alt Hacker NewsAgree.
> cargo-culting Stack Overflow
What do you mean by this? I understand “cargo-culting” as building false idols, e.g. wooden headphones and runways to attract airplanes that never come.
Replies
PaulStatezny • yesterday at 9:05 PM
I think the idea is copy-pasting code snippets from StackOverflow without comprehension of whether (and how) the code fixes the problem.
kunley • yesterday at 8:34 PM
Cargo-cult in relation to programming exists since late 80s.
http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/C/cargo-cult-programming.htm...
It means to copy code or instructions from a site into your own project without having any comprehension of how or why it works.
example: you have a Windows problem. You search and read that "sfc /scannow" seems a popular answer to Windows problems. You run it without ever understanding what sfc does, whether the tool is relevant to your problem, etc. You are cargo culting a solution.