Info about Programmers
How do programmers share ideas?
Programming is a very interesting and at the same time very challenging profession. While in many other fields of work holding on to your skills and shortcuts can help you get an edge over the competition, in programming it is very detrimental. The real value is not in how the problem is solved, but in the final product created, hence the programmers have become a community that prefers to share experiences and shortcuts more often than hide them.
There are many ways in which the details and ideas can be shared. While each is slightly different, but online portals seem to be the best way to get around disseminating information and gathering information from the worldwide community. The reason for this is primarily because smart programmers are not limited to handful countries or companies.
A top programmer in a big IT software company may be challenged in his thoughts by some freelancer sitting in a shabby studio in some developing country and may be actually right. The only way the two can communicate though would be through the Internet. The latest and state of the art technologies that the IT companies can provide its employees cannot be afforded by the freelancer. But the information sharing between the two is vital for the community to thrive. This is where the internet and online portals become so useful.
There are basically three primary places where ideas and thoughts are exchanged online.
• Software Support Forum: This is a very common place for people to go especially if the software is a new one. The best people to solve the queries are the people who developed it. So many programmers post their questions and experiences on these forums and the makers provide support on various topics.
• As the software matures, though other experts too start contributing to solving problems posted by the users. This really the becomes a place for the software maker to get feedback on the product and a guide on the improvements or new features to be added to the next release of the software.
• Online Forums: These are another popular place where developers and programmers can share their views. Here there is no particular person or team which is accountable to solving your problem. As a programmer you can post your problem and anyone who reads it and knows a solution would share it with you. Of course since there is no accountability, it could take very long before you get the answer. But on popular forums and stable software it should not be an issue at all.
• Personal Blogs: These were created by people who were considered gurus in their field, but today many intermediate programmers too create blogs. The blogs typically are used to describe some feature or sometimes just an account of what the programmer learnt. This is a great place to get information on a problem that someone else faced and you are facing right now.