Code typed in from a non-text source or converted from another language and isn't working - is this in the scope here?

Question

I recently typed in code from a scan in a PDF is pseudocode or in another language to make a JavaScript version.

The code was implementing things of a mathematical nature beyond my math abilities despite my decades of programming experience (Bresenham plotting a general i.e. rotated ellipse). As it was a scan within a PDF I couldn't simply cut and paste it without OCR errors. It turned out that about one quarter of the code worked perfectly and the other three quarters had bugs.

I went through character by character to make sure I typed what was really in the PDF. But even as a former professional proofreader in the printing industry I know how easy it is to not be able to spot mistakes. And since the math the code implements is beyond me it's hard to find the mistakes on logical grounds as well. It is of course also possible that I did type in the text verbatim but that it was published in the PDF with errors.

My question is, would it be within the scope of this site to post the links to the PDF and my version of the code and ask the site's users to help find either my transcription errors or the coding or transcription errors that made it into the PDF?

Answer 1

I'm afraid this question does not match what this site is about. Code Review is about improving existing, working code. Code Review is not the site to ask for help in fixing or changing what your code does. Once the code does what you want, we would love to help you do the same thing in a cleaner way! Please see our help center for more information.

This is a very common comment that members of this site post on questions.

As it says, if the code does not do what you want it to do and you are asking about how to fix that, then it is off-topic. No matter if the code has been translated from another language / pseudo-code or not.

Answer 2

Code Review can only review your own code. If this is not code that you wrote or maintain yourself (i.e., you understand how it works), then the question is also off-topic for that reason.