When I see a thread in C++, and the last poster is "Ancient Dragon" or "Narue", I just don't bother even opening the thread. It would be like Han Solo explaining The Force to someone who just got off the phone with Yoda... amirite?

Recommended Answers

All 10 Replies

Nope. Chances are that I learn something from Narue if the topic is on algorithms and from AD if the topic is Win32. So I open these thread more often than thread named "I need x in Turbo C++ asaP!" with last poster "newbie_no_clue_@_all".

And besides: nobody is perfect, so you might actually have something to add or correct.

>When I see a thread in C++, and the last poster is "Ancient Dragon"
>or "Narue", I just don't bother even opening the thread.

Sounds like a poor strategy if your goal is self-improvement. I try to read all threads that seem remotely interesting ("Gimme teh codez!" are not, by the way) on the off chance that I'll learn something new, regardless of who the poster is. Though I do tend to focus my attention more on posts from people whom I respect.

>And besides: nobody is perfect, so you might actually have something to add or correct.
That reminds me of The Game™ some of us play. Correcting technical errors is the goal, with more points being awarded as difficulty increases. Difficulty comes in the form of how complex the topic is (ie. how easy it is to make a mistake in the correction), as well as how often the one being corrected makes mistakes.

The benefit of the game is twofold:

  1. Overall quality increases for each thread because there are many eyes looking to nitpick.
  2. Those who play are in a constant struggle to improve (and thus avoid being corrected).

For the record, I do actually look at your posts. I've actually been to your site quite a few times also. I would have loved to have a professor in college who was able to teach on the same level as you or AD.

>>Those who play are in a constant struggle to improve (and thus avoid being corrected).

I hate it when people correct me on a stupid mistake that I should've seen myself, so I guess I'm also playing The Game :)

Member Avatar for iamthwee

I guess i miss salem's posts in the 'c' lounge. Now that man was a great ambassador for the language. I used to like his socket contributions. Shame his ego keeps him on cprogramming and devshed. And not forgetting the late dave sinkula. I learnt all my c stuff from that guy's snippets.


I hate it when people correct me on a stupid mistake that I should've seen myself, so I guess I'm also playing The Game :)

Paraphrasing Jonathan Swift, I think: "One should never be ashamed to be found in an error, for that only means that you know more today than you did yesterday".
Making stupid mistakes in public is a great way to add to your collection of mistakes you'll never make again... although it might take a few exposures for that "never" part to really kick in...

When I see a thread in C++, and the last poster is "Ancient Dragon" or "Narue", I just don't bother even opening the thread. It would be like Han Solo explaining The Force to someone who just got off the phone with Yoda... amirite?

If Han Solo has been hanging around and learning some things, he might do a better job of explaining the basics than Yoda did. After all, pretty smart Yoda might be, but communication his long suit is not. Han Solo, on the other hand, had no trouble explaining the things he did know.

Sometimes it's helpful to get instruction from someone who was confused about a particular point recently. I think that AD and Narue lack that particular advantage on many topics in C++. :)

Apart from those already mentioned, I miss a few other posters from the C/C++ forums:

Come to think of it, the Java forum is in serious need of some awesome programmers like the ones mentioned in this thread. :-)

vijayan posted in the C++ forum yesterday?

Strange, I thought he left due to the issues he was having with posting to Daniweb...

EDIT: Aha, found the post in which he mentions the same.

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.