I can do your homework!

Yes you read right! BUT...I am NOT going to do YOUR homework!

Instead I am going to write something that should be read by all new programmers and users of this or any type of community/forum. This thread is to for new users to learn how to use a forum properly. The name of the topic is to make new user and/or lazy students by instinct click on the topic and hopefully read it. This might even help older users and more experienced programmers how to answer a topic without flaming the newbie!

How can I get someone to make my homework?
What you are doing is cheating! This result in that you will not understand what you are doing and will not be able to modify the code for later use in different contexts. Plain and simple you will fail the course! How can you get a good result on the exam if you never did your homework? Your homework are there to make you see what you can and what you need to practice on! Do not post a topic without including the source, this is to show the rest of the community/forum that you are doing your homework yourself, and are trying to figure it out yourself (Also known as LEARNING). Do not post privately to users where you shout for help just because the replied in a thread, they will not help you if they didn’t do it in the thread.

As Jack Klien said “If I do your home work, maybe you complete the course without learning to write a program like this. And later maybe you make the exam without learning to write a program like this. You might end up as a professional programmer without knowing how to write a program like this. One beautiful day maybe we work together on a project and you don’t know how to write a program like this. Then I must do you bodily harm.”

How should I reply when someone ask for help with doing their homework?
Don’t do their homework, instead give them tip on what to read to solve the problem at hand. If the user do not post any source code and only write something like Help me!!!! do not flame the person, instead ask for the source code the person has made so far, point out where there is flaws/errors and stuff like that but do not correct EVERYTHING. If it’s something small you can help him with the entire problem like cut << hello world;. If everything is wrong give him some topics/links/books he should read to solve the problem.

How do I do if someone post a thread with a question that is already answered in another thread?
Do not start with “Use the search function!”. It can happen that you do not search yourself sometime and then it will come back and take a bite in your ass! Instead say something like “Have you tried the search function, if so what did you search on? I found this link”. This shows the user that it’s a friendly community and not one where there is a lot of non-helpful users. You can also recommend some words or terms the users should try when s/he search in the forum or on a search-engine (google for example). Do not link the answer to the question, which is like doing the homework for them. Teach them to use a search-engine/function is better! Give a man a fish and he is feed for a day, teach a man to fish and he is feed for the entire life.

What is a good topic?
A good topic describe the problem in a short way. Examples on bad topics are ”Help!”, “How do I do this?”, “Why doesn’t this work?” As I said a good topic describe the problem really short so the reader knows what the problem is about. This makes it easier for the reader to help you and other users that can’t help you can faster find someone they can help. Don’t waste others time! It will only haunt you later when you need help! Do not forget to tell what compiler you use and what version you use. If you use a old compiler it might not follow the standard or might even been out of date for years!

How should I post a thread with source code that doesn’t give me the result I wanted?
The source can compile but the result is not the intended one sometimes, then the error is somewhere in the source, so you should post the entire source, the error can be in a line you didn’t show. Do not forget to show what header files are included. But don’t forget to do a little searching before posting a thread.

Do not ignore replies and do not bump your thread
If someone gave you a reply you didn’t like don’t ignore it, it’s rude and you asked for help and should be happy someone took the time to help you! Help includes directing you to the right path, this will in the end make you understand what you do and you can modify it later as well in other projects. Don’t your bump threads, if someone can help they will help. Bumping just make it harder for someone else, this will also come back and haunt you if you do it! When you need help your thread might fall down in the list due to bumpers! It might even end with that users that could help you ignore you because you didn’t appreciate the help you get.

Learn to use the internet!
This is the best way to find the answer to your questions. You should learn how to use the tools for searching you have access to. For example google! Do you want to learn how to use Polymorphism in C++? What do you search on?
No no no! You do not google on "Cute Indies in bikinis" that will not teach you anything about Polymorphism in C++. Instead google on "Polymorphism +C++". See it wasn’t so hard! This even applies to easy stuff like while. Do not make it harder than it needs to be!

Most important is
Read the rules before posting, this way you don’t end up annoying the entire forum!

This thread might be updated if needed, if someone thinks I missed something make a post!

Note to mods:
If this is the wrong place for the thread please move it. I decided to posted it here because I use C++ examples. But I guess it works on any form of language :)

Edited by FrozenSnake, 24 March 2010 - 09:43 AM.
Fixed the format of the text and some grammar.