Questions Closed

Asking Smart Questions: Why It Matters

Good questions lead to good answers. Bad questions? Not so much.

The Importance of Smart Questions

When it comes to programming, knowing how to ask good questions is just as important as knowing how to write code. If you can explain your problem clearly and effectively, you’re more likely to get helpful answers. But if your question is vague, confusing, or lazy, you might get ignored—or worse, downvoted into oblivion on sites like StackOverflow.

Eric Raymond’s essay, “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way”, explains how to communicate like a real software engineer when asking for help. I wanted to see how these ideas work in real life, so I analyzed two questions on StackOverflow: one well-written and one… well, not so much.

A Smart Question That Got a Great Answer

Question: Why do dictionaries in Python sometimes change order unexpectedly?

📌 StackOverflow Link: Click here

A developer asked why their Python dictionary wasn’t keeping the same order after inserting items. They thought dictionaries were unordered, but sometimes the order stayed the same, which confused them.

Here’s their example code:

my_dict = {"apple": 1, "banana": 2, "cherry": 3}
print(my_dict)  # Expected: Unordered, but prints in same order

They asked:

“Are Python dictionaries ordered? If not, why does mine appear to be ordered sometimes?”

Why This Question Was Smart:

✅ It was specific – They focused on one clear issue.
✅ It showed effort – They did their own testing and noticed a pattern.
✅ It provided code – Anyone could copy and run their example.

Responses & Outcome

The top-rated answer explained that:

• Before Python 3.7, dictionaries were unordered, but in Python 3.7+, they maintain insertion order.
• The ordering behavior they saw was not guaranteed in older versions.
• If they needed a guaranteed order, they should use collections.OrderedDict.

The answer was super detailed, linked to official Python documentation, and helped tons of other developers.

📌 Why it worked well?

• The question was clear, so people could answer it right away.
• The response didn’t just fix the issue, it explained the reasoning, helping future developers too.

A Not-So-Smart Question That Went Nowhere

Question: My Python program won’t work. Can someone help?

📌 StackOverflow Link: (Example created to show bad question formatting.)

Here’s what the question looked like:

“Hey, I’m trying to make a Python program, but it won’t work. I don’t get any errors, but nothing happens. What am I doing wrong?”

There was no code, no explanation, and no details.

Why This Question Was Bad:

❌ It was vague – “It won’t work” could mean a hundred different things.
❌ No code provided – People had no idea what they were dealing with.
❌ It didn’t show any effort – The user expected others to do all the work.

Responses & Outcome

• The first response asked for more details: “Can you share your code and explain what ‘won’t work’ means?”
• Another user downvoted the question and commented: “Please read the StackOverflow guidelines before posting.”
• The post was closed for being “too vague to answer.”

How They Could Have Fixed Their Question:

Instead of being lazy, they could have included their code and explained what they expected vs. what actually happened. A better version of their question would be:

x = input("Enter a number: ")
if x > 10:
    print("Greater than 10")

“My code is supposed to check if a number is greater than 10, but I get an error: TypeError: '>' not supported between instances of 'str' and 'int'. What am I doing wrong?”

Now, people have enough information to help.

What I Learned From This

1. Asking Smart Questions Saves Time

The first developer got an amazing answer quickly, while the second developer got ignored and downvoted. If your question is clear and detailed, you won’t waste time going back and forth for clarification.

2. Show Effort, Provide Code, and Be Specific

A good question should:
✅ Clearly describe the issue – Don’t make people guess.
✅ Include code – Even a small example helps a lot.
✅ Explain what you’ve tried – Show that you actually put in effort.

3. Bad Questions Get Ignored (or Deleted)

If your question is unclear, lazy, or vague, people will:

• Downvote it
• Ignore it
• Close it without answering

When you put effort into asking well, people will put effort into helping you.

Final Thoughts

This assignment made me realize that asking smart questions isn’t just about getting answers—it’s about being a good part of the developer community. If you ask the right way, you’ll get better answers, faster, and actually understand the problem instead of just fixing it.

From now on, whenever I need help with my code, I’ll follow Raymond’s advice and make sure my question is clear, detailed, and structured properly. That way, I’ll get useful answers instead of frustration and downvotes.

I used ChatGPT to help me organize my essay better and give me a basic layout.

References & Links

📖 Eric Raymond’s Guide: “How to Ask Questions the Smart Way”
🔗 Smart Question Example: StackOverflow - Python Dictionary Ordering
🔗 Bad Question Example: (Example created for this essay, but represents common bad questions.)