In software engineering, questions are so important. Sometimes, when we are stuck on something it is important to collaborate and ask questions, or else you might be sitting there trying to answer that question for hours, even days. In particular, smart questions are important because they can significantly impact the problem-solving process. Smart questions not only demonstrate your deep understanding of the issues you are facing but are important in effectively communicating your problem in hopes of collaborating within the development community.
In Eric S. Raymond’s essay “ How To Ask Questions The Smart Way,” provides an outline for asking smart questions. The most notable points include providing a precise description of the problem systems, detailing the environment (ie. machine, OS, application), and providing your vendor’s discussion and release level (i.e. “Fedora Core 7”). Along with this, one should describe the research you did try, the steps you took to try and fix the problem yourself, and any relevant recent changes in your computer or software configuration. Along with this, if it is possible, it would be helpful to reproduce the problem in a controlled environment.
Now that we know some of the characteristics of a smart question, here is an example of a smart question that was found on Stack Overflow. A great illustration of a smart question is titled “How to install Python package eelbrain on macOS ‘’ (URL provided at the end of the essay). In this instance, the person who asked the question presents a clear problem statement that checks off the boxes of Eric S. Raymond’s outline for asking smart questions. The asker first presents the problem that they want to be solved, “I would like to run a TRF analysis in Python using the ‘eelbrain’ package.” They then describe their environment, macOS, as well as the vendor’s discussion and release level, for which they have multiple devices that they want to try, and their specs. The asker also provides the research they did as well as the steps they took to try and fix the problem including links to sites that provide information and other options that work for a colleague. Thus, this fits the criteria for a smart question which can also be reflected in the answers since they provided helpful tips as well as their own experiences in trying to install this package. Hence, this question is a smart question.
Contrastingly, a not-so-smart question is a question that is vague and lacks effort. One example of a no-so-smart question found on Stack Overflow is titled “What is the maximum value for an int32” (URL provided at the end of the essay. In this question, the person who asked the question said “ I can never remember the number. I need a memory rule.” Off the bat, we can see that this question could easily be looked up online. The answers reflect this and they are very jokingly answering this question and are very sarcastic. This question beings for the “STFW”, also known as “Search The Fucking Web” as Eric S. Raymond describes in his essay. Thus, this is definitely a not-so-smart question.
Here is a link to: Smart Question and Not-So-Smart Question