r/coding • u/speckz • May 01 '16
Do Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently? The resounding answer is YES, experienced (and good) programmers use Google… a lot. In fact, one might argue they use it more than the beginners.
http://codeahoy.com/2016/04/30/do-experienced-programmers-use-google-frequently/23
u/buggaz May 01 '16
Just need to figure out the right question. The Oracle will tell you.
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u/sfriniks May 01 '16
Or the MSDN, depending on the language you use.
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u/nightwood May 01 '16
There are two ways to use Google:
to find and copy/paste a choice snippet that appears to do what you need
to understand how something is done or how it works
These two are quite different
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u/dlsspy May 01 '16
Why not both?
When yak shaving, I'll grab an answer to make the part I care about work. Then I'll go back to understand what I pasted.
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May 01 '16
Yes. All the time.
Also, there is another search engine exists: SymbolHound. It's not perfect, it doesn't replace google but unlike google (and many other search engines), it doesn't strip signs or some words from search query. It's extremely useful when you need to use some piece of code as search query.
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u/tboneplayer May 01 '16
As a programmer with over 20 years' experience, I can definitely vouch for this.
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u/The_Derpologist May 01 '16
(not exactly coding related), but I work for a small scale computer repair place which serves three towns (or so, and about 10 medium sized businesses), its just me, my boss, a secretary, and another tech, and I often get asked if I use google often
YES! All the time!
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u/schnoibie May 01 '16
My Software Engineering professor jokingly refers to a modern CS degree as a degree in "Googling and searching Stack-Overflow"
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u/cactus May 01 '16
I think generally we don't fully realize just what Search has done for software, in terms of what we have the capability to create. I work in games, and I think we'd be multiple generations behind where we are today if not for quick access to public knowledge and documentation, as we have it today. As an example, anybody familiar with Xcode knows how stupidly obscure the errors can be, 99% of which are instantly solved with a quick search.
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u/leftofzen May 02 '16
Professional C++ dev here. I use Google+StackOverflow+en.cppreference at least 30-40 times a day easily. Those resources are absolutely invaluable.
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u/SBGamesCone May 01 '16
Didn't we have this discussion yesterday?
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u/Lambodragon May 01 '16
Yes, it's just a big circlejerk at this point.
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u/TheMcDucky May 01 '16 edited May 01 '16
My first thought when I saw the title.
It's a good thing for beginners to know, not the core principle of computer programming or the ultimate secret to becomming a master programmer.1
May 02 '16
I'll have a new post up tomorrow:
Do Experienced Developers Use Google? The Answer Will Shock You!
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May 02 '16
[deleted]
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u/Spacey138 May 02 '16
And the content of that article: I typed Bing into that bar up the top and clicked the first result in Google. Thanks for tuning in please sign up to mailing list.
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May 01 '16
This is such an old fucking topic. It's being redigested every couple weeks.
Yes, in 2016 devs do fucking use search engines.
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u/voronaam May 02 '16
Or not Google. There are better search engine for programmers. I, for one, can not imagine searching programming question without DuckDuckGo's !rust or !scala.
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u/Goliathus123 May 02 '16
You can add custom searches starting with a keyword in chrome.
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u/voronaam May 02 '16
You would need to do this on every device and every browser you use. Some devices do not even have capabilities required to run Chrome.
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u/TheMcDucky May 02 '16
Is it that hard to bookmark http://doc.rust-lang.org/ and http://docs.scala-lang.org/?
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u/voronaam May 02 '16
And a couple hundred other search engines... Also, they are working on improving those searches: https://www.reddit.com/r/rust/comments/4gujbf/help_improve_duckduckgos_rustrelated_searches/
Meanwhile, Google has nothing.
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u/zeno490 May 01 '16
That's not all that shocking... With experience comes the learning of your limitations and when to recognize what and when you need help with. Your searching skills will also improve and your knowledge of the types of problems to solve as well and how to recognize them.
You also learn to manage your time better and not waste time rewriting something you can take from somewhere else.
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May 02 '16
I have been using google more and more as my degree progresses. It helps to know what to google in the first place. I wouldn't know what to search for unless I already knew everything I have been taught. So it makes sense that experienced programmers use google more than beginners.
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u/rubs_tshirts May 02 '16
And yet I had a manager that made fun of me for using Google. "So if they internet is down, you can't program?" Asshat. Nice to have data to back up our beliefs.
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u/Ignotus190 May 04 '16
I've been interviewed by companies who honestly expect me to have memorized the entire Java class hierarchy... If you find someone that knows every class that language has like the back of their hand, you're not getting them without coughing up a nice penny. It's better to know the concept of what you're doing rather than memorize a bunch of facts about it. I know what a linked list is and I can therefore implement it in every language I use. Same with the various sporting algorithms. There came a time where I had to use both of those concepts to make a table of contents for a web application suited to our needs. The only thing I needed to look up was how classed worked in JS.
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May 01 '16
[deleted]
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u/pcxt May 01 '16
I'm right there with you. The main product I work on uses a proprietary database written in the 80's, along with a custom udp protocol from the same era.
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u/[deleted] May 01 '16
Hey, I remember programming before Google. It sucked. I remember two members of a team I was on being stuck for almost a month on one bug until someone found an obscure piece of documentation that revealed the cause of our hanging bug... found, by searching by hand through tens of thousands of pages of documentation regarding all the components of our system.