

Ask HN: Do you use your brain or Google to solve your problems? - siong1987

I know I had this habit that whenever I found a bug or error in my code, I would head to Google. Copied paste the error message into Google and hoped that Google would find the answer for me.<p>But, after several times of hoping Google to get me the answer, I found that Google didn't actually give me the best answer. And, sometimes, even wrong answer.<p>So, slowly, I developed this skill that I can now solve problem independently. I admit that I still need help from Google. But, Instead of copy paste the help from Google, I can actually analyse the solution myself and modify it to suit my problem.<p>My question is: Do you use your brain or Google to solve your problem?
======
mechanical_fish
Yes. ;)

This is what programmers are paid for. To decide on a case-by-case, moment-by-
moment basis whether to use Google (and, more importantly, which phrases to
Google and which results you should try to use) or whether to work through
something on your own, or phone a friend, or surrender and just do something
else.

There is no general rule.

I expect that within another generation nobody will distinguish between
"thinking" and "using Google", just as I don't distinguish between "solving a
problem on my own" and "solving a problem on my own by remembering something I
read a month ago".

------
gtani
There's a macro question of how to use all resources at your dispoal to
address coding questions: maybe look at pragmatics' wetware book.

the micro skill you have to develop: scour delicious, IRC, stackoverflow,
Yahoo search, forums for your language/framework. Also krugle, koders.com,
gotapi.com, (can't tell if anybody's maintain codase.com for java/C++)

Google custom search engines are great, too, carefully choose 20-40 domains to
include.

~~~
siong1987
Do you have any google custom search engine to share?

------
shutter
Google shines when you must deal with a problem that occurs due to third-party
code (particularly proprietary code). When things _should_ be working in
_your_ code, Google can help sort out an obscure issue much more quickly than
trying to search through the source for a third-party library.

Your brain works best to debug your own code, but isn't as efficient to
discover flaws quickly in unfamiliar source.

------
known
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." --
Isaac Newton

Shoulder = Google

------
brk
Google is a tool, to be used like any other tool.

I'm very good at solving most problems that come up in whatever I'm working
on, but Google can also be a massive "accelerator".

Often times I've thrown at error message at Google just to get an idea about
where the general problem may lie (is it me, is it the system, is it even
fixable?), etc.

Before Google you'd have to weed through manuals (if you owned all the right
ones) or ask a question on something like FidoNET. Getting answers took much
longer, sometimes that allowed you to solve the problem on your own by giving
you lots of time to think about it. Other times it just delayed your progress.

------
oscardelben
I first try to understand the problem. If the problem is going to take more
than a few minutes to solve, I try to google about it, and if I found nothing,
I put my brain into it. I do this because 98% of the times is a problem about
libraries or programs maintained by someone else.

------
gaius
There are those of us who remember the Internet before Google...

------
abl
Personally, I use lifelines. First I eliminate 50% of the wrong answers... If
that doesn't work, I ask the audience. When all else fails, I call Bill Gates.
:)

------
hs
google shines when there's a lot of data point (say ubuntu)

man pages shine when the info is very specific (say openbsd)

first time it's better to use google (to see whether it's an issue -- where
people encountered the same problem ... or non-issue -- only ME? having this
problem? it could be something else)

but after facing it multiple times, man pages (and brain) are my friends

------
noodle
both. brain, google, brain, in that order.

