197
votes
A guide to Code Review for Stack Overflow users
What distinguishes Code Review from Stack Overflow?
Different communities have different rules to address different needs. A quick summary:
Code Review
Stack Overflow
Open-ended questions
Questions ...
Community wiki
34
votes
My question was closed as being off-topic. What are my options?
If your question contains code that doesn't work as intended…
If your question contains something like:
... runs ...but it gives the wrong answer...
...I tried ... but sometimes...
...works great ...
Community wiki
29
votes
Code Review vs. Help me solve my problem
I had the impression that the line is if the code works or not
code does not work (i.e. has bugs or does not compile) -> SO
code does not exist (i.e. not sure where to begin) -> Programmers
code does ...
Community wiki
28
votes
My question was closed as being off-topic. What are my options?
If your question is not real code…
Unlike other Stack Exchange sites, which encourage general reference questions and offer broadly applicable answers, Code Review aims to offer customized advice ...
Community wiki
28
votes
Accepted
How much idle chatter do we tolerate in The 2nd Monitor?
This seems to be about the right place to post a response to what happened in the chat room today, and in the past 6 weeks or so.
Since various names have come up, and people have posted here too, I ...
28
votes
Accepted
Code that handles n% of test cases but not all
If the code produces wrong answers for some test cases, then the author is aware that the code is not working correctly as intended, and the question is thus prima facie off-topic for Code Review.
...
27
votes
Accepted
Can I request that someone look over my legal code?
Based on the guidelines in the Help Center, questions asking to review license text would be off-topic, as it's not code.
If you have a specific question about a legal principle related to licensing, ...
23
votes
My question was closed as being off-topic. What are my options?
If your question does not include the code to be reviewed…
Please embed the code to be reviewed directly in the question, for multiple reasons, including quality and licensing.
You may optionally ...
Community wiki
23
votes
My question was closed as being off-topic. What are my options?
If your question contains someone else's code…
For moral, practical, and legal reasons, we are only able to review code that you wrote or code that you maintain. Code Review is not the place to ask ...
Community wiki
22
votes
What to do with bitter disappointment?
"There are no wrong questions."
Actually, I believe the phrase is that there are no bad questions, but the thing is, I have to disagree — at least in the context of a question and answer site.
The ...
22
votes
Is asking for a review of boiler plate for a minimal repro okay?
The line between real and hypothetical code is sometimes blurry, but I would consider this code sample to be on the wrong side of the line for Code Review. Code that contains ...
21
votes
Accepted
Reviewing "design"
There is one school of thought that says "the code is the design". The reason is that the completed system often bears little or no resemblance to the "design".
So I would say that if the question ...
21
votes
My question was closed as being off-topic. What are my options?
If your question is asking for advice about code not yet written…
If you have not yet written your program, or if you are wondering how to add functionality to your code, then Code Review is ...
Community wiki
21
votes
Can I request that someone look over my legal code?
No.
Code Review is for the review of "code" in the sense of interpreted or compiled programming languages. Not for any other sort of "code" such as "legal code".
21
votes
Accepted
Is asking about open source code OK?
In a code review, the person doing the code review is the one who should be asking the questions, like: "Why did you put that line of code in there? What does it do?"
It's back to front to ask: "Hey, ...
20
votes
Accepted
What's on and off topic in The 2nd Monitor chat room?
Stack Exchange chat rooms are an informal discussion area that have few rules in general, and some 'rooms' have room-specific requirements as well.
In general (from the FAQ):
This site is an ...
20
votes
What IS a Code Review?
Ideal situation - asker
Code Review is where you go to get feedback on your code that teaches you at least one new way to do things (better).
Premise: you bring your code - and you have it in a state ...
20
votes
Accepted
Reviewing Programming Challenge requirements and givens
Is it on-topic to review a challenge's requirements? To the extent that the requirements force bad code, Yes.
The core of every question at Code Review is "How can I make this code better?" It is not ...
19
votes
Are censored URLs considered example code?
Censoring private URLs, usernames, and passwords is completely reasonable, and in no way makes this question example code. The exact URL has no bearing on correctness, readability, efficiency, or the ...
19
votes
Accepted
Are reviews that ask us to DRY their code within the spirit of CR?
Are reviews that ask us to DRY their code within the spirit of CR?
Yes.
If you know that your code is not DRY and you want it to be, isn't that almost like having broken code?
Not the same at all....
19
votes
Are Code Golf King-of-the-Hill controller programs allowed here?
If you have code that implements real functionality, and it's your code, and it works, then the code is on-topic for review, regardless of what the purpose of the code is, with some exceptions:
the ...
19
votes
Accepted
Can I ask for review for something specific without posting too much context?
Strictly speaking, Code Review requires you to post real code from a project that you are working on.
In practical terms, though, any plausible realistic code is acceptable too. If your real project ...
18
votes
Should comparisons of code snippets be closed as "not seeking a code review"?
The mission of Code Review is to help programmers improve working code. Although A-B comparison questions tend to elicit a different kind of answer and therefore make us feel uncomfortable, they are ...
18
votes
Accepted
Is [lolcode] reviewable?
I see no reason why it wouldn't be. Provided it is otherwise on topic. Which, your question is. The code works, you're honestly looking for a review, etc.
What stops us from reviewing Fim++ is that ...
18
votes
How should we revise the standard off-topic reasons, if we can have up to five?
I found working on this jigsaw puzzle a personally rewarding experience. It really helped me appreciate what you do here.
Obviously the longer your site has been around, the more problems you find ...
Community wiki
18
votes
Accepted
Are Scratch questions okay on Code Review?
There's no rule against code that is not in textual format. The only tricky rule to comply with is the requirement to embed the code directly in the question itself. If you use the image Stack ...
18
votes
Accepted
Should I post about my design and architectural concerns on Code Review or Software Engineering?
Short answer: Will you be posting your actual existing, working code? If yes, then I believe Code Review is better.
Our help center does state:
However, if your question is not about a particular ...
17
votes
Why is hypothetical example code off-topic for Code Review?
Hypothetical code is difficult or impossible to review because it is a moving, shape-shifting target. For example, @elibyy asked:
https://codereview.stackexchange.com/q/60562/9357
for example ...
Community wiki
17
votes
Accepted
Reviewing software, not only code
I understand your concern, but Code Review is unfortunately not the place that you are looking for.
I would recommend asking among your friends, on Twitter/Facebook, or on Reddit.
Or you could ...
17
votes
Accepted
Are we allowed to ask questions about just regular expressions?
Technically, yes, but, different regex engines have slightly different rules, charsets, etc. Sometimes it is worth knowing the interpreter as well as the regex. So, yes, plain regex are on topic, but ...
Only top scored, non community-wiki answers of a minimum length are eligible
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