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Welcome to Software Development on Codidact!

Will you help us build our independent community of developers helping developers? We're small and trying to grow. We welcome questions about all aspects of software development, from design to code to QA and more. Got questions? Got answers? Got code you'd like someone to review? Please join us.

Discussions and feedback about the site itself in Q&A format.

Filters (None)
71%
+3 −0
Comparing our site scope to Stack Overflow

We've had discussions before about the site's intended scope (range of permissible topics and questions), but for new users coming from the Stack Exchange network, I think it would be useful to dra...

2 answers  ·  posted 4d ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 2d ago by Lundin‭

75%
+4 −0
What is the difference between `back-end` and `backend` tags?

I found two tags: back-end and backend. Should we merge them?

1 answer  ·  posted 1mo ago by talex‭  ·  last activity 1mo ago by Andreas witnessed the end of the world today‭

75%
+4 −0
RSS feeds for tags

How can i get a per-tag RSS feed? I only see the general feed at the main pages and i don't want to subscribe to tags via email.

1 answer  ·  posted 6mo ago by JohnRando‭  ·  edited 2mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

96%
+46 −0
How can we grow this community?

Codidact's communities have a lot of great content that is helping people on the Internet. Our communities are small, though, and sustainable communities depend on having lots of active, engaged p...

18 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by user253751‭

66%
+2 −0
Question/Answer views on Codidact

Where can I see the number of views for a specific question/answer? It motivates if i know more people are seeing the Question or Answer

1 answer  ·  posted 2mo ago by Abbas Gadhia‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by Moshi‭

90%
+17 −0
Why using images for code, errors, logs or similar should be avoided?

I have noticed that virtually any question containing an image of some code or error got a comment asking to replace it with the actual code, error text. Why is it so bad to include an image inste...

1 answer  ·  posted 3y ago by Alexei‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by Andreas witnessed the end of the world today‭

71%
+3 −0
Closing self-answered question due to not being clear enough

I have a hard time deciding if How to get conditional running cumulative sum based on current row and previous rows? should be closed or not. As mentioned in the comments, it was already flagged t...

3 answers  ·  posted 4mo ago by Alexei‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by Lundin‭

60%
+1 −0
I created a tag, now it need edit.

I created stream tag, but can't edit it. It should at least have java as parent tag.

2 answers  ·  posted 2mo ago by talex‭  ·  last activity 2mo ago by Lundin‭

71%
+3 −0
Tag full names.

Currently we have composite tag names like node:stream. That tag have Node.js as its parent. I propose to display child tag with its parent, for example `Node.js:node:stream'. It will require ren...

0 answers  ·  posted 2mo ago by talex‭  ·  edited 2mo ago by talex‭

77%
+5 −0
Where should I ask git questions?

Where should I ask questions about Git?

2 answers  ·  posted 4mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 4mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

75%
+4 −0
Should beginner-oriented Q&A here include basic use of a terminal (command line) for developers?

It seems that year over year, computers constantly get easier to use, and it becomes easier for people to start learning to program who have never touched it before. This comes with the consequence...

3 answers  ·  posted 5mo ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 5mo ago by matthewsnyder‭

77%
+5 −0
Is my question a duplicate? What now?

As part of a general effort to produce basic Q&As for Python, recently I've been focused on issues related to starting up an interpreter and running the code - so, questions about setting up an...

0 answers  ·  posted 5mo ago by Karl Knechtel‭

37%
+4 −8
Don't close questions for lack of detail/confusion

tl;dr: When a question is unclear, don't close right away, especially if it's possible to discern what they are trying to ask. Instead, use comments and edit suggestions to work with the asker and ...

4 answers  ·  posted 8mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 6mo ago by John C‭

60%
+1 −0
Issue with the Monospace font [duplicate]

I was trying to ask a code review question but I have observed that it does not support the "Monospace font" for code excerpts properly. It is only considered partially and I see this particularly ...

1 answer  ·  posted 8mo ago by aditya98‭  ·  closed as duplicate 8mo ago by Alexei‭

66%
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Is there a workaround to highlight code blocks if the language doesn't have syntax highlight enabled?

I've seen that recently two requests to add syntax highlight to some languages were deferred (this and this). According to the status-deferred tag description: "the requested feature will not be i...

0 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by hkotsubo‭  ·  edited 8mo ago by hkotsubo‭

80%
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Is software system design on topic here?

Is software system design on topic for the software development site? For what I mean by system design, consider the "system design interview" commonly held these days when recruiting software eng...

1 answer  ·  posted 8mo ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by Lundin‭

76%
+8 −1
Email alerts for notifications

How can I get an email when I get a notification on Codidact? I missed an answer because I thought I would get an email for it.

