Beginning to ask a question on Stack Overflow actually helps me debug my problem myself, especially while trying to formulate a coherent and detailed enough question body in order to get decent answers.
Is this common?
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1Since this question is linked to a post from Jeff Atwood, I guess you'll get soon a gold badge :-)– Luc MMar 14, 2012 at 16:32
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@LucM Thats true! Before reading Jeff Atwood's post, I didn't know there is a meta stackoverflow ;-)– YeameenMar 15, 2012 at 4:48
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2 Answers
Yes!
This technique is known as Rubber Duck Debugging -
The process is to meticulously explain code to an inanimate object, such as a rubber duck. It is expected that when the programmer comes across a piece of code that is incorrect, she will realize this.
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2Thanks for putting a name to it! Although I prefer doing this on stackoverflow, because if I haven't found the problem by the end of my post, I can just hit "Post your question" and expect / receive answers. And talking to a rubber duck seems ... whacky :)– MarcelOct 27, 2010 at 12:46
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4It's from a book titled "The Pragmatic Programmer" @ amazon.com/Pragmatic-Programmer-Journeyman-Master/dp/020161622X– user151803Oct 27, 2010 at 12:49
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1Where I work we call it the FIP effect. "FIP" is a stuffed boarder collie who is named after a poorly named variable. You could use this to your advantage by still asking the question and then posting and accepting your own answer. Nov 20, 2010 at 4:12
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Often times this will happen when I'm preparing to ask a question on SO. My question will be far too specific to my code, so I'll be working out how to generalize it. More often than not, the process of generalizing a problem makes me aware of a mistake or design flaw in my "real" code, and hence solves my problem.