Tips, advises and suggestions on finding technical problems and solutions.
I send people to this on a regular basis: bynd.com/news-ideas/google-advanced-search-compre…
The art of Googling is a really dangerous one.
Start by understanding the problem, then read the official documentation of the tool / framework / APIs you are using (if present).
If none of the previous tips worked try Googling for your issue, you'll be redirected in 99.9% of the cases to StackOverflow and you'll probably start copy / pasting the most up-voted answer. Mind that random code could probably mess up your app.
TL;DR
Start googling if you really can't find the right path on your own.
Adrien N.
It is a master art indeed. - and probably the most useful when it comes to code: finding the information you need.
The way I see it, there's two kind of googling:
For both I tend to first write the silliest query, in my own words which most of the time makes me read 3 or 4 links giving me the real keywords to use after that.
For A), "X is not working" is a good start when I don't have the right vocabulary or a specific error message. "How to" is also a good companion. Also for bugs/problems I always make a stop by the issues of the Github, always someone having the same or related issue even if it's a closed issue.
For B) "X best practices" works well, same as "X explained" or "why use X over Y". For tools search gitlogs.com is a must-have!
In the end, my whole method revolves around finding the right keywords, opening a LOT of tabs, reading and sorting – and keeping them open for 2 weeks 🙄 – and loop.
PS: I have a Trello board where I keep my most interesting links with a contextualization: "Really good explanation of X" or "Library for Y. Seems interesting but only 0.0.4 (2017/03/01)." or "X vs Y vs Z. Comments where really helpful."