I think you really have something there, some people are not “wired” to be programmers.
I started when I was 9, so I guess I’m “wired” to be a programmer

(but I don’t know, maybe everyone else thinks everything I code is crap )
Note: The sentence above was a joke

I think that people are so used to instant answers that they don’t need to research any more. For example. If I have forgotten a php function which was helpful a couple of months ago and I need to use again I have a choice. Spend precious time stalled on my application while I trawl through the function list hoping it will just out at me - OR - go to a forum, tell people what the function does and get a near immediate response with the function name.

Does this make me lazy? Perhaps. But I see it more like this. There are people who genuinely know their stuff. They read technical specifications and in depth changelog information. They feel joy inside when they find a slightly more effective way to solve a problem.

These people are the corner stone of any technical community. They help out the noobs, the lazy and the less knowledgable. This helps other people learn and pick up the technology. These people in turn learn new techniques. Some of these people will stick around to help the next generation of noobs and thus the cycle continues to rotate.

By answering these seemingly repetitive and sometimes idiotic question you are in fact doing some good. Thats my take on it anyway.

JasonS - 10 July 2008 07:09 PM

I think that people are so used to instant answers that they don’t need to research any more. For example. If I have forgotten a php function which was helpful a couple of months ago and I need to use again I have a choice. Spend precious time stalled on my application while I trawl through the function list hoping it will just out at me - OR - go to a forum, tell people what the function does and get a near immediate response with the function name.

Does this make me lazy? Perhaps. But I see it more like this. There are people who genuinely know their stuff. They read technical specifications and in depth changelog information. They feel joy inside when they find a slightly more effective way to solve a problem.

These people are the corner stone of any technical community. They help out the noobs, the lazy and the less knowledgable. This helps other people learn and pick up the technology. These people in turn learn new techniques. Some of these people will stick around to help the next generation of noobs and thus the cycle continues to rotate.

By answering these seemingly repetitive and sometimes idiotic question you are in fact doing some good. Thats my take on it anyway.

I really think that this thread is targeted at those who suffer from magical thinking.  Mr Wales pointed out a case where an individual constantly asks for “codes”.  In other cases its just ridiculous whining.  I mean the responses on this board depending on the time of day are not exactly lightning quick.  I cannot see how this would save you that much time unless certain people are hopped up and posting like a rat on acid.

As I see it this forum is best used as a place to bounce ideas off of others and the like.  It makes a good replacement for a team.  I have worked with outstanding development teams and it is very handy to have another set of eyes pointing out the obvious.  We tend to see what we want to see after programming along for a while and nothing beats a different perspective.  That being said I think it would be nice to see a forum or subforum depending on how you look at it to act as a jumping off place for those with less experience in web development. 

I get really annoyed when I see a post that is obviously someone who is just starting programming/scripting (and happened to choose CI to start) and it gets placed into one of the development forums like “Code and Application Development”.  I realize that they have nowhere else to put it but .... blech!  It is like jumping from Pink Floyd to Britney Spears as I open up a thread with quality pattern discussion and move to the next one in the same sub-forum where someone is asking how to write a select statement in SQL.

Maybe the forum gods could make a new sub-forum for beginners.  It may not fall into the forum plan though.  Something to toss around.

usmc - 10 July 2008 09:41 PM

As I see it this forum is best used as a place to bounce ideas off of others and the like.  It makes a good replacement for a team.

Here, here.  Very astute observation there. 

For those of us (which are more than we realize) who work out of the home over the internet to do our programming jobs, this place is a valuable place indeed to find a team. 

Of course, on every great veteran team, there are always going to be a few “rookie” new hires.  For legit “rookie’s” that need a little help going in the right direction, true veterans are usually happy and even eager to help them come up to speed.  (For those we can see that are “obviously wired to be a programmer,” especially.)

However, those new kids in school looking to get someone else to do their homework for them generally aren’t making new friends.  There is a distinct difference between a kid in school asking the smart kid in class to help him understand his homework and asking the smart kid in class to do his homework for him.

I’m wired, pleased to meet you.

I don’t think it has anything to do with age. I hate everyone equally, regardless of the year of their birth

I must admit I find myself asking a lot of questions in the code and application development forum. Just now I have asked for help writing a select statement. However, I’d never ask someone to write complete blocks of code for me. I also try to balance out my own questions by helping others where I can, I wouldn’t want to appear as a cheap skate who only joined this community to get answers on his php questions, CI related or not.

I’ve been quietly amused by all of this fun. I wasn’t going to contribute until I just now came across this one...http://codeigniter.com/forums/viewthread/85763/ and I couldn’t hold back.

Clearly this poster bid for a project they were not qualified for, either fibbed about their qualifications to win the bid or under cut the competition so deeply they couldn’t be refused, is being paid for the effort, yet hasn’t a clue how to move forward, and…

you guessed it, wants someone here to tell the story of how to write the code required for the magic to happen.

Does that wrinkle anyone’s skin back just a little?

Randy Casburn - 20 July 2008 09:59 PM

Does that wrinkle anyone’s skin back just a little?

Yeah. I think these kids need to be told, straight-up, what their problem is. So, I didn’t hesitate to mention it to him in so few words. It was at least a sincere request…

Colin Williams - 20 July 2008 10:59 PM

Randy Casburn - 20 July 2008 09:59 PM

Does that wrinkle anyone’s skin back just a little?

Yeah. I think these kids need to be told, straight-up, what their problem is. So, I didn’t hesitate to mention it to him in so few words. It was at least a sincere request…

And you’re damn right.
There were a few topics some guy made asking really basic questions (you know, the ones “what does @ do?” and “what’s a foreach loop???") and I just thought, “well, somebody should tell him he should go have a look in the php documentation or JFGI… But no! People answered politely…

Okay yeah, it’s very nice and such and it’s part why I love the CI community so much, because everyone IS so friendly. But that’s just inviting the idiots…

Well, that’s just my opinion offcourse and it might be a little harsh, but I come from another community where people requested entire websites and when you asked them what you would get as payment, they’d call you a dirty capitalist and go somewhere else. We reacted harsh on that too and it stopped and now the place is just great.

We have a winner.
The Magical Thinking Award Goes To .....

Great choice!