Just to break the ice with one from the great seven: what should our FAQ contain?
(One FAQ suggestion/answer)
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2\$\begingroup\$ perhaps we should stipulate 1 FAQ per answer? \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 19, 2011 at 20:58
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\$\begingroup\$ Sounds like a great initiative, I'll modify. \$\endgroup\$– ZolomonCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 20:59
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\$\begingroup\$ How should we compile/summarize this FAQ to a complete list? \$\endgroup\$– ZolomonCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 22:20
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16 Answers
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How to post your code? (inline, link, etc.)
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1\$\begingroup\$ We really need to get an answer to this in the FAQ. There are a bunch of posts already with links to other sites/source repositories. If its too big to be posted in a question, its probably too big for someone visiting this site to actually be able to review in a timely fashion. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 27, 2011 at 22:14
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1\$\begingroup\$ @Mark: If its too big to be posted in a question, its probably too big for someone visiting this site to actually be able to review in a timely fashion. If that's the case then CR will be reduced to reviewing short code snippets. Is that what we want? Is it even useful? \$\endgroup\$– HerbertCommented Sep 1, 2011 at 7:15
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What belongs here vs what belongs on StackOverflow
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How much code should I provide in my questions?
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2\$\begingroup\$ If whole projects (> 100 LOC) are to be reviewed, a link to a permanent pastebin post will suffice otherwise it's OK to insert as a code block? \$\endgroup\$– ZolomonCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 21:14
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1\$\begingroup\$ Possible answer to FAQ: meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/10/… \$\endgroup\$– ZolomonCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 22:18
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Some examples of on-topic and off-topic questions (maybe from the Area 51 page)
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\$\begingroup\$ Off topic: "my code is broken, why? can you... review it?" meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/q/44/90 (that's low, preying on geeks eager to review stuff to fix code for you :D) \$\endgroup\$– TryPyPyCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 23:54
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When should an answer be accepted?
This feels very ambiguous to me at the moment, even though the site has only been up and running for a few hours, we have several questions without answers. It seems like it'll be difficult to know when to accept an answer. Do we leave it to the satisfaction of the user to decide when enough review has been committed?
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1\$\begingroup\$ I think this would be the same as SO, where when the user feels comfortable with using the new approach and it has several up votes, then he would accept that as his personally answer. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 23:49
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\$\begingroup\$ I would upvote this more than once if I could. We need to establish etiquette around it because there won't always be a single correct answer. Maybe we could encourage people to make compilation answers of all relevant points from other answers? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 14:54
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1\$\begingroup\$ I'm pretty much against "accepting" an answer in most cases on this sub site. These are by nature discussion questions accepting an answer infers a "correct" answer. Though I'd take it on a case by case basis. \$\endgroup\$– AthasCommented May 4, 2011 at 10:46
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It might be useful to outline some tips on how to "shorten" your code so that only the relevant parts are put on display. Along with that, some guidelines about how much code is too much code.
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How to format code samples
The code should be properly indented and adhere to the language's coding conventions. It should have a maximum line length of 80 characters (which is especially important when not using a pastebin, since longer lines will cause a horizontal scrollbar).
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Should code postings be anonymized?
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\$\begingroup\$ I feel like there is already some anonymity in making an account -- but this is an interesting idea for people that have lots of information linked to their accounts. How do we do this feasibly? It seems like we'd have to change some basic mechanics of how the site works (but it might be a cool thing to change and not hard on the back-end .. just a checkbox that says "I'm anonymous for this question") ... naturally you can still get rep and stuff? Maybe only half of what you'd get otherwise? \$\endgroup\$– sovaCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 21:11
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\$\begingroup\$ well actually I was referring to making sure we don't leak anything pertaining to our employers or clients \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 19, 2011 at 21:12
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4\$\begingroup\$ I would hope that wouldn't need to be specified in the FAQ \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 21:15
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How we define duplicates, and how to search for possible answers before posting.
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\$\begingroup\$ Possible answer to FAQ: meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/8/… \$\endgroup\$– ZolomonCommented Jan 19, 2011 at 22:20
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Should you continually (ever?) edit your post following suggestions from answers?
(Until you accept one?)
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Suggestions on how to format your review. Stole the idea from TryPyPy. The conclusion to this question:
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- How is this site different from programmers.se
And clarification on:
If you are looking for specific feedback about…
- Best practices and design pattern usage in your code
and your question is not about …
- Tools, best practices, improving, or conducting code reviews
Best practices is both encouraged and discouraged?!?!?!?
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If my code contains errors, should I also provide the error codes that appear during compile/runtime?
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\$\begingroup\$ I wonder if error-ed code is what this site is for. I suspect such code should go on StackOverflow. This site (IMO) is about improving code quality. \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 19, 2011 at 22:03
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1\$\begingroup\$ That would be Stackoverflow, Benchmarks are different and should be posted (if available). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 19, 2011 at 23:50
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Code should be formatted to a certain standard.
If I am helping someone improve there programming the last thing I want to do is format it myself.
class MyClass
{
public function somemethodwithnameconvention(){
while(;;){
if(true){break
}
}
}
}
And what i would want to expect is:
class MyClass
{
public function somemethodwithnameconvention()
{
while(;;)
{
if(true)
{
break;
}
}
}
}
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\$\begingroup\$ Your brace style is ungodly you heathen! \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 20, 2011 at 7:03
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\$\begingroup\$ please explain what you mean by your comment? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 8:15
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\$\begingroup\$ @Robert - I was using a tongue-in-cheek reference to various "holy wars" among programmers regarding the placement of opening and closing braces to point out that the standards you refer to can't be too specific. \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 20, 2011 at 18:43
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\$\begingroup\$ That was just example, what the main point is that code should be indented to a certain extent, I do not mean to be to specific but the there should be a reference in the FAQ to make sure all most at least have some requirements to indentation. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jan 20, 2011 at 20:34
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\$\begingroup\$ I do agree @Robert that users should be expected to at least try to make code readable. Quite where the boundaries lie might be the subject of a question in it's own right. \$\endgroup\$– LRECommented Jan 21, 2011 at 4:04