13
votes
Interview questions
I suggest to disregard the fact that they are interview questions, and evaluate them on their other merits.
Some interview questions are open-ended, and meant to trigger discussion.
The interviewer ...
- 14.6k
8
votes
Accepted
Is asking hints for Project Euler questions discouraged?
Asking for help with Project Euler is discouraged by project Euler. However their policies are irrelevant here.
Just because a task appears on Project Euler doesn't mean that they have a monopoly on ...
8
votes
Should Computer Science Meta start doing weekly AMA's?
The original proposal seemed to be to hold the AMA itself on meta, which isn't what meta is for. If there is an AMA, it should be on chat.
I also note that the AMA on Physics seems to have run ...
- 82.1k
7
votes
How to ask questions when you cannot be as clear as the responders would like?
Thanks for coming here to raise the issue, share your perspective, and ask how to improve your question. I'll share my personal perspective (with the understanding that others might not agree with it)...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
6
votes
Is a question regarding potential system design on-topic?
It's hard to tell exactly what you want to ask, so I'll give some guidelines.
You need to ask a specific, focused question. "Here's my design, do you have any feedback?" probably isn't a great fit ...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
5
votes
Towards a policy for questions about contest problems
This post describes the policy that the moderation team currently applies.
Policy
If a question is clearly and specifically about an active1 contest problem and would otherwise be a fine question2, ...
- 8,323
5
votes
Should Computer Science Meta start doing weekly AMA's?
Interesting proposal, but I don't think an AMA is the best format for this site. The 'M' part is the part that I think doesn't really fit, why should the focus be on only one person? Couldn't other ...
- 8,323
5
votes
Are general questions about a research field off topic?
That's probably too broad to be a good fit. It doesn't sound like the sort of thing that can be answered in a few paragraphs. At the level you're talking about, a field might have hundreds or ...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
4
votes
Accepted
Opinion Based Community Polls/Discussions
As the help center clearly states: No, opinion polls and discussions are not okay. Here.
Discussing opinions based on facts is a good thing, but this platform sucks for it. It's better for both the ...
- 72.8k
4
votes
Is asking for implementation (any language) or detailed documentation/paper to implement an algorithm off-topic?
Let's break it down:
Asking for an open-source implementation is off-topic. Asking for an open-source implementation to do X is equivalent to asking for a software package to do X. They're both off-...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
4
votes
Asking for the best ways to solve a computational problem
Don't ask for what's considered to be best. What's "considered" is a matter of an opinion. Questions that call for opinion usually aren't a good fit here.
Don't ask for the best approach. What's ...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
4
votes
Accepted
What happens to questions to which the answers are outdated?
Please don't ask the question again. If you find an old question that is unanswered but you're still interested in, you can provide a bounty. This will bring it back to the front page and bring it ...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
3
votes
Accepted
Are general questions about a research field off topic?
Offtopic -- no, certainly not!
But too broad and opinion-based, as D.W. notes. You are asking for surveys of a field, not a question that can be answered.
You should search for surveys, and (failing ...
- 72.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Is this site the most appropriate to ask questions about distributed algorithms?
Algorithms are generally on-topic; implementing them is a gray area since programming questions are offtopic.
This question would certainly be welcome on our site.
Note that we have a tag [...
- 72.8k
2
votes
Asking for the best ways to solve a computational problem
Such a question would be
too broad and/or
opinion-based,
depending on how well you can define "best". In either case, it'd also be a list question.
What you want is a literature survey. Stack ...
- 72.8k
2
votes
Where do questions about character standardisation belong?
You seem to have a question about typographic history, which is certainly offtopic here (as it's not even remotely about computer science).
I am not aware of any site that deals with this. People in ...
- 72.8k
2
votes
Is asking for implementation (any language) or detailed documentation/paper to implement an algorithm off-topic?
Borderline. While it is a computer science reference-request on first sight, it may not be answerable as such.
In my experience, there will often not be such papers, so the question is probably "...
- 72.8k
2
votes
Accepted
Duplicate of a question without answer
Oops. Sorry about that. I don't think you missed anything. You're right -- I don't believe you can mark it as a duplicate of a question with no answers. I think flagging was the right thing to do -...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
1
vote
Accepted
What to do about question posts requesting answers to multiple questions?
Vote to close the question as 'needs more focus', or flag the question for closure as 'needs improvement' >> 'needs more focus'. The help text with that closure reason says:
The question must ...
D.W.Mod
- 164k
1
vote
Accepted
Is CS.SE broken?
LGTM:
Has the problem has been fixed for you as well? There may have been a localized hickup in a CDN, too, in which case you may be having issues impossible to reproduce elsewhere.
- 72.8k
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible