3 ms·

Ask HN: where to ask trivial programming questions

8 points by rhr 17y ago

Greeting I am trying to learn programming on my own but find myself getting stuck a lot. For example, I just wrote the simple maxLine program from K&R as an exercise, the compiler, gcc, gives me the following error when I define a symbolic constant MAXLINE=1000 in the code, but happily compiles the code when I use int 1000 directly: maxLine.c:21: error: expected expression before ‘=’ token so my question is, is there a good website/mail group where I can get help on these kind of issues, something very trivial to experts but could take me hours to figure it out. thanks

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
corey 17y ago
http://www.stackoverflow.com http://www.stackoverflow.com
joeld42 17y ago
I find IRC is great for general questions like these. people don't mind helping newbies and since it's so ephemeral you don't feel bad asking lots of beginner questions.
gtani 17y ago
look for a mentoring or tutor list for your language http://rubymentor.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl http://rubymentor.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl http://railsbridge.org/ http://railsbridge.org/ http://www.railsmentors.org/ http://www.railsmentors.org/ and python http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/
- RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
  I didn't check the others, but that last one is really advanced: Archive View by: Downloadable version January 2027: [Thread|Subject|Author|Date] [Gzip'd Text 597 bytes ] I just so like the idea of an archive from 2027 ...
  - MaysonL 17y ago
    The January 1980 thread was amazingly prescient...
weaksauce 17y ago
Stackoverflow is a great resource and I would definitely use that for tougher questions as opposed to basic syntax errors. IRC is better suited to this type of question. Before even using IRC I would google it. Google will get you on the right track most times if you just google the compiler error. They usually only come up when you mess up in a particular way so you should be able to intuit what's going on. Though on this particular error it just means that you messed up on the syntax of the define statement. (hint no equals... #define MAXLINE 100) The third or fourth result is someone with the exact same problem.
rhr 17y ago
Thanks for the help, everyone!
CyberFonic 17y ago
You will find a good introductory book on programming a great deal of help. Try to pick one that has examples of compile commands and makefiles. Another alternative is to take an OSS project and read, make changes. Typically all the makefiles, etc are correctly setup. There are some excellent videos on-line as well.

8 points by rhr 17y ago

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

corey 17y ago

http://www.stackoverflow.com http://www.stackoverflow.com

joeld42 17y ago

I find IRC is great for general questions like these. people don't mind helping newbies and since it's so ephemeral you don't feel bad asking lots of beginner questions.

gtani 17y ago

look for a mentoring or tutor list for your language http://rubymentor.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl http://rubymentor.rubyforge.org/wiki/wiki.pl http://railsbridge.org/ http://railsbridge.org/ http://www.railsmentors.org/ http://www.railsmentors.org/ and python http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/ http://mail.python.org/pipermail/tutor/

RiderOfGiraffes 17y ago
I didn't check the others, but that last one is really advanced: Archive View by: Downloadable version January 2027: [Thread|Subject|Author|Date] [Gzip'd Text 597 bytes ] I just so like the idea of an archive from 2027 ...
- MaysonL 17y ago
  The January 1980 thread was amazingly prescient...

weaksauce 17y ago

Stackoverflow is a great resource and I would definitely use that for tougher questions as opposed to basic syntax errors. IRC is better suited to this type of question. Before even using IRC I would google it. Google will get you on the right track most times if you just google the compiler error. They usually only come up when you mess up in a particular way so you should be able to intuit what's going on. Though on this particular error it just means that you messed up on the syntax of the define statement. (hint no equals... #define MAXLINE 100) The third or fourth result is someone with the exact same problem.

rhr 17y ago

Thanks for the help, everyone!

CyberFonic 17y ago

You will find a good introductory book on programming a great deal of help. Try to pick one that has examples of compile commands and makefiles. Another alternative is to take an OSS project and read, make changes. Typically all the makefiles, etc are correctly setup. There are some excellent videos on-line as well.