JumpStart: Lesson 3
- To know where to go for answers
- To be able to evaluate a source as likely to have the answer you are looking for (or not)
- To be able to narrow your search results to yield better results
- To find answers to a question on your own
Software developers do not have all of the answers, instead a good portion of their time is spent searching the internet and references for the answers. Common tools that developers use include StackOverflow and Google. What's most important is that you can find the answer, not that you know the answer right away.
- Read How to become a programmer, or the art of Googling well
- Watch How Search Works
- Read 20 Tips to Google Search Efficiently
- Try AGoogleADay.com, a daily search challenge from Google
- Type using keywords instead of full sentences
- Add 'example' to your query if you want to see an example
- Add the specific language you are coding in to your query, e.g. 'ruby'
- Use double quotations when you need an exact match in your search
- Make sure to check the date of what you are referencing, languages often change over time