An example of a “smart” question I found on Stack Overflow yielded a highly detailed quality answer, it was almost like a Power Point presentation. The question subject line read “Why is it faster to process a sorted array than an unsorted array?”. The user presented details about the question, displayed his code and output test results, and also asks the question in a way that can only make you curious (makes you want to look over the problem). In turn, a user with a high rating came forth with a solution to the question and presented so well that he/she basically broke it down for all programmers to understand. The solution was complete with pictures, detailed explanations, and many resources to look at. A very good example of the smart question smart answer relationship.
An example of a “not smart” question on Stack Overflow read in its subject line “create text box in javascript”. His question is poorly formatted, has grammatical and spelling errors, and does not include any type of code to prove that he/she has tried the problem prior. The user also mentions that this test is just a program that needs to display hello + name for his job. This question could have been easily answered if he/she just googled “Javascript tutorial”. There are only a couple of answers and the first one reads “(suppressing snarky comment)”, therefore displaying the opposite side of the spectrum, the not smart question and not smart answer relationship.
Therefore, more of the people reading these questions and answers will also absorb the knowledge being presented, raising the bar of competence all around. Also, do not forget, a single smart question can spawn a whole collection of smart answers, which would then lead to smarter questions, which turns into innovation! This spark of innovation is what inspires greatness in our world. Like-minded individuals that feed off of each other’s competitiveness and question what is possible. That is how progression is made in any form of education or technology, the act of asking questions and seeking answers through experimentation. I have learned that because we are living in the age of the internet, your own knowledge is only limited to what you allow yourself to learn. It is not what you know, it is more important to know which questions can you ask to get the answers that you need? Asking smart questions in search engines is also a skill that can be compared to open software “not smart” and “smart” questions. When you use a search engine like google, smarter searches equal better search results. As mentioned in the essay about smart questions by Eric Steven Raymond people that ask “not smart” questions probably did not exhaust their resources by searching the web efficiently (i.e. searching the error message given, using the correct terminology). Another important aspect of asking a smart question is proper etiquette and stating what you have already tried, therefore informing others that you have put forth an honest effort into your problem before asking the online community. So before you ask anybody, ask yourself first, “how smart is my question?”