30
Editing out ruby from ruby-on-rails is basically equivalent to editing out c# or vb.net from asp.net questions (containing code in the relevant language).
In short… it's a stupid idea.
Please reject such edits as vandalism / non-improvement.
A question concerning RoR code can be reviewed by ruby people, whether they know RoR or not. It's just that RoR ...
24
Tags are not hierarchical categories
I disagree with Mat's Mug where he says:
if minesweeper is a "subset" of game, then tagging with both game and minesweeper would be redundant - using the most specific tag correctly labels the post, there's no need to specify both
The purpose of tags is not hierarchical categorization of knowledge, like categories in ...
22
Yes, the tag is helpful. I consider it to be useful in the same way beginner is useful.
reinventing-the-wheel is for when:
you are specifically trying to mimic some system/behaviour
you know that there are libraries, language features, etc. that do what you need.
you are doing it for academic reasons... to learn, not to profit.
there is no expectation that ...
21
I think many of the above can go, but I think these should definitely get burninated:
refactoring
clean-code
code-smell
They really add nothing to the question, and they are already naturally ingrained in the review process. Pretty much every question is about refactoring in some way. Everyone wants their code to be clean (we're not PP&CG). Everyone ...
20
Tags for specific community-owned projects are nice, and rubberduck has been a good tag.
However, this does not mean that anyone and everyone can/should say "I'm gonna post all my code for project XYZ so I'm gonna tag my first question that I will post right now with the XYZ-tag".
It is preferred if the questions come first and the tag later.
There are ...
19
I feel that these are useful and should stay. Users may want to follow or ignore these tags for various reasons. For example: I'm an intermediate level code monkey, so I find if easier to answer the beginner questions.
beginner
reinventing-the-wheel
performance
optimization feels awfully similar to performance and should probably be a synonym.
The ...
19
Really, I think that the tag is really broad.
We have enough tags that we don't need one for Conditions.
(almost)All code has conditions in it for one thing or another. I really don't think that adding the conditions to any question adds any quality to the question.
Burn it, Burn it with Fire!
18
NO, it shouldn't exist, not even be a synonym!
c# has major differences between versions, too. And yet, the only C# tag we have is c#. How do we address this?
C# 2.0 introduced generics. Enter the generics tag.
C# 3.0 introduced linq. Enter the linq tag.
C# 4.0 introduced the Task Parallel Library. Enter the task-parallel-library tag.
C# 5.0 introduced the ...
17
I've never liked the optimization tag. I would like to see it burninated and replaced by three tags:
memory-optimization
code-size-optimization
speed-optimization, synonymized to performance
A question that asks for "optimization" in general doesn't have focus, and doesn't need any of those tags at all.
This reorganization would also pave the way for the ...
17
I'm going to defend all these tags, because after thinking about it, I think they do provide value.
First and foremost: .net / .net-core are not universal/compatible. Just because something works in .net does not mean it works in .net-core, and vice-versa. These tags are two completely separate frameworks, so I agree with creating a .net-core tag. Now, you ...
16
No, the tags should describe the features of the code, and not the desires of the asker. If the code uses Linq, then go ahead and tag it. If the asker thinks the code could be done better with Linq, then they are turning the linq tag in to a meta-tag, it's a feature of the request, not a feature of the code.
If you don't remove the tag, then I will ;-)
16
The reason why these tags are useful is that they affect the set of helpful review comments. The way that I interpret these tags is:
python + python-2.7 — only required to run under Python 2.7, presumably because it is interfacing with a legacy system that has not yet been ported to Python 3. Review comments about portability to Python 3 are probably ...
16
No.
Use a standard box instead:
A [previous version](link) of this code has been posted on Code Review before.
16
Basically, time-limit-exceeded is for a need, whereas performance is for a want.
Yes, there are times when both apply, but even then, a question should only use the one that fits best. It's probably most likely that time-limit-exceeded will be used with a programming challenge, whereas performance would be used elsewhere.
