Complex discussions of "simple" problems (was: Loop in a loop?)

[Ben Finney]

Paul Rubin <http://phr.cx@NOSPAM.invalid> writes:

> Not trying to pick on you personally but there's this disease when a
> newbie comes with a basically simple question (in this case, how to
> solve the problem with ordinary lists) and gets back a lot of
> complex, overly general "graduate level" solutions.

Is that a disease?

I would characterise it as symptomatic of a very healthy programming
community. We like interesting problems, and enjoy coming up with ever
more elegant solutions. The discussions that ensue are healthy, not
diseased.

Whether that's exactly what the original poster in such a thread wants
is beside the point. This forum is for the benefit of all
participants, and discussing an apparently simple problem to discover
its complexities is part of the enjoyment.

Enjoyment of the discussion, after all, is the main reward most people
can ever hope to get for participation in most threads here.

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Ben Finney