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StackOverflow and Developers

Hey all !

Today I would like to discuss about one of the most helpful resources we as developers have for reference, i.e. stackoverflow.

Let’s have a situation, say you are developing some app where you need to add some feature which you have never implemented before. If you require a third party library, the first place you look for help is the FAQ section of the library documentation. If it’s a standard library covered in Android Platform APIs you go to the complete API Documentation or the API Guide.

But what if neither of them covers your problem ?? Or if you don’t know what part of your code is causing the problem and you just have an error message in some alienated technical jargon ??

Here’s the point where stackoverflow comes into the picture, as your savior.

There are plenty of technical discussion forums out there, but stackoverflow is one of the most popular and preferred one, largely because of it’s strict community guidelines and a large community of developers which refer to it and answer any questions they can.

So, basically it’s of the devs, by the devs and for the devs. A developer democracy I say !!!

The next thought that comes to a beginners mind is strict community guidelines ????, but don’t worry, they won’t give your much power to do things until you have established your reputation as a good member of the community, so you can’t do much damage as a beginner, nor can you something so big and wrong that they have to expel you from the community.

If a search doesn’t answer you problems, then the next logical thing to do is to ask a new question, you will require an account on stackoverflow for that. The community is very helpful and active, so if you have put down your problem clearly enough, it will be answered very quickly.

I hope that this will be helpful in your journey as a developer.

Author Shrey Dabhi