My Stack Has Overflowed - Fri, 7 Nov 2008

There’s a great new site where programmers go to ask programming questions and get answers called Stackoverflow. It is beautifully set up and has become extremely popular. I signed up 16 days ago and quickly became infatuated with it.

I asked a couple of specific Delphi related questions. To my surprise, several people viewed the questions in the first minute. I had one answer within 5 minutes and several answers within a few hours. How can that happen so quickly? I took a look and there are already over 29,000 registered users, and it’s only been live since August and out of limited testing since October. As I write, ther are 41,477 questions asked, most with many answers and comments.

I went in and answered a few questions as well. You can’t help it once you’re there and you see a question that interests you.

But it’s even more than that. Each question and answer can be rated with an up or down vote. You get reputation points based on the votes. You also get badges based on different actions you do or levels you reach. Check out my profile there to see the types of questions and answers I’ve been having fun with.

It becomes almost a game, and it’s addictable. Last night I spent 4 hours wandering through all the questions, learning lots and having fun. It’s nice to have a useful tool that I can enjoy.

But after only 16 days, I realize it’s time to become a charter member of Stackoverflow Anonymous and limit my time there, or I’ll never get out alive.

If you’re a programmer and have never been there, try it. You’ll be glad you did.