Problem Solving: Getting Unstuck with Google
Since I started programming, I have really relied pretty heavily on Google for solving programming and web developing problems. I usually just copy and paste whatever error I’m getting right into Google.
9 out of 10 times, I’ll find the solution to my problem pretty fast.
Earlier this week, I installed Fedora Core 5 on my old Blue and White Apple G3. I probably did over 100 searches on Google during the process. One of which was “yaboot unknown or corrupt filesystem“. That was a pretty bad one. I worked through it with the help of Google though.
TIPS
If you are searching for something and not getting a lot of results, then shorten your search.
If the results aren’t specific enough, put your error message in quotes.
If your error message contains a specific directory on your computer, you probably don’t want to include it in your search. Instead, use an asterisk (*).
For example: Instead of “cannot open /etc/fstab permission denied”
Try “cannot open * permission denied”
Sometimes it takes some hard core digging to find answers, but it is really rare that I can’t find what I’m looking for. One of those rare times has been when I was trying to search for a string (or phrase) that contained special characters. ( Things like ‘$#”<>). Well, Google hasn’t released my dream of a search engine that allows those characters to be searched for on the entire web yet, but they are getting closer with the new Google Code Search, which can search for public source code. This can save lots of time when working on web apps. (more on the Google blog)
If you’ve searched and still can’t find your answers, then you should probably find a good online community or forum. Members of these communities are usually happy to help beginners solve problems. There are tons of good communities online. Just search for whatever topic you need help with. “HTML Forums”, “PHP Forums”, “CSS Forums”, or “****** Forums” (fill in the blank). Personally, I like the SEOrefugee forums. Though it’s technically a SEO forum, there are people there who are knowledgeable in lots of areas.