Is your question getting ignored? Not getting the answer that you want from other forum members? Feeling sad and alone? If so, here's some guidelines that you should follow before posting your coding question.

1. Write your posts clearly
Write your question in a way that every sane, English-speaking person can understand. We don't expect posts to be at the level of an Oxford English professor, but some clarity would be nice so that we don't have to work hard to figure out what you're asking. At the very least, re-read your post and see if you can understand it yourself.

2. Be more specific
Don't ask general and vague questions. Let us know what it is you want to accomplish and what information you lack to accomplish it. If forum members don't know what you specifically need in your first post, you'll only get a reply asking for more specifics, resulting in time wasted for everyone.

3. This is not a homework forum
Don't ask us to write your entire assignment/project for you! We tend to get a lot of questions asking for homework help when college project deadlines near and this is annoying! We will help you if you're running into difficulty with a specific problem but don't post a "Do my homework" question the night before your deadline and expect a helpful reply. Read your lecture notes, go to the library, consult your lecturers or course-mates. If all else fails, then you probably do not deserve to graduate.

If your post doesn't show sufficient evidence that you have worked enough on the problem yourself, it will be locked. If your post looks like a direct copy + paste from your assignment question, it will be locked. There are no free lunches here.

4. Use the search function and the programming tutorial thread
This board comes with a magical search function. Use it! We also have a thread full of links to programming tutorials and forums. Use that too! You might find that your question has already been answered there.

6. GOOGLE!
Almost everyone has heard about Google. It's useful and apparently quite popular among most Internet users. Why not follow the in-crowd and try using Google first to answer your question. Google is very helpful, we can't emphasis this more. Google, Google, Google. Then come back here if Google has failed you.

7. Last but not least, read How To Ask Questions The Smart Way by Eric S. Raymond (thanks to kckia for the link)

This post has been edited by fly: Aug 11 2006, 01:24 AM

RTFM

Mindsets and attitudes.

Always keep a positive mindset that oneself is accountable in not just answering but also questioning. Try to be professional in your question if you want professional answer. (of course understanding this is not a real professional programming forum but at least, lifting up the image is better than pulling it down?)



This post has been edited by anthony_yio: Jun 19 2007, 07:49 PM

Know the technology and the terms use.

Say if you are asking VB question. Specify what version, what component you are using, what DBMS, how do you connect and other details.

E.g

OS Environment: Win2k
OS Language Version: English (standard)
Language: VB6
Visual Studio Service Pack: SP6 <-- might not be necessary. Just an example.
Component: ActiveX: ADO, ActiveX: Windows Media Player
DMBS (if any): Oracle
SQL: PL/SQL


If possible, use the term that commonly been used. Like DBMS, MFC, Win32, ADO, ActiveX, Javascript, socket, client side scripting (vbscript/javascript), Java Bean, EJB, J2EE and etc.

If some of you are unsure of the terms cause you are very new,at least try to search for some in google or check the books. Knowing some commonly used terms helps to promote efficiency in conveying what you are trying to ask.






This post has been edited by anthony_yio: Jun 19 2007, 07:43 PM

Another thing, don't ask to ask. Just ask your question. If you are already here in the forum, just post your question. If someone knows the answer, they might post it.

It might help if posters read this article.

How To Ask Questions The Smart Way
Copyright © 2001 Eric S. Raymond

The URL is:
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I have tried to answer some of the posts. I would suggest those poster try post the question
- in point form
- include ur code and exact error message(s)

hope this helps all of us.

for questions regarding PHP.
this is the best site to visit

For those who post the whole chunk of codes and expect people to look for what is wrong.

It would be more appropriate if you found WHERE is POTENTIAL problematic code yourself (i.e., bug), and then ask us what is wrong with it. Simply asking us to search through a bunch of codes to find out what is wrong do imply asking a BIG favor from us. Narrow your code down to just a few statements and you'll get way more help.

(even some problems do require some amount of codes to explain but I believe the extraction is ALWAYS possible. People only interested in replying from the extracted info and not from raw.)

This post has been edited by anthony_yio: Jun 19 2007, 07:40 PM

May be show some

-pre-conditions (before the action)

- post-conditions (after the action)

of the database records, program behaviour, program snapshot, or UI display



It would help in explaining the requirements/problems you need. Instead trying to describe in your own sentence in words which might sometimes be confusing.

Also, showing the codes or relavent script or setting snapshot would also help.

This post has been edited by anthony_yio: Jun 21 2006, 08:24 PM

Before asking some questions on problems that you encounter because you are not doing it in a conventional way (conventional means mostly people will have done that way), have you consider the basics that you might have neglected which could be the 'root' cause of your problem? Always having these mindset


- Proven concepts should be used no matter how basic it is and new ideas should be built on top of it. If you would create something different (groundbreaking) provided you understand what you are doing is clearly innovative. Then, you would need to back up your stuff with good reasons. Anyway, try to stick to proven concepts, this is not RFC committee. Nobody bother to debate on proven standards here.

(Majority of proven concepts can never go wrong. Not with an easy solution or workaround most of the time.)



This post has been edited by anthony_yio: Jun 19 2007, 07:38 PM

Hi all,

I have a project to be done. This is the title "A Simple Software-based Personal Firewall for Windows OS".
I have researched about this project an was unable to get a clear picture of how to build it. I have found out tat i have to use the MFC application in Visual basic c++ to persue my project n i hav gain a little knowledge on using it. But still I hope u guys out there can help me out with the coding.

Thank u.

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