As a developer it can be _really_ frustrating looking for solutions to problems. Say you're working with a new library, and you know other people use it, but you have no clue how. This often applies when you're using C++ and get some hardcore C library, that would only make sense to people who have been coding in C in a basement somewhere for the last 10 years.
A common complaint that i have, and it seems i'm not alone, is that you can search for days and mostly get one of 3 things:
- nothing,
- a site with unanswered questions,
- or a site that asks you to sign up to view the answers.
Then i discovered stack overflow! It's a site that allows users to log in ( with any openID account if you have - blogger account is part of it ), and post a programming related question. Anyone can view this, whether you have an account or not. Now i hear what a lot of people will say, its all good to have a forum, but people will have to read it. Well, there are at least 2 people who work for the site that will look over the questions they can answer. But still, no 2 people can know everything right?
My trial of this site shows me that there is more than enough traffic to generate answers to questions. I've posted 3 questions so far, each one generating at least 3 answers within the first week, and getting over 50 user views. All of my questions have had pretty satisfactory answers, 2 of them telling me exactly ( including some code posts ), what i needed to know. The last one, my question was illdirected and badly phrased, and i still got a good answer to my question, even though it wasn't what i was looking for.
So if you're a developer, i really advise having a look, its a great site, and more knowledge never hurt anyone ( except a few organisations ).
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