Press F1 for Help…
Finding the answer in a sea of solutions.
For me RTFM* is not my SOP**.
I’m your typical guy… “I don’t need no stinking manual” and I don’t particularly care for the F1 key either, it’s a waste of my keyboard real estate. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t have anything against a “good” manual. However a lot of technical books are filled with tons of regurgitated verbiage and very little real world examples. Same goes for “online help” and the MSDN library. These methods of help are fine to get you started and headed into the right direction, provided you’ve got time to research them.
As for the rest of us… those of us who work on a deadline, those sifting through the muck searching for that small chunk of useful code that will bring our stress level back down into the black... there’s a better solution. It’s called “Social Networking”. No I’m not talking about your buddy's MySpace page. I’m referring to online communities of people who share the same interests. Sites like The Code Project and DevX .NET Zone.
Community based sites are driven by its users. These types of sites provide a wealth of real world examples, examples you will not find in any book. They provide forum for discussion, collaboration, and it’s users are not afraid to let you know that “dude, this code sucks” .
Honestly, how many times have you been knee deep in Google results only to find the solution sitting right there on The Code Project the whole time? It’s happened to me on many occasions. Often enough that I make many of these sites my first line of search. I subscribe to their RSS feeds, I engage in online discussion, and even giving back by uploading my own solutions to problems that plagued myself.
These sites were developed by people like you and me who are sick and tired of sifting through the muck. And believe me, we can all use a little less muck and a lot more solutions.
* Read the <Expletive> Manual
** Standard Operating Procedure