Edits change the main topic of my question. Have I done things wrong?

Question

Recently, I posted the following question on Code Review: Convert ES6 yield recursive method to a loop

At the beginning I post a question with actual code, asking if there is a way to write the same thing in a non-recursive way.

I made the error to simplify the code, as in my mind it became easier to understand and rewrite when it's not recursive. And so my question was flagged as pseudocode. I assume this is my fault, and have reverted my changes for now. I don't understand why this rule applies, and why you need all inconsistent parts of my code, but rules are rules so let's say ok. I should not have done this.

After this, my question received negatives votes, and I don't know why. Because when people ask me to clarify something, I did.

And the last edit changed the main purpose of my question. It says "anything that improves performance will be helpful". But that wasn't what I wanted originally. And the post title was changes to "Generate a set of combinations".

I may have explained something wrong; and maybe understood something wrong in the rules. I posted this question here and not on StackOverflow for example, because my code is running well.

So I let the question edited for now. But I want to discuss these changes. Why were these changes made? Was I difficult to understand? Should I have posted this question on StackOverflow or another community site, and so what have I not understood?

What should I do to avoid reproducing the same errors?

I assure that I do my best. I try to be as clear as possible and I try to do things following the help.

Answer 1

I downvoted as you limited answers to only ways to increase performance by not using recursion. I posted a comment to this effect, however you didn't answer my question, or change your question to remove my concern.

Do you want a review of any and all of your code, or do you want us to only say if there's a way to change from a generator to a loop?

Since code reviews should be able to point out any and all problems with your code, and you dis-allowed some points, I downvoted.

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I'd also encourage you to think about what you really want.

• Do you want to stop using generators and recursion? Or,
• Do you want more performance?

From the sounds of it you want the latter, but you are asking the former. A classic XY problem.

And so all you need to do is ask what I think you really want. Which would make your question definitely on-topic, and would remove my downvote.

Answer 2

And the last edit change the main purpose of my question. It became asking for "anything that improves performance will be helpful". But that wasn't what I want originally; and the post title was changes to "Generate a set of combinations".

That last edit made your question on-topic.

Code Review is:

I've written this piece of code, it does XYZ, I have the concerns 1-2-3 with it presumably because ABC, here it is in its full glory, can you help me improve 1-2-3 or change ABC? Any other feedback is welcome.

Compare to:

I've written this piece of code, it does XYZ, I have concerns 1-2-3 with it presumably because ABC, here's an example snippet that shows what I mean, can you help me change ABC to DEF?

Per the help center, in order for a question to be on-topic, you need it to include your real, actual, working code, with as much context as possible; you must also be interested in feedback on any & all aspects of the code, because that's what reviewers do.

And that's why it has so much value: helping you change a recursive solution to an iterative one might help performance - it's actually very possible that a reviewer suggests an iterative approach... but it's also possible that a reviewer points out an inefficiency that you hadn't noticed, and that the best solution has nothing to do with what you think the answer is.

Let the reviewers do their job, don't tie their hands & feed with your assumptions: doing that is indeed asking a very specific question (albeit one that's too broad to be a good fit on Stack Overflow).

The edits indeed changed what the question was - the original question was off-topic, and this awesome community wants to help you improve your code, and helped you put the post back on track.

As for the title, know that CR post titles need to describe the purpose of the code, as opposed to what you'd want to achieve. We'll have a home page full of identical/similar titles if we don't do that.