I want to learn one functional programming language. I would like to know pros/cons of various  candidates based on some assumptions (to be specified in question).  Now as it is Opinion based,  is definitely not a place.   could be one place, but  suggest other wise.  Is there any suitable SE forum where opinion based questions are allowed?
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I understand and agree that opinion based questions are a bad thing on Stack Overflow, but shouldn't we have a place to ask this kind of question? There are so many times where I look at different frameworks and have to make decisions that will affect the next 3 years of my life without actually having all the pros and cons of both sides.  So my question is: Is there a place to ask these questions?  And if the answer is no, could that be a new Stack Exchange sub-website?
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I frequently come across a really useful answer on StackOverflow which has been closed because it doesn't match the Q&amp;A format.  Examples include  ,  ,   ,  and there are others.  Where should this information be exchanged if it's not on stackoverflow?  It seems the moderators are often somewhat overzealous...  ---edit  When I say best, I mean they are informative and useful for someone who's looking for an answer to them.  Even if they do become a bit of a discussion, I value other people's opinions on the relative merits of the different JPA frameworks.  I come here looking to choose one and the answer helps me.  So what if it's not a definitive answer?  ---edit  I don't care how popular a question is, nor how interesting it is.  Users are interested in stuff that's useful to them.  Plenty of those were useful (as judged by the upvotes on the answers: 'This answer is useful'), but closed because they didn't have a definitive answer, as far as I can tell.  ---edit  Seems I'm not the first person to think this: there are various similar questions to mine like this one:   In it the user lists lots of other useful questions which have been closed:                    So isn't there a place on stackoverflow for these questions?  A discussion section, maybe?
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There is . Is the site appropriate for stuff related to requesting frameworks and libraries? Or should we have another site for that (e.g. name it Frameworks Recommendations or stuff alike)?  I can ask stuff there like: I need a software satisfying W, X, Y, and Z, but I'd like -some day- ask like: I need a Python library satisfying W, X, Y, and Z. The audience may be (and perhaps will be) different.    Is that website on-topic for stuff like that? Or should we open another proposal for that?  No: It's not about asking for a giga-dump for subjectivish questions. The linked-to-dupe question was written and answered with an old mindset and without Software Recommendations in mind. Also it does not consider this specific kind of questions but all the crap in one place. So, no,  is not an appropriate dupe mark for this question.
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I have a pretty active discussion on SO right now, about giving an answer, that could potentially harm the questioner. The question is  and discussion is in comments to .   In short, the OP asks for a way to implement a really dangerous thing. I've provided an answer to the question with a lot of warnings, while  told me that this is a very bad idea, and it is better to use prepared statements, and so on. He is absolutely right; I'm among those who upvoted his answer, but the question remains.   So, I would like to hear community's opinion on that topic. Should we protect others from shooting in their legs, or let them have responsibility to do it, if they want?  Update: One of my university teachers created  site (long ago). The idea of that site is to allow people training their SQL skills. I won't tell much about the site, you can register and check it out yourself (it is available in english), but the whole idea is just the same: execute SQL provided by the user. Of course it is fltered, checked that it is safe, placed in a sandbox, etc. But the concept is just the same. It's rather popular resource, it is on third place in  and have large and growing community. I hope this update will stimulate further discussion.
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I use StackOverflow as a core learning tool and questions posted by others(as well as comments) have much-sought information and nuances.Also,the questions posted by me are likely to increase in numbers with time.I already have nearly a hundred favorite questions despite all attempts to be highly selective in favoriting questions.Taking out hard-prints or pdf prints makes categorizing and searching much more tiresome. I just don't know how to categorize my favorite questions based on aspects of a language like functions,global variables,recursion,syntax and other categories. It is really going to be a headache as I find good questions to add to the list everyday.Due to time constraints I can't read and assimilate the answers rightaway and have to bookmark/favorite them for later reference. I am sure it's common problem and there must be a solution for this on StackOveflow.I tried looking for it and couldn't find.So please suggest me the best option available to users for this issue.
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I can't find any Stack Exchange site where to ask questions about open-source in general.  I need to write a paper that explains the historical developments of open-source in a professional and legal way. Therefore it would be interesting to find some publications about experiences companies have had with open-source. I've been to FOSDEM where some companies present a positive viewpoint about open-source. A paper however is only objective if it gives a balanced view about several opinions. Does anyone know any publications about this topic, or a Stack Exchange site where I can ask this question?  So to make a long story short: are there some pointers to publications with a negative view on Open-source?
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I would like to ask a question about Java that doesn't have a specific answer. It's a question to see what people think and to share their opinion.    Will Stack Overflow tolerate this, or is there another Stack Exchange resource where I may ask a question like this?
