ru...@yahoo.com wrote:
1) It may look like a homework problem to you but it
probably isn't.
Seehttp://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.python/msg/8ac6db43b09fdc92
Homework comes in many forms - school driven homework should be
treated the same as self driven research, IMO. You're not doing it to
be told the answer, you're likely doing it to learn.
As I said in point (5), you are not in a position to
decide how someone else best learns, even if your guess
that the question is homework, contrary to the evidence
in the url, is correct.
Yes we do. If the person wanted a direct and straight answer (like most
cheaters) for such a simple question (like integer palindrome), googling
takes less time and efforts compared to posting to a mailing list.
OTOH, since the poster took the trouble of registering to a newsgroup,
posting his problem, waiting a few hours for replies, and checking the
group for replies, requesting clarification, thanking, and getting back
to normal day activities; this implies that he wanted explanations which
can only be provided with the more interactive newsgroup instead of a
relatively static websites.
3) You are not responding only to the original poster;
there are many other silent readers who are interested
in the answer and whom you are depriving of knowledge
by refusing to answer.
MRAB provided a perfect answer - anybody who wants to know more, or
could not connect the dots, can always ask for more information.
No. Forcing people to beg for bits and pieces of an answer
one at a time, doled out by a cabal of elite "gurus", is
humiliating and a disincentive. If you can answer the question,
do so without all the farting around. If you don't want too,
or you feel answering in bits and pieces is helpful, fine, do
that, but don't object to someone else providing a direct
answer.
Yes we have the right to complain, because a single post containing a
direct answer will *destroy the purpose of giving hints*.
Giving direct answer is too tempting for an OP that originally wanted to
try to solve by their own. It is too easy to copy and even the most
determined would have a difficult time to resist.
If the OP had wanted a direct answer, he should make an explicit note
about it. When that happen, the OP is not interested in studying about
the solution anyway and hints are useless.
Writing a direct answer is much, much, much easier than understanding
where specifically the OP is having trouble with. We wanted OP to post
their solution or at least their thought on the problem because we
wanted to see why the OP is having problems, so we can tailor the reply
specifically for the OP.
Not giving direct answers promotes active thinking, which is much more
important for programmers, direct answer gives rote memorization, which
is useless for programmers due to sophisticated documentations.
4) When you post a specific solution to a question,
usually a number of other people will respond with
alternate or better solutions. While perhaps overkill
for the original poster who likely will be satisfied
with any answer, such discussion greatly benefits
other readers.
See previous.
Most of what I have learned about python from this group
I have learned by reading responses to other people's
questions. I would not in most cases bother to post a
request for clarification if the answers weren't clear.
So "see previous" is also my response.
If you're still having problems but won't bother to post a request for
clarification, that means you don't take your *own problem* seriously
enough.
Of course, whether you choose to provide a specific
answer to something you think is homework, or not,
is ultimately a personal decision and you are free
to follow your conscious. Just please don't demand
that every other participant in this group adopt
your personal standards.
When you join a long standing community, you're expected to follow
their conventions. Don't top post, don't do someone else's homework,
etc.
This is the only thing you wrote that resonates with me.
I would never dream of moving to Spain and immediately
start agitating to end the cruel sport of bullfighting
(though if it were already a contentious issue I might
join those already objecting). I would not move to
France and demand that French people stop drinking wine
because of the problems alcohol causes. But clp is
somehow different, even assuming that the no homework
help rule is actually a tradition
it actually is, in most (if not all) newsgroups. Most technical forums
follows this tradition;
as opposed to a few
dominant personalities and a bunch of wannabe followers.
We ARE all wannabe followers. All humans copy from their elders and, if
you haven't realized, that is what education is about. Also, tradition
means "handing over, passing on" (wikipedia), a "dominant personalities
and a bunch of wannabe followers" fits into that description; the
culture of the dominant personalities is passed on to the wannabes.
Improvisations is an evolution, it happens slowly over a
veeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeery long period of time. The fundamental nature
of a community does not change with an overnight revolution; a
revolution will simply change the skin but the fundamentals will still
be the same.
Humans is the most advanced species in the world because we copy our
ancestors instead of reinventing the wheel all the time. If we hadn't
copied our ancestors, we will have people inventing fire and wheel all
the time.
As a metaphor, which one do you think is better in the long term:
charities or microcredits?
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