As of May 31, 2023, we have updated our Code of Conduct.

Questions tagged [scope]

Scope refers to "site scope," the area of topic focus within which users are permitted to ask questions. For example, questions about software design are generally considered within the scope of Software Engineering; questions about legal matters are not.

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Guidelines for questions about a specific language lacking a specific feature

I have asked some questions about why a specific programming language does not have a specific feature. They seem to have unpredictable/mixed reception as they are sometimes but not always closed as ...
user16217248's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
19 views

Are questions about the architecture of well-known software products within the scope of the site?

Are questions regarding the internal workings and the architecture of a particular software product (e.g. Oracle database, SQL Server, etc) within the scope of the site?
Mehdi Charife's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
73 views

Are questions asking for better ways to represent a particular concept in a given language within the scope of the site?

I asked this question in CodeReview and I was informed that I could find better answers in the SoftwareEngineering community. But, just to make sure, would the question be within the scope of the site?...
Mehdi Charife's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
57 views

Is "citizen development" on topic in Software Engineering?

Tl;Dr: Are questions about citizen development, as defined by the Project Management Institute in the book of the same name, on-topic in Software Engineering? Several webpages from software vendors, ...
user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
45 views

Why is asking if someone elaborated on a decision, an "Opinion based question"?

This question here: Why is/was Bjarne opposed to adding strong/opaque typedefs to the core language of c++? Is asking if Bjarne ever elaborated on why he opposed strong or opaque typedefs. It got ...
Anon's user avatar
  • 3,545
2 votes
1 answer
43 views

Why Is One Question Closed for Legal Advice and the Other Upvoted?

So I recently submitted a question that got shot-down immediately for asking legal advice. It is as follows: Hybrid Source License That Is Basically Open Source but Prevents Competition? However, ...
z7r1k3's user avatar
  • 101
3 votes
2 answers
65 views

Why is this question closed as off-topic?

What algorithm to use for substractive machining RT simulation? Regarding this question, I am asking about the current state of the art, that is, the proper algorithm for this problem. To put an ...
Adrian Maire's user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
70 views

How to ask for a list of usable criteria

In this post, I've asked for a list of criteria I can use to make a correct choice for a programming environment. I received some pretty useless comments, and then, apparently after not more than 25 ...
Dominique's user avatar
  • 1,701
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

When every question pertaining to Software Engineering has been more or less asked, do we broaden the scope of questions allowed to be asked?

Have other Stack Exchanges run into this, where activity slows due to the lack of novel questions remaining? Is that even seen as a problem? If and when it does happen, would there be greater ...
Anon's user avatar
  • 3,545
5 votes
1 answer
202 views

"Most common “Y2K-style” bugs today" ... Keep or Delete?

This mildly interesting question has a respectable number of views, but it's clearly off-topic, it being a "make-list" question. I've looked through the answers, and frankly I don't see a whole lot ...
Robert Harvey's user avatar
25 votes
2 answers
2k views

Why questions about "the correct way" are too broad

Questions of the following form are often closed as too broad: "Review My Design" "What is the Best Practice?" "Will my approach work? Is it viable?" "Is this the correct / preferred / accepted / ...
Robert Harvey's user avatar
2 votes
3 answers
83 views

Does Software Engineering SE accept GDPR and other legal compliance-type questions?

Related: Revisiting what is on topic, with respect to new sites: Open Source, Law, and Software Recommendations With the impending deadline for GDPR implementation, questions have been popping up on ...
EJoshuaS - Stand with Ukraine's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
70 views

Is this a place to ask blockchain questions?

I don't have a specific question, but I can see the possibility of future questions about blockchain development. I believe there are enough questions that could and will be asked about blockchain ...
DFord's user avatar
  • 1,240
0 votes
0 answers
60 views

Scope clarification: Mediums and efficiency of those mediums on topic?

I've never been quite clear on the scope of this site (Yeah, I've read the scope many times, but different people interpret it differently), even after 5 gold badges and 21 questions, and I'm doubtful ...
J.Todd's user avatar
  • 3,843
1 vote
3 answers
89 views

Are diagramming skills off topic?

How to draw nice looking pointy oriented hexagon shape in monospace plaintext I've read plenty of specs over the years. Some by people I wish had taken the time to ask a simple question like this. Do ...
candied_orange's user avatar
0 votes
2 answers
23 views

reference-request tag is missing [duplicate]

Why there is no reference-request tag? I want to ask where can I read about a certain topic. Are questions like this offtopic?
porton's user avatar
  • 742
2 votes
1 answer
79 views

Is this the correct community to ask questions on style and procedure, rather than specific questions begging as specific answer?