That said, I think they should ...
15
java-8 should not be a full tag, but a synonym to java.
Reasons:
People tagging with java-8 will also need to tag with java anyway.
Questions with Java8 will always need some text 'disclaimer' anyway:
I wrote the following code with help of some Java 8
Maybe I've gotten a bit over excited with the new options in Java 8
in a year or so, all Java ...
15
I cannot see how a post can be tagged with both c and c++ on Code Review, other than an intentional polyglot.
In terms of c and c++, if a person writes the code in a C style and compiles it with C++ then it is a C++ question, because Answers can then use C++ features as part of the recommendation. If C++ related suggestions are not 'OK' for the question, ...
15
17 questions is substantial, it is also active, and growing.
There are a number of people who would 'follow' or favourite the tag.
The tag would describe the context in which the code is being developed, and would provide significant information value to anyone inspecting the questions
For the above reasons, I believe the tag would be useful, and should ...
15
Yes, the naming tag should be eliminated through burnination, since it adds no value. Every piece of code (except simple assembly and esoteric languages such as brainfuck) involves naming, and every answer is free to address any issue including naming. Therefore, naming is an implied concern in every question, and the tag adds no value.
If a question is ...
15
In short, our rule is that every question must have a language tag. There may be other tags which are redundant or more specific (e.g. python-2.7 or ruby-on-rails), but the language tag is still required.
15
This is one area where the community stance is fairly unanimous. The language tag is the most important. In fact, all questions on Code Review have the language tag.
In fairness, the thought behind the perpetrator is likely that it is a more specific subcategory and implies the derived tag. Perhaps they desired an additional tag but five tags is more than ...
15
I think this is a good suggestion. I would support it, but let's give it a few days to garner support in meta.
I would propose that we follow the convention that StackOverflow has taken like you suggested:
create unity-container tag just like SO's.
Audit the current unity questions again to ensure that no unity3d posts remain.
merge all remaining posts in ...
15
pacmaninbw wrote a decent answer already, but let's clarify this further by an overly long answer.
People come here to get their code reviewed. Enthusiasts, starting professionals and veterans, all on the same site. Advice useful to somebody without background in software may not be useful to veterans. Veterans are likely helped by different answers than ...
14
Seconded — the learning tag adds nothing of value. We're all here to learn. At least beginner signals responders to keep the answer simple.
As for that one off-topic question, it's already closed, and could just be deleted.
13
Burnination would be a step too far: even if the tags aren't appropriate for these particular questions, they have a potential legitimate use. If you've written an Eclipse plug-in or a Visual Studio extension, you might want to submit it for review, and then how would you tag it?
13
As stated, the beginner tag is a reminder to reviewers to refrain from being excessively picky or introducing advanced concepts in answers.
Unofficially, it can serve as a filter, so that some reviewers can ignore "trivial" questions that they might find uninteresting. Personally, I'd rather live with a beginner tag if it helps to prevent the site from ...
13
I think this should be synonymized with conditions instead of burninating it altogether. This does still involve conditionals, the difference being is that this is about the operator. A few questions are also already tagged with conditions.
I've suggested the synonymization here.
13
No
beginner tag should stay.
It has the following benefits
it allows question askers to categorize themselves in a way that is 'easy'. It is much easier (psychologically) to admit a lack of knowledge using a tag, than to say: "I know I am making a mess of things, but I am new here, and don't know what I am really doing".
it allows reviewers to ...
13
Burnination is probably fine and the iterator tag probably suffices for the examples my previous answer references.
The tag is pretty terrible.
12
Considering that Tony Hoare calls the invention of the null pointer a "billion dollar mistake", I think it's a very worthy concern for software developers, on par with exception-handling, comments, or naming. Also, the treatment of NULLs in SQL is tricky. If a developer has a question about the handling of nulls, then it wouldn't be unreasonable to tag ...
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