Suggestions for revising the "on-topic" policy for programming questions

Question

@BeastOfCaerbannog and I were having a chat discussion today debating the role of "general" programming questions here on Ask Ubuntu. The current on-topic help text includes:

Questions you may ask:

...

• Development on Ubuntu.

There's also this older Meta post from @Oli who mentioned:

Development is on-topic here unless it really has nothing to do with Ubuntu.

I wouldn't object to Python questions here but you might get better service on Stack Overflow which is really all about programming. If your questions involve Ubuntu peculiarities or packaging a Python application, then we're probably the best bet. But again, this is on-topic on both sites.

_{(Emphasis-added)}

... As well as several others (links below in ^footnote).

That's pretty open, and the help text indicates that any development being done on Ubuntu is on-topic, even if the development is not unique to (or about) Ubuntu. Under this guidance, I've typically supported not "Closing" questions about programming, as long as they have some relevance to Ubuntu (even if the developer is just using Ubuntu as their target platform).

@BeastOfCaerbannog felt that questions that were "general programming" should be closed.

And I'm fully supportive of that, assuming we officially update the help-text. The reasons, as @BeastOfCaerbannog and I both agree is that "General programming questions":

• ... are not "about Ubuntu" and don't require Ubuntu expertise (unless the question specifically is about how to do something on Ubuntu).

• ... are more appropriate on Stack Overflow.

• ... will typically receive a faster response on Stack Overflow due to its more active developer user-base.

• ... will typically receive higher-quality responses on Stack Overflow due to its more active developer user-base.

• ... should not be cross-posted (as with any question) to more than one Stack Exchange site at a time.

As such, it's really in the OP's best interest that the question be closed or migrated as quickly as possible, so that they can repost (if needed) on Stack Overflow.

If the community is in agreement with this, what changes should we make to the "on-topic" wording to clarify this?

If, however, you don't agree that a change is warranted, then please provide feedback on this proposal as well.

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^Footnote: Additional Meta links

• Are bash/shell scripting questions on topic?
• Can I ask for programming advice on this site?
• Can we please ban unrelated programming questions?

Answer 1

My proposal is to change the on-topic wording to:

Questions you may ask:

...

Writing software for Ubuntu or setting up a software development environment on Ubuntu. Note that general-programming questions are usually better suited for Stack Overflow and may be closed here on Ask Ubuntu.

With the link to this Meta post (or a future Community Wiki) with examples (to be added) of questions that would be appropriate and those that would not.

The small wording change puts the burden on the question being about Ubuntu, rather than just something that the developer may be tangentially using. It also prevents boat-meme types of questions, where "on Ubuntu" is appended just to try to make a general programming question on-topic.

---

Examples and guidance for on-topic questions

• An answer to the question is likely to be Ubuntu-specific.

• Shell-scripting questions, within reason, since shell-scripting is a common system-administration task of high importance to Ubuntu users.

• Installing or fixing issues with development tools or libraries on Ubuntu.

More to be added

Examples and guidance for off-topic questions

To be added

Answer 2

"Development on Ubuntu" in the on-topic guidance refers to developing Ubuntu itself i.e. writing software for Ubuntu. This is always on topic regardless of the tools being used. I don't think that should be changed, even though the relevant expertise may be scant here.

General programming questions are already off topic with the exception of shell scripting which our community has extensive knowledge about, as you mentioned in your answer.

It's also on topic to ask about setting up a development environment on Ubuntu, and so on. See the pirate test.

Perhaps the wording of the page could make these things clearer.

_{BTW, a mod needs a lot of courage to migrate to SO.}

Answer 3

Regarding the on-topic policy for programming questions, a few considerations pop into my mind:

• There is no functional reason whatsoever to create a strict line between the different SE sites. On the contrary, some overlap is extremely useful to have different angles of insight, different styles to approach a subject. It is non-sense furthermore to assume strictly Ubuntu-related programming even exists.
• It seems quite weird to allow (for example) text processing, as long as it is awk, grep, sed, wc or alike, then suddenly say if we do the same with (e.g.) python, it is off-topic. Also note that all of these tools aren't specifically Ubuntu at all, not even Linux-specific. Note also that the vast majority of questions, tagged as "bash" are not about bash at all, but people often assume that anything that happens in the terminal is about bash. And again, if anything is not Ubuntu specific, it would be bash.
• I learned a lot by writing stuff on Ask Ubuntu; scripts, tools, mini-apps. Some more or less specifically for Ubuntu, but much stuff could and would easily be considered off-topic in a rigid conception. Would I be better off on SO? I doubt that, but it simply wasn't my environment.

In short: If there is no way to relate a question or answer to Ubuntu or programming for- or on Ubuntu, let's close it. But also: let's not practice over-management, be too eager to create an artificial line that does not exist in reality, closing off a big potential of the site.