I would like to gather opinions on matters of style, organization, and procedure related to software development. As an example, I'm looking for the right place to ask something like the following: ...
KWallace's user avatar
  • 101
22 votes
4 answers
654 views

Should we continue to accept software licensing questions?

Our current guidance regarding software licensing can be found here. The current guidance says that a general rule of thumb is that questions answerable by experts in software development are on-topic,...
Thomas Owens's user avatar
  • 79.3k
3 votes
1 answer
72 views

Is "what algorithm could solve my problem?" off topic?

This question asks what kind of algorithm could be used to solve a particular problem. It has received a close vote as a resource request. That was my first instict, too, but actually asking about ...
user avatar
11 votes
1 answer
526 views

Are Career-Advice Questions On-Topic Here?

I have a question about Education, Finding a job, Hiring, Interviews, Job Titles Training Materials, Classes, Certifications, Skill sets, Marketing, Job Stress, Workplace Interaction, ...
Robert Harvey's user avatar
56 votes
1 answer
2k views

What is this "Software Engineering" site you speak of, and what kinds of questions can I ask there?

Programmers has changed its name. Why has this name change occurred? Has anything else changed? What kinds of questions will I be able to ask, now that the name has changed?
Robert Harvey's user avatar
45 votes
4 answers
1k views

I'm not a software engineer, right?

So programmers.se is going to become software-engineering.se? This means I still can't ask the burning questions about proper potted plants for programmers.... AND THAT IS OK BY ME But, I do have ...
Peter Turner's user avatar
  • 6,897
33 votes
5 answers
524 views

Follow-Up: New Site Name and Scope Proposals

I've been pondering these proposed changes to the site's name and scope for the past few weeks. This was, you'll recall, instigated by Ana's response to Rachel's proposal for a new name for this site.....
Shog9's user avatar
  • 8,083
132 votes
10 answers
4k views

New Site Name and Scope Proposals

From Ana, a Stack Exchange Community Manager in the previous question about changing the site name: It took us a good while, but the Community Team has circled up and here's where we stand on your ...
Thomas Owens's user avatar
  • 79.3k
8 votes
2 answers
323 views

How to address the "Why do so few languages with a variable-type 'operator' exist?" question

Why do so few languages with a variable-type 'operator' exist? I made an edit to the original question which was basically, "what programming languages exist to do X?" One of the site close ...
enderland's user avatar
  • 12.1k
12 votes
2 answers
538 views

If the scope is wrong, which of these questions belong here?

Over in Is this site failing? And should it go away? I posted this list and haven't gotten a satisfactory response yet. If the site's scope is at issue, then some percentage of these questions should ...
user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
74 views

Can I ask for resource recommendations here?

I wish to ask what are the good resources to understand Python source code written in C language. Like there a book for Ruby i.e. Ruby under a microscope. It deals with low level implementation of ...
abhimanyuaryan's user avatar
6 votes
2 answers
58 views

Show a banner to new users linking them to the help center

Some time back Doc asked How can we encourage people to read the FAQ before asking their first question? which is a really good question and a fairly consistent challenge to get people to ask ...
user avatar
24 votes
7 answers
969 views

Great Expectations... or, at least, user expectations

Well I just saw a second Meta question expressing strong ill-will for this site after first witnessing this, seemingly well-trodden, battlefield. Given that I am already weary of it, I can only assume ...
user avatar
0 votes
3 answers
482 views

Is this site failing? And should it go away? [duplicate]

Fact 1 At the time I write this, 12 of the 15 questions on the questions front page have net downvotes. That is an extreme statistical outlier on stackexchange. Other sites tend to have between 1 and ...
Mowzer's user avatar
  • 189
1 vote
1 answer
55 views

can I ask my question in programmers.stackexchange.com?

I want to know, How to do the following in program ? I am looking for logic/algorithm so that, I can implement it. I want to split the joined & wrongly spelled words to give a correct result ? ...
Mani's user avatar
  • 101
2 votes
2 answers
72 views

Are questions about software technologies' "fitness to scenarios" acceptable?

(I am adapting and copying my question here from Software Recommendations.) Would a question about which software technology to choose for a given scenario be on topic ? The question I need to ask ...
SantiBailors's user avatar
17 votes
1 answer
2k views

Why are implementation and debugging questions off-topic on Software Engineering?

