On Thu, 5 Aug 2010, Les Mikesell wrote:
> On 8/5/2010 12:25 PM, Paul Heinlein wrote:
>> On Thu, 5 Aug 2010, Les Mikesell wrote:
>>
>>> The part I have trouble understanding is that while it seems
>>> perfectly acceptable to be dumb about most coding languages and
>>> ask for a canned routine to do something you are too lazy to write
>>> for yourself, the same does not apply to shell commands even
>>> though there is not much inherent difference in complexity. Is it
>>> just that coders are more willing to share their work than
>>> administrators even in cases where it is equally reusable?
>>
>> The major difference I've seen in that sort of request is that
>> coders tend to ask for help with a small subset of the overall task
>> (a routine) while erstwhile admins tend to ask for help with the
>> totality of the task.
>>
>> When someone says, "I'm writing a shell script, and hereabouts I
>> need $TOOL to do such and such," a good answer is usually
>> forthcoming.
>>
>> When someone says, "Tell me how to script this $PROJECT," the
>> commmunity usually points the OP off to Google/Manual.
>
> I don't think it is the nature of the requests that are different
> (although coders perhaps have to know more to even ask a reasonable
> question), just the responses. Coders seem much more likely to try
> to make their work available to others that haven't even asked while
> administrators pretend that everything they do is unique and not
> reusable - or they don't want it to be.
I guess I'm not convinced (though I'm really not trying to be stubborn
or curmudgeonly :-).
I'll grant that in both cases the request is essentially the same:
"Help me do this." When someone's "this" is their whole scripting
project rather than a particular section of it, however, I guess I
just roll my inner eye and delete the message. When someone has
narrowed the question to a technological particular, I'm much more
willing to assist.
I realize the only difference is the scope of the question. Am I more
inclined to treat the latter questioner as a willing learner and the
former like a layabout? Is it simply that the larger the scope, the
more reluctant I am to understand and contribute? Hmm. Must navel-gaze
on this...
--
Paul Heinlein <> heinlein@xxxxxxxxxx <> http://www.madboa.com/
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