Re: bind_param (the endless saga of an attempt to use a list val in an SQL statement!

[Jonathan Leffler]

Jared Still wrote:

Based on the following paragraph, you obviously don't understand
what is needed when asking people to help you with a script problem.

Moreover, I have also noticed on many occasions where the end user would
post a question or concern about some segment of their script and would
post the entire script, they were chastised for including the entire
script, rather than only the offending snippet.  Yet, when the end user
includes a small snippet, and attempts to remove those instructions that
clearly do not effect the issue at hand, they are chastised for that as
well.

Posting the entire script is often useless, due to the fact that there
is too much extraneous material there for anyone to easily help you
with the problem.
No doubt most everyone on this list *could* do it, but why should we?

It takes too much time.
Offering just a snippet of the code is often just as useless, there's
no context, not enough of the script is available to determine what
has happened up to that point.

It falls upon the poster ( that would be you ) to create a concise script that demonstrates the problem you are having, without
all of the clutter that is ineherently included when trying to solve
a business problem.

Doing so, it is often revealed what the problem really is, and you won't even need to ask for help.
Cutting and pasting 100 lines of code into an email is a signal to me that the poster has not done any or enough homework.

Personally, why I see a lengthy script in a plea for help, I just move on
to the next message. It's terribly naive of someone to expect volunteers
to sort out their entire programming effort.

Kudos to those on the list that do respond, I guess I don't have the patience to do 90% of someone else's work for them.

Hear, hear. Your observations are directly to the point. And Tim gave a relevant URL recently, too:

http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html

I last looked at it a year or so ago -- it's improved since then and is worth a revisit.




--
Jonathan Leffler ([EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]) #include <disclaimer.h>
Guardian of DBD::Informix 1.00.PC2 -- http://dbi.perl.org/