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Background  Okay, so I've figured out that obscure programming language are okay to ask about on Stack Overflow.  And, I know a bit about the language  used to code Medical Logic Modules (MLMs). But I am knowledgeable only within the context of Allscripts .  I don't need to ask questions for my own benefit, but would like to see MLM coding resources become more widely available on the internet and am considering doing some seed work by asking and answering some questions on Stack Overflow.  Questions   Is it okay to ask (and answer) questions about a programming language that may be specific in its flavor to a single manufacturer's product? I don't even know how much Arden is used in other products besides SCM, and in what ways it differs from other products. So my answers will likely step outside the bounds of plain Arden and be slanted toward SCM. Assuming yes, should I tag these questions with all of , , and ? The language is actually Arden Syntax, but MLM is often used as a synonym despite not being the name of the language (as in "write an MLM" or "MLM coder"), and SCM is a product name. But, I see parallels to for example  which is a particular manufacturer's product. Except, SCM itself isn't something that would necessarily bring to mind "ahhh, you're talking about Arden Syntax, of course!"   All in all aside from the tagging aspect I'm guessing I'm probably in the clear, but thought I'd go ahead and ask before I start creating questions and answers with new tags no one has ever heard of.  Update  See the new meta question, .
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Why is insulting other users and giving sarcastic comments such a huge part of the culture on SO? It's the complete opposite of projects like Wikipedia where everybody is exceedingly friendly and helpful.  For example: This response comes from a user with 13k reputation to a question about an interview problem:     There are a fair number of undergraduate CS students who can see this solution       immediately, and it seems they were looking for those students.      If you have any ambition as a C++ programmer, and aren't already intimately       familiar with the data structures and algorithms provided by the STL, you       should learn them now. It seems your competition already has.   This was in response to a genuinely extremely difficult interview problem that did not even ask for a solution using the STL. This seems to me like an unnecessarily unfriendly thing to say. This is just one example of what I think is a major trend.
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There are a quite a few language learning related sites on the Stack Exchange network. I may have missed a few, but here they are:                      It would be nice to have a single language related site and use tags when asking questions about a specific language. Stack Overflow already does something similar for programming languages.  Benefits   Automatic support for minority or endangered languages. There are thousands of languages that will never have enough support to create their own SE site. Yet many have a core group of learners and researchers that would benefit from being able to ask and answer questions just by adding a new tag.  Cross-language questions. Many languages are related to each other. A common site would make it easy to ask a question about something that covers two languages. Just add both language tags. Cut down on the proliferation of new SE sites. I don't know that having lots of sites is necessarily bad, but sometimes less is more. Better search engine results. I can't guarantee this one, but it seems likely. Stack Overflow is always near the top for programming language questions, but I rarely find SE language sites when I search for English or Chinese related questions.   I suppose that everyone is too entrenched in their own communities now to change, but I thought I would suggest it anyway.
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Take , and note the description:     Proposed Q&amp;A site for professional and expert amateur chefs interested in the more subjective aspects of cooking; this would be to Cooking SE as Programmers SE is to Stack Overflow    It seems like  is MASSIVELY popular (has more views per-day than any other proposal by a factor of almost 2). There's also a .  Should we allow this trend to continue, possible resulting in things like a subjective web applications proposal? It seems like almost ANY proposal's users could benefit from having a place to ask subjective questions, seeing how much the subjective programmers proposal took off, how many good questions are asked and closed as subjective, and how many successful blogs and discussion sites there are.  But it seems like having totally different sites for this is wrong, as they would share no more official connection between them than with a gaming and skateboarding proposal. If they could be linked somehow, at the least like Stack&nbsp;Overflow and Server&nbsp;Fault are linked as part of a trilogy, they could both be more prosperous.   Another idea would be having a subjective version of every site (subjective.blah.com, like every site has a meta.blah.com). This would be a great way to link the two, and the separation would still be there as it. Heck we could even do it with the existing trilogy sites, with a 'belongs on subjective' auto-move feature like 'belongs on meta'. It's obvious that people want to ask subjective questions. The issue at hand is how (or if) we choose to enable them to do that with the Stack&nbsp;Exchange model. This is a much more long term issue that will need heavy discussion before any consensus can be reached.  EDIT: I see this question proposed something like this for polls. What I am proposing is a separate dominion for all questions that are valid except for being subjective. Hence every site could have a normal section, a subjective section, and a chat section. This may seem complicated, but IMHO it's a great way to divide up a topic. There would be a place to answer questions, discuss topics, and just talk. As far as I can see this covers every area users would be concerned with, leading to a one-stop site that would provide good organization for all areas of a topic.  Thoughts? (sorry for the big wall of text ;)
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The downside... It seems like the type of question that would be a duplicate - but I don't see any, so I'll ask anyway. I'm finding it difficult to not visit Stack Overflow for any significant amount of time. I wake up in the morning, and check Stack Overflow at 5:30 am. I check it before I close my laptop to head off to work. I check it when I connect at the office. I check it throughout the day. How do I break the combination? The upside... I have explored more methods of accomplishing tasks than ever before after having registered here and viewing some questions. I've been introduced to many new tools, practices, and theories about development that I can honestly say make me more confident as a developer.