2 answers  ·  posted 9mo ago by LyndonGingerich‭  ·  last activity 8mo ago by Olin Lathrop‭

75%
+4 −0
Participate Everywhere ability without meeting the requirements?

I noticed I have the ability Participate Everywhere even though I do not meet the requirements (Having roughly 75% of my posts to be positively received, with a minimum of 5 positively-recieved pos...

2 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Ethan‭  ·  edited 9mo ago by meta user‭

83%
+8 −0
Enabling 2FA should include some recovery codes

After enabling two factor authentication (2FA) for my account I'm only notified It is successfully turned On. I think it should include some recovery codes as well (to be used in case I can't acce...

1 answer  ·  posted 4y ago by lealceldeiro‭  ·  last activity 11mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

71%
+3 −0
I can't choose any tags when posting a question

The problem described below occurs in Windows 10 and Chrome 87.0.4280.66 (64 bits, JavaScript enabled). I could post this question only in mobile (Chrome/iOS 14.2), where the problem doesn't occur....

0 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by hkotsubo‭  ·  edited 12mo ago by hkotsubo‭

83%
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Should posting on Meta affect reputation?

When we launched this community, we did not yet have the ability to set different reputation grants for different categories. We've had this for a while but we failed to follow up before now, sorr...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  edited 12mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

71%
+3 −0
Allow tagging answers with tools and version numbers

TL;DR If we allow answers to be tagged with technologies and version numbers, people can more easily check if an answer is applicable to their technology stack. A few days ago, I had a problem in ...

1 answer  ·  posted 12mo ago by FractionalRadix‭  ·  last activity 12mo ago by Monica Cellio‭

50%
+1 −1
The way I tried to mark up code did not work. What is the right way to do it?

The way I tried to mark up code did not work. What is the right way to do it? The line break after the first signal is ignored. Some languages use a hash as a comment. Here, it bolds the line, ac...

1 answer  ·  posted 12mo ago by TecBrat‭  ·  last activity 12mo ago by TecBrat‭

33%
+1 −4
Suggested special feature: Clinic/case study

We have special features/sections on Codidact, so maybe this is a nice use for them. What if we had a section named something like "clinic" or "case study" or "debugging"? (name suggestions welcom...

0 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  edited 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

71%
+3 −0
Handling common wrong approaches and misguided motivations for basic technique questions

Background This is inspired to some extent by https://software.codidact.com/posts/289597 . I'm trying to provide a large amount of content (gradually!) that novices (mainly to Python) will find u...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Lundin‭

75%
+4 −0
Should self-answered Q&A use separate answers for different techniques/approaches (even if there's a caveat that applies overall)?

Looking back at my own Q&A How can I build a string from smaller pieces?, the answer is incredibly long. I'm essentially showing five different ways to solve the problem - because they all exis...

2 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Lundin‭

71%
+3 −0
Are questions about (abstract) algorithms and datastructures considered on-topic?

I just noticed this question about data structures in the Q&A. Although algorithms and data structures are often (part of) a solution to a problem when writing software, this question is const...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by mr Tsjolder‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭

75%
+4 −0
Tags are highlighting while my favourite tags is empty

My favourite tags is empty. Although, some tags are highlighting. Usually, I was using another account earlier. I forgot (lost that gmail address) password (I can reset but, I don't want to use tha...

2 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Anonymous‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Alexei‭

75%
+4 −0
codidact profile editing requires 30 characters but has no error message

Editing one's profile on codidact is problematic. Evidently it needs to be 30 characters or more, but there's no error message, there's just a red box around the profile post and then the save but...

1 answer  ·  posted 2y ago by daveola‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Alexei‭

77%
+5 −0
What categories could we benefit from having?

So far, existing Meta discussion seems to have at least hinted at the possibility of using separate categories here: To shuffle closed questions out of the way (globally for Codidact) (also) Fo...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Lundin‭

84%
+9 −0
On self-answered questions, is it inappropriate to mark my own answer "Works for me" immediately?

Would it discourage others from posting answers, if they saw that a question had an answer with a "works for me" indication applied immediately? (More so than just seeing an immediate, comprehensiv...

3 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

81%
+7 −0
Should asking about book recommendations directly connected to software development be on-topic?

Context We have recently received a suggestion to allow questions about recommending books directly connected to software development. The way I see this now (pros and cons) Pros: allow more ...

7 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by Alexei‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭

80%
+6 −0
How should I organize material about text encoding in Python into questions?

I want to write one or more self-answered Q&As on the topic of text encoding in Python, to serve as canonicals and preempt future lower-quality questions. I can think of the following things th...

3 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭

75%
+4 −0
Tag creation/deletion criteria for Software Development?

