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Why are questions that help you setting up the coding environment not allowed? I have asked some and seen some from others and all of them are closed.

This post tells a story of a question of this kind where the question wandered on three different StackExchange forums and ended up back to the original one. This topic seems to be unsuitable anywhere and the answers probably are best found outside the whole StackExchange (?).

Who is the one who sets up the stuff when you start to program, if not the programmer? If I start my career as a programmer isn't it the basics to setup the environment and stuff? Why is it wrong to tell the others how to start? Does the first line of code have to be the starting point if setting up your tools is the master pain?

This is a question with no right answer, but I wait some discussion on this because I feel it is not correct to draw the border so that these questions keep always out of the borders. Also it is not fair to bungee the answer throughout the forums.

Let's see how many votes go for answers towards my opinion: why not allow these flowers to grow on the forums and not destroy the seeds of the most basic information?

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    Questions about apps used by programmers are on topic. If you see one that has been closed incorrectly, please flag for mod attention.
    – user1228
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 14:52

2 Answers 2

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Isn't your question already answered on the question you linked to?

Some over-enthusiastic users have replaced their brains with a few simple regular expressions.

There are a lot of users with vote-to-close privileges on Stack Overflow, and unfortunately not all of them have given the FAQ a thorough enough read. Questions about "software tools commonly used by programmers" are on-topic for SO.

The only other explanation I can offer is that people often ask tools questions in a way that seems too subjective. "What's the best IDE for Java?" is just asking for our favorite, and should be closed. "How do you set up Eclipse for Android development?" however, is perfectly fine.

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    I get really irritated seeing move-to-SU votes being cast on Notepad++ questions within minutes of them being asked.
    – BoltClock's a Unicorn
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 20:56
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    @Bolt: I think I'm guilty of voting to close a few Notepad++ ones, but usually because they were "favorite shortcut" or "tips and tricks".
    – user7116
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 21:06
  • One possible cause may be envy for the amount of upvotes and answers in a short time - with this kind of questions it is easy to gain much reputation in short time. Still, asking stupid questions has the same effect - but overall, from whom one is taking when he gets reputation easily?
    – mico
    Commented Jun 9, 2011 at 7:15
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Who is the one who sets up the stuff when you start to program, if not the programmer?

In most places it is not the programmer, for the simple reason the programmer does not have admin rights on his or her machine, in most commercial environments. You have to apply (and pay) to have tools installed. Hence, this kind of question is basically OT on StackOverflow - I couldn't say about the other sites.

I do agree about questions being moved however. IMHO, they should simply be closed - moving is too confusing for all concerned.

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    Most IDEs have a lot of configuration options that can be changed by any user -- colors for syntax highlighting, for example.
    – Justin Morgan
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 23:03
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    "In most places it is not the programmer" -- You're assuming a commercial environment. Don't. There are plenty of freelance programmers, as well as other people that use their own machines for programming (either for practice or for learning or for working from home).
    – trutheality
    Commented Jun 8, 2011 at 23:13

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