Google is making us stupid
More often than not, when confronted with a problem, software developers rush to www.google.com, and start searching for samples and ready-to-use pieces of code. The actual documentation of the language / framework / tool / whatever is often left untouched. Google’s highly efficient search engine is really good in finding the best answer, much more relevant than the results of the built-in searching facilities of the documentation in question. Plus, it reveals others’ experience.
As good as it gets, using Google too much has a dark side. Developers often come to the point when they implement solutions with technologies they do not understand. They are not troubled by the fact that they use code, written by someone else, and which they don’t understand. If they run into a trouble with the sample solution they found, they will go to various forums to find a fix. An old joke about how to write an algorithm to find a lion in the desert and lock it in a cage had it for Delphi that Delphi developers would go to all known forums and post “Does anyone have a component which finds a lion in the desert and locks it in a cage?”. Well, I am sorry to inform you, smart Delph-haters out there, that is no longer a Delphi-thing only. You all fell into the trap.
To be honest, that particular approach works quite often, and it works well. Why am I making fuss about it, then? Development goes with good speed, results are often nice. Until the moment when Google doesn’t give an answer. Or, to be presice, its answer is incomprehensible, because the developer has no understanding of the technologies involves whatsoever.
The ease with which solutions are found in Google takes away the incentive to get into real understanding of how things actually work. As a result, junior developers stay junior, and never learn basics which will take them to a higher level of skills.
That is the reason why I am no longer eager to give code samples. People would never read them, just copy & paste it and even ask specific questions how to integrate them into their own code. I prefer explaining things, and give out only snippets of important code. Who claims to be a developer should be capable of figuring the rest by oneself.