Ok so we have fairly lax tagging rules here, as do most Codidact sites. Recently the Electrical Engineering community has started a clean-up of strange and off-topic tags. I wrote this over there: ...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Lundin‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Alexei‭

76%
+11 −2
Do we want a wiki (or similar) alongside Q&A?

In addition to Q&A, Codidact supports another post type, article. Articles can be used for blog posts, wiki pages, and other resources. Articles, like questions, use tags, so searching for a ...

5 answers  ·  posted 4y ago by Monica Cellio‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

77%
+15 −3
Questions easily answered by studying a beginner-level book

This scenario is not yet a problem for this site, but we will get there, since it's a huge problem for Stack Overflow: Someone just picks up a well-known programming language for the first time. T...

6 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by Lundin‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Karl Knechtel‭

75%
+10 −2
Should we disallow ChatGPT-User crawler (and others) from scraping Software Codidact?

Stack Overflow has recently announced OverflowAI and I think this video summarises pretty well this. The main drawback is that the users are less incentivized to put effort into answering questions...

2 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Alexei‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by mr Tsjolder‭

75%
+4 −0
How can Q&A sites coexist with LLMs?

New LLMs like ChatGPT are now creating competition with Q&A sites like Codidact and StackOverflow. Moreover, this is parasitic: LLMs get "boosted" by Q&A sites because they can use them for...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

88%
+13 −0
To transfer, or not to, that is the question: whether 'tis nobler to let it stay or to take arms against Stack Overflow's dominance of FAQ canonicals

Some of you may know me from Stack Overflow or the broader network. In light of recent actions by the company, I finally decided to move over to Codidact. I am a subject matter expert on Google App...

5 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Oleg Valter‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Lundin‭

75%
+4 −0
Are AI prompt engineering questions on topic?

Recently, AI models like ChatGPT have shown themselves capable of generating content and even source code. Just like with human helpers, clear and precise communication is key (especially when aski...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by manassehkatz‭

75%
+4 −0
Self answered questions about an unclear quickstart

I had problems following the directions of a Google Apps Script API quickstart. I think that the quickstart instructions and code is incomplete. After a while, I finally realized that there was mis...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Alexei‭

75%
+4 −0
Best practices for posting tabular data

I am trying to find how tabular data is presented in Software Development. So far, I have found one question, How to pivot text?. The question presents tabular data using code blocks, dash to indic...

3 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Wicket‭

77%
+5 −0
Should I delete my trivial, lack-of-research question?

I asked this trivial question recently: DocuSign eSignature API SDK: java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError errors. It turns out, my problem was because I did not do enough research before asking a quest...

3 answers  ·  posted 1y ago by Vanity Slug ❤️‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Wicket‭

71%
+3 −0
Spreadsheets apps as end user development tool / spreadsheet formulas as a form of funtional programming

I have found Can we migrate office suite related questions to the Power Users community?, apparently, with a score of +7, 3 answers, but it looks like no decision have made so far. Despite not hav...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by LAFK‭

60%
+1 −0
Merge spreadsheet formula tags into single tag

Codidact's Software Development has multiple tags for spreadsheet formulas: excel-formula libreoffice-calc-formula openoffice-calc-formula sheets-formula It has formula with the tag usage ...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  edited 1y ago by Wicket‭

75%
+4 −0
Merge [functions] with [function]

As I mentioned in a previous post, I'm new here and looking around. I suggest to "merge" functions with function. I don't know how exactly this should be done here. I think the word's singular for...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  edited 1y ago by ArtOfCode‭

71%
+3 −0
Why `excel` is set as a child tag of `openoffice-calc`?

I joined Codidact a few days ago. I have looked around to learn the platform features and how things are handled in some communities. I just found that excel is a child tag of openoffice-calc. I ...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by Wicket‭  ·  edited 1y ago by ArtOfCode‭

75%
+4 −0
How are software recommendations handled?

How are software recommendations handled on https://software.codidact.com/ ? https://outdoors.codidact.com/ has a "gear recommendations" section, so it seems like Codidact is open to the idea. I s...

1 answer  ·  posted 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by Lundin‭

86%
+11 −0
Are code troubleshooting posts allowed?

I assume "help my code isn't working"/troubleshooting posts - which make up much of SO questions - are allowed. However from reading the FAQ, it's not obvious to me that they are. The "on topic" bu...

4 answers  ·  posted 3y ago by 404‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭

80%
+6 −0
Should I post a link to the Github repo for code reviews?

Hello. Total noob here and noob to this site. I've written a non-trivial program in Python. Code review didn't take the whole thing (400+ lines of code). Should I post a link to my Github repo ...

3 answers  ·  posted 2y ago by joe‭  ·  last activity 1y ago by matthewsnyder‭