaut 5y ago
  DDG might has a helpful !bang[0] available or zeal[1] (or dash[2] for macOS) can also be of help [0]: https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q= https://duckduckgo.com/bang?q= [1]: https://zealdocs.org/ https://zealdocs.org/ [2]: https://kapeli.com/dash https://kapeli.com/dash
tiagod 5y ago
Honestly, the documentation builtin search engine is usually way worse than google's. If I type something like "python 3.4 queue docs" I'm at the right docs page for that exact module and version in seconds.
deeg 5y ago
I have hotkeys and chrome/firefox extensions to make it very fast to start and navigate a Google search. I don't have to remember all the different docs; I can use the same key-based workflow for all my searches. Over time I've gotten a feel for what sites have better answers for different questions. E.g. StackOverflow is great for explicit syntax questions because the answer is targeted to the question, unlike documentation which is trying to explain the whole syntax.