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Isn't StackExchange a network to build a knowledge base for Google? Or to help people?  Yes, it is. So why is there the Programming Puzzles &amp; Code Golf website? What problems are solved there? What questions are asked there?  None.  Therefore, I think Programming Puzzles &amp; Code Golf doesn't fit into the philosophy of StackExchange. It should or   get it's own domain be removed (though I wouldn't do that)   I would love to hear your thoughts on this!
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Has the Stack Overflow crew considered partnering with other existing, more traditional forums to support open ended discussion?  I understand Stack Overflow is strictly a Q&amp;A site. We all know the drill. We also all know that when a more 'discussion-y' question is asked it's either coerced into Community Wiki mode or out right closed by the moderators. And that's fair enough I suppose but sometimes a question is open ended or spawns many, many comments. With Stack Overflow's lack of threads it can be difficult to follow anything of length. So, on to the my feature request!  Partner with other forums such as Reddit (stackoverflow.reddit.com?) so if open discussion is wanted it can happen easily. And by easily I mean provide a link on each question page saying something like "Open an official discussion at $forum_name", or if the discussion was already opened then "Join the official discussion at $forum_name". And of course on the forum posts provide a link back to the SO question for reference. When clicking the outgoing link a bunch of heavy lifting is automatically taken care of such as signing into the forum (As who? Obviously that will have to be figured out) and filling in the various post fields with data from the question and submitting it.  As to which forums would be official partners I only came up with Slashdot and Reddit as possible candidates but I imagine that there should be a number to choose from depending on the topic of the question. Select the best forum for the topic.  The key part is to still let SO be really good at Q&amp;A and still let the various forums be really good at being forums while providing a little bit of official integration between the two. Additionally if the discussion devolves into nothing worth while then it's only related to SO and not actually a part of it. No harm, no foul.  So at the risk of making this sound too 'discussion-y', what do you people think? ;)  PS, And on second thought maybe this would be better implemented as a browser plugin or Greasemonkey script. :P  PPS, Or perhaps the focus should be a little narrower. One of the options for closing a question could be to migrate it to a forum area. That way the Q&amp;A isn't polluted with discussion questions and the actually discussion could be isolated to a discussion area.
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I have a question that I am quite sure does not belong to SO: it is a general, broad question about programming language implementation.  Also, I do not feel it belongs to CS, because it is not strictly computer science (it is more of an engineering question). To be honest, after reading  I was leaning towards CS, but then in the CS FAQ I read "(avoid questions where) there is no actual problem to be solved"  In general, I wonder where to go for questions that:   are not about theory (for those, I would go to cs.stackexchange) are not really practical programming problems (for those, I would go to SO) are not design questions (programmers)   The question I am referring to are something like "Are function calls always implemented using a stack?" "Under which conditions can I transform a function call into CPS, and how would I do that?" (general, not related to a particular piece of code).  Where do questions about programming "curiosities", where there is no actual problem to be solved belong? Or maybe they do not belong to stackexchange at all?
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Why do I get downvoted when I try to learn something about programming on Stack Overflow? Out of all the Stack Exchange sites, this one is the most unwelcoming to people trying to learn.  There was a post where a guy asked an innocent question and one of the comments was let the voting war start.  He just wanted to learn and people were downvoting his questions but others would upvote for being genuine. The downvotes make it feel like the community may not welcome beginner and novice programmers(?). Here are a few examples from me:   I did my research, provided the code, and made the plot.  I simply want to know why it isn't turning out correct.  Downvote. Edit: tom 10 responded and said it will be helpful to show the actual equation than just the code.  If that was the reason for the downvote, why not just say &quot;Hey, from the code we aren't sure what the true equation is&quot;?  Again I provided code and explained that the issue was due to  (e) not having enough in the array, but I wanted to figure out how to plot still.  Downvote.  I wanted to learn what the best method and format to save images is for publication quality. Downvote.  The environment feels so unwelcoming. I am sorry to state that again.
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I know this has been noted before, but it's amazing how often people ask questions about code that's not working without sharing the code. And when they share code, it's often insufficient (which makes sense, because often if you can't solve a problem, it's often because you're looking in the wrong place). I'd like to suggest that we work harder to steer people away from abstract theoretical programming questions to more pragmatic, concrete situations. Anyway, I'd like to propose:   Can we update  to more strongly encourage the use of including code samples? Right now it simply says "We feel the best Stack Overflow questions have a bit of source code in them". Maybe strengthen that by preceding that sentence with something like: "If you are having problems with your code, always provide source code samples." Or maybe even better "If you are having problems with your code, always provide comprehensive source code samples."  Can we update  to reflect this, too? Right now that page says nothing about source code samples.  In the spirit of the "who reads the FAQ", perhaps we should tweak the the actual  page, too. There is a box titled "How to Ask" - "Is your question about programming?" that says "Provide details. Share your research." Maybe tweak this to also say "Include source code."   I just don't get the mindset of "let's not help them up front, but just tell them when they get it wrong." Waste of the OP's time. Waste of ours. Seems like there's a strong mindset to defend the status quo, rather than seriously considering ways to improve it.