└── slackquestions.md /slackquestions.md: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 | # Best Practices for Asking Coding Questions in Slack 2 | 3 | * Ask, don’t fish 4 | * The #rails, #frontend, #wdt-students, & #set-students slack channels are extremely active and 99% of the time someone will answer you. Be sure to ask your question in the appropriate channel. If you're working on Ruby/Rails, ask it in #rails. If you're asking for help with JavaScript, ask it in #frontend. You get the idea. 5 | * It’s best to just ask your question instead of “fishing for” if someone is “available to help” or if someone has “gone through x-checkpoint.” Answering questions about availability to peers often implies a commitment that a peer may not be able/willing to fulfill. While everyone is extremely generous, sometimes when put in this position, they’ll elect to ignore rather than to answer “no” or “yes.” 6 | 7 | * Be clear and concise 8 | * Asking broad questions that are hard to answer or that require a lot of questions for clarity is not best. The more specific your question can get, the better. ex. “I thought that this method would do this, but I ended up getting this error, did I call it or define it wrong?” (which brings us to our next guideline) 9 | * Explain your thought process. 10 | 11 | * Use Snippets and organize them 12 | * If you’re encountering a specific issue that consists of multiple lines of code, error messages, or multiple files, use snippets. Snippets should be organized by file and should be prepended with a comment with the file path, filename, and extension. 13 | * It’s best practice to put the error message at the bottom of the code, as it can mess up syntax highlighting if it’s at the top or the middle. 14 | * Try to maintain the correct file hierarchy from top being the highest parent in question, to the lowest child. ex.
.file .file .file 15 | * See an example [here](http://i.imgur.com/HGD6ZBZ.png) 16 | * If your code or error messages are short, consider putting them between 2 \` symbols.
17 | * For example:
18 | \`code snippet\` 19 | * If you're sharing multiple lines, use 3 \` symbols.
20 | * For example:
21 | \`\`\`code snippet
22 | more code
23 | more code\`\`\`
24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | * Don’t be afraid of appearing dumb or stupid. 28 | * Everybody makes rookie mistakes, and everyone in the Slack community has made them too. Don’t be afraid to share yours, it’s not only a good way to learn, but a great way to learn to take feedback. 29 | * When explaining your thought process, don’t be afraid to have missed a concept. No one understands everything the first time they read it or hear about it, so why should you? 30 | 31 | * Be honest 32 | * If your peer has helped you and asks if you understood, be honest. Not only is it an opportunity for you to learn, but it’s also an opportunity for someone else to chime in and offer perspective maybe your first peer couldn’t/didn’t give. 33 | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------