I Want To Have Been Able To Get It On My Own

Originally published on: 1/6/2007 6:50:09 AM

On a technical mailing list I'm on, I just saw someone ask how to do something and get a response that was brilliant, clear and to the point. The original questioner asked where that feature was documented and received an answer that irritates me every time I hear it: "Oh, that's not documented anywhere."

I love figuring stuff out. The challenge of the puzzle is one of the main reasons I love programming. In that pursuit, I expect to have to ask for help, go searching at the great oracle and otherwise do the legwork. When I end up having to ask someone for help, I prefer to have been able to have gotten it on my own if I'd spent enough time. When it turns out that the only solution to the problem was locked inside the head of a specific person, I'm always irritated and feel helpless.

When I do go for help, it's always just to get over the exact speedbump in my way. I'm always looking for just the pointer in the right direction. I'm willing to do the work because it's more satisfying to do it yourself.

Here's a non-programming example of the concept. One of the reasons that The Sixth Sense works as a movie is that, while the plot twist is a surprise, when you go back, you realize that you could have figured it out on your own. That's the exact reason that Mission Impossible fails in my book. The plot twist could never have just been figured out.

Comments

Tim
commented on 1/6/2007 you hit it on the head there. sometimes I hear an explanation that is stored in someone's head (this happens much more within a workplace) and I try to calculate how many years I might have pounded away at a problem before arriving at that answer. It works out to pure randomness.

also, you are excactly right about mission impossible - what is the point of a complex plot if you can't watch the details of its gestation? I have the same complaint about Inside Man, even though I liked that movie.

J Wynia
commented on 1/7/2007 Yeah. Oceans 11 and 12 are in the same category. I liked them, but I'm pretty sure it was in spite of what they did in this regard instead of because of it. The endings pissed me off, but I liked the overall movies anyway.