In a way I agree with what Axon just said: this was already discussed in that thread. However, I'm also not totally sure what Kleid is trying to say as he wasn't very eloquent about it. Is he just saying "If someone is asking for help on a very mundane problem, it is then okay to do the work for them, in this case write a small program, in order to help them out?"
If that is what he meant, then I would have to say I agree. To quote myself on the thread axon posted:
Basically, if someone just needs a foot in the door to get started, then it is okay to go out of your way a bit (although the example with the 'Hello World" program is poor as it's in every C/C++ book ever written). Otherwise spoon feeding answers is poor practice and helps nobody. You've gotta balance this stuff to be most effective. Salem's approach to the matter is most useful for when people already have a foot in the door:Quote:
Until you get that first 'foot in the door' so to speak, programming seems like an insurmountable challenge. I try to give people that foot in the door when I can, then otherwise I don't help as much.
Quote:
As much as possible, its about getting the poster to think for themselves a bit - which for newbies can be an extremely frustrating experience as it often seems like people are not really helping. But a large part of programming is down to thinking about the problem, and it's only when you "get" that aspect of it that you can start to tackle the really interesting programming problems.
So yeah.
edit: I'm trying to find an example in the C/C++ forum where instead of just giving the answer (Salem always seems to know the answer) he asks questions which make the poster think, and guides them to a solution. When the poster figures it out, he/she benefits most because ultimately, they did the work, and was only guided in the right direction, not just given the answer.
Here is the example I was looking for:
http://cboard.cprogramming.com/showthread.php?t=61024
It is evident the person already has some experience programming (has a foot in the door), and just needs help with this concept.