Re: Frustrations with newbie questions

[Ovid]

I suspect that much of this is the result of the Internet. I was reading an article recently which claimed that the rise in popularity of dynamically typed languages (such as Perl and Python) coincided with the rise in popularity of the Web. People wanted everything now. I want a program that works now. I want to see results now. I want someone to answer my question now. Unfortunately, many people receive this gratification and are less likely to think the problem through for themselves. The 'net is a terrible thing to waste.

I also recall reading another article which talked about the "good ol' days" of computer programming when programmers often had to wait weeks for computer time. As a result, they struggled, toiled, and poured over their programs very carefully. Everything was checked and double-checked as a single bug could mean weeks of waiting for anther try. Since I suspect it's impossible to correct for our improved knowledge of computer science, I doubt the following question is answerable, but I'm curious to know how quality has been affected by the seemingly conflicting needs of "get it right" and "get it now".

Cheers,
Ovid

New address of my CGI Course.
Silence is Evil

[gjb]

I agree that Ovid is most probably right about this expectation pattern of "now, now, now". After all, just look at the just-in-time economy, customers don't want to wait and store owners can't have stuff in stock because it is too expensive.

On the other hand, I don't really see it as a problem in the context of Usenet or PerlMonks in the sense that I'll help whenever I have time. This is a luxury we have here, we can set the pace, there's no-one to tell us how fast an answer should be provided, if any.

Of course, it's nice to be able to help, even addictive, but I've been a bit too long in tech support to underestimate these effects. (If you talk about "now, now, now", talk about tech support, there it's "yesterday, yesterday, last week"). The most important lesson I learned in that job was how to say "no, I can't do that without consequences for other important matters".

Nowadays I regularly turn down projects or requests for help I'd like to get my hands in because I just can't guarantee myself that I'll be able to give it the attention it deserves without neglecting other matters.

Although tech support is very bad for ones health I'd strongly recommend a relatively short exposure to it, one's perspective on a number of issues tends to change ;-)

Just my little rant, not even worth the costumary 2 cents, -gjb-

[Mr. Muskrat]

I can see it now!
A new country song entitled "Got It Right" (sung to the tune of "Mr. Right" by Garth Brooks).

And it'll go something like this:


I can tell by the way you've been voting nodes down 
Not your ordinary code is gonna do 
You've been waitin' for that one
That can spin your head around 
Well now honey, I've got that special code for you 
There must be a million lines of code in my programs 
So you must find the one that's right for you somehow 
Well, it's up to you, they're here for years 
Or 'till the last backup disappears
I've got it right and I've got it right now

Okay, okay! I'll say it! I need professional help!

updated many moons later: fixed a typo.

[Mr. Muskrat]

I totally agree with you Ovid! I get the now, now, now! attitude all the time. It's not just the Perl community either... More and more often I am seeing it on other forums, on IRC, in email from people that have no right to expect anything now. I love helping people when I can but what if I don't want to right now?

[jdavidboyd]

We saw a movie the other day with the phrase "Instant gratification takes way too long", and unfortunately, it seems to be becoming a truism with many of the people on the web today.