Questions that are asking for debugging ("help me find this error") or implementation ("how do I write...") have tended to be closed and down voted. Why is this? And where should I ask these ...
user avatar
-1 votes
2 answers
100 views

Why is question about critical embedded software for nuclear reactors on hold?

https://softwareengineering.stackexchange.com/q/306557 This isn't career or educational advice. I just wanted to ask a qestion that I think is very interesting, and then it went on hold. Why?
Josip Ivic's user avatar
  • 1,617
0 votes
1 answer
73 views

Asking about the programming industry, and does it fit my personality is acceptable?

I wrote a quite long, specific question about my experiences about programming, is it acceptable here? I'm searching for the appropriate forum for a long time now. Is there any of them fitting my text ...
Ferenc Dajka's user avatar
1 vote
2 answers
90 views

where to ask scientific-programming-education questions?

I note several Programmers questions have been closed as off-topic for seeking career or education advice (e.g., here, there). I'd like to ask a question about what academic schools/departments have {...
TomRoche's user avatar
  • 103
0 votes
1 answer
163 views

Please link to discussions which lead to a transition to the current (strict, less personal) question expectations [duplicate]

"I dislike that so much valuable information gets deleted for the sake of "maintaining a clean site", dislike the way many users are treated (particularly new ones), and dislike the way the ...
J.Todd's user avatar
  • 3,843
2 votes
1 answer
95 views

Appropriate response

What's the appropriate response to this (at "Programmers") "You are asking a fairly wide open question and then asking opinions on possible answers. It sounds like you haven't really done your home ...
wayfarer's user avatar
  • 195
2 votes
2 answers
110 views

Historical locked trash, please delete

I cannot flag this question for deletion, nor vote to delete it. It has been apparently decided that it should be locked, so that it may fester in our backlog permanently. I disagree. I should like ...
Jimmy Hoffa's user avatar
11 votes
3 answers
2k views

Why was "Why aren't young programmers interested in mainframes?" re-opened?

Every day we get opinionated questions asked here. People seem to think that this is the place to ask them. New users point to the old open questions that have fallen through the cracks of time as ...
user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
71 views

What was wrong with this terminology question?

I posted the following question which was very quickly put on hold, likely because the way it was phrased invited low-quality, opinion-based answers: What's the formal term for “usual way to solve a ...
Jens Bannmann's user avatar
10 votes
1 answer
424 views

Using Programmers as "learning and training area" for Stack Overflow kind questions [duplicate]

Related: Create a New Stack Overflow Instance for Beginner Users and Content (MSO). We are getting many off-topic / implementation and coding kind questions where askers appear to be aware of Stack ...
gnat's user avatar
  • 21.6k
1 vote
1 answer
36 views

Question on role duties

I want to understand: What is the difference between "Technical Program Manager" and "Software Development Manager" in terms of roles, responsibilities and people management requirements. Will ...
Ayusman's user avatar
  • 149
9 votes
2 answers
224 views

What questions recently closed can be salvaged?

When people ask about Programmers.SE being too negative, closing too many things, or needing to be more inclusive - the best way to approach this is probably to look at the questions that have been ...
user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
153 views

Add a 'ideal' or 'mission statement' to the help/on-topic

One of the most elegant descriptions of the scope of Programmers.SE came from Thomas Owens in chat: Picture Programmers like a small conference room with a whiteboard. No computer, no books, no ...
user avatar
15 votes
6 answers
506 views

Revisiting what is on topic, with respect to new sites: Open Source, Law, and Software Recommendations

In the past 2 months, two new sites in the Stack Exchange network opened up and are now in Public Beta: Open Source and Law. A third, Software Recommendations, has been around for about 1.5 years. ...
0 votes
1 answer
51 views

Should questions about iTunes Connect be asked on Stack Overflow or here?

For me, there have been several complications when I was working on an iPhone game that delayed my development time by almost an entire month, and that's because iTunes Connect is outright complicated....
DDPWNAGE's user avatar
  • 101
2 votes
0 answers
112 views

Answer to a specific question and a very broad question

I was composing an answer to Can I distribute a GPL executable (not a library) in a closed-source application? when I discovered it has been closed as a duplicate of Can I use GPL, LGPL, MPL licensed ...
ivan_pozdeev's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
84 views

Is this site the proper SE site to ask questions about software dev processes?

I have a few questions about the Agile process but not sure which SE is best suited for it. Is this the right site for it? The current question(s) that I have: Is there an Agile term for when there ...
DA01's user avatar
  • 241
5 votes
1 answer
64 views

Create a special lock message for historical meta questions

Lets admit it, we've got lots of old things hanging around on meta. Much of it helps explain where we are today - and thats good. But it also confuses people. They may look at meta, search for some ...
user avatar