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The title captures the question pretty well. Since public beta is almost upon us, I think it's useful to take a step back and reflect a bit on code review's construction so far.

Is it going in a direction where you see the site becoming a tool you'll use on a regular basis? Are there any knits or issues that were discussed but was non-conclusive?

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    \$\begingroup\$ I think the problem with the unanswered questions is that noone likes doing boring reviews. People want to be asked problems they can find solutions for. Not just check code for common errors to make. \$\endgroup\$
    – Johannes Schaub - litb
    Jan 28, 2011 at 1:46

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I've been finding it hard to find code that I can actually review. I have no C# or web experience really, so I'm hoping when it goes into the public beta I'll have more code that is in C or C++ that I can help give some feedback on.

I think the number of unanswered questions is probably due to a mismatch of expertise, and going public may help with that.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think so too, I've got a lot of expertise in JavaScript but I wouldn't consider my self an "expert" in any other language, maybe an intermediate user of Python. And it doesn't make sense to answer question where you don't have the necessary knowledge about the language / topic. I've seen that on my first question got a quick and bad answer :/ \$\endgroup\$
    – Ivo Wetzel
    Jan 26, 2011 at 20:33
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    \$\begingroup\$ Bad answers are part of the game, that's why we have votes, flagging and comments. Sometimes an awful answer is needed to extract so-so answers from reluctant users (a net gain) and might even induce someone writing a great answer ;) \$\endgroup\$
    – TryPyPy
    Jan 26, 2011 at 20:47
  • \$\begingroup\$ I have the same sentiment as @mark, as I also work with C/C++. However I did manage to answer questions on code using a different language in some cases. \$\endgroup\$
    – greatwolf
    Jan 26, 2011 at 21:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Victor, as did I, but I really can't help people with domain specific problems (which some of the questions have been). We'll see how it goes with the public beta. I'm active on the site during work hours (UTC-5), and look forward to doing some reviews for people and watching the site grow. \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Loeser
    Jan 26, 2011 at 21:42
  • \$\begingroup\$ @TryPyPy That's true. Although in my particular case the answer was pretty much a way of making the code 100x worse :D \$\endgroup\$
    – Ivo Wetzel
    Jan 26, 2011 at 21:43
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    \$\begingroup\$ I think a mismatch could be the problem, and perhaps not quite enough people. I've been actively looking for questions to answer, and chunks of code that I can post, but haven't found that much. More people should lead to more questions, so I should be able to post some constructive answers. \$\endgroup\$
    – winwaed
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:52
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I'm a little concerned by the number of unanswered questions - currently 12 out of 66, or 18%.

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Dammit ! :P

10 minutes to late for i could have posted this: Should be focus on solving OPs problem or more general analysis here. Maybe it's better that way.

Anyways: To answer your Question

I've run into the problem that i didn't find enough code to share but i know that i wanted to in the past and there will be new question/code for me to post here.

Also i feel challenged to explain my views once again!

I got a pretty strong opinions on what i consider "good / clean code" and most of the coders i work with share that view. Now there are people not getting me or thinking totally different! I LOVE IT !

I've gone through great amounts of pain (omg you can't do it like this.. why.. noooo) but beeing "forced" to provide a constructive answer is an amazing exercise for me.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ lol :P \$\endgroup\$
    – greatwolf
    Jan 25, 2011 at 22:52
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    \$\begingroup\$ "I've run into the problem that i didn't find enough code to share" sums up my experience. We'll depend a lot on user numbers, as throwing a random question is much easier than writing random meaningful working code. \$\endgroup\$
    – TryPyPy
    Jan 25, 2011 at 23:00
  • \$\begingroup\$ +1 for 'Now there are people not getting me or thinking totally different!' And they are willing to (constructively) debate about it! doesn't get much better than that... \$\endgroup\$
    – Michael K
    Jan 26, 2011 at 14:46
  • \$\begingroup\$ Another "me too" with the code to share. I nearly had some this afternoon - an SQL statement was taking too long to run. "I'll just try this one last thing, then I'll post it". Of course that "one last thing" fixed it! (I was missing an index I thought I had) \$\endgroup\$
    – winwaed
    Jan 27, 2011 at 3:51
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I don't see how you can make a code reviewing site with a question->answer sort of template. Code reviewing is about the totality of the discussion, and not about someone providing a correct answer.

Also how do you think employees will react after being fired for wanting to review some code that is actually property of their employers?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I was wondering about this too - it seems like a low accept rate is going to be an inevitable side-effect of this subject on a SE-type site (as much as I like the idea of it). \$\endgroup\$
    – Nick Knowlson
    Jan 27, 2011 at 18:08
  • \$\begingroup\$ Not a new problem though. This was discussed already: meta.codereview.stackexchange.com/questions/54/… \$\endgroup\$
    – Mark Loeser
    Jan 27, 2011 at 22:12
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    \$\begingroup\$ "how do you think employees will react after being fired for wanting to review some code that is actually property of their employers?". If it's proprietary, the user should already know not to post it on a public website. They will have to resort to consulting their own coworkers for advice. \$\endgroup\$
    – bob-the-destroyer
    Jan 30, 2011 at 1:48
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My impression is:

A lot of questions on codereview are actually questions for stackoverflow.

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I am pretty new to SO, and this is my first visit to Code Review. But I CAN tell you I was excited to see it. As a self-taught "enthusiast" I can say it will be nice to post some things and get feedback. I have no other outlet, and the guidelines for posts on SO are pretty clear about posting things like "What do you think of my Code?". SO for me, the ability to get some constructive feedback will really be a benefit.

The probelms I see (and others have somewhat pointed out) are:

  1. That there will be many posts which should be on SO; namely, coding QUESTIONS instead of "Here's my code, please review my work". However, isn't there always a little cross - pollination, which is usually solved by a moderator moving the post to the appropriate place?

  2. If this follows the pattern of some other forum-type sites I've seen the traffic here may not be as heavy as some of the Q & A Areas. However, I am betting for thiose who ARE on here for the stated purpose, it will be an invaluable resource.

  3. Several commenters have noted that they are only "expert" in one language or another. While I am emphatically NOT an expert in the acedemic sense, I can say that certain aspects of good programming may transcend specific languages. Not always. But it can be rewarding for the reviewer to observe someone's otherwise well-thought out code, and spot a flaw that only someone with a different perspective on the problem might catch. Since multiple reviewers can comment, the worst that can happen is a Java expert makes an observation about another person's PHP code, and catches a problematic inheritance hierarchy that no one else did (as an example).

I am excited to see what comes of this site. THanks to those who are making it happen!

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I've been trying to toss in bits that I really don't require review on just to create discussion. So far it hasn't worked though.

I'm generally disappointed at this time.

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