Can people teach others through examples please, and not by telling them the answer?

Question

If you tell someone how to write their code, they don't learn anything. They might even post another question about the same type of code or program. However, if you show them how to write a similar code with maybe a different variable or value, they will have to think for themselves, therefore learning to become self-reliant, and thereby learning more. They will then have less questions and will be better off. Comment if you agree!

Answer 1

You can lead a horse to water... ...and anyone who finds the rest is the type you hope you're teaching. I get it and avoid the obvious homework/tests (like: story problem...and hurry).

Then: Devil's Advocate...sometimes people want to focus on the larger experience, and if they get stuck too early may give up without ever realizing how close they were to their potential. I've seen this with elderly folks refusing smartphones; at first receptive, what held them back was someone to just tell them what to do next until they got used to it...but since they've been around the block more, they know exactly what you're doing by hinting, which means it's obvious...which means they're "stupid" (and it's about what they perceive, not you)...so they fail on pride/shame because we're all forgetting what it's like to learn a task with zero context.

It's harder to see that online, so I try to remember this (note, xkcd uses profanity):

http://xkcd.com/1314 [Photos]
(in the sense of...you're probably not responsible for their experience)

without forgetting that when you do go there...
http://xkcd.com/979 [Wisdom of the Ancients]
(finish for everyone's benefit; I'd add summarizing hint links in case they're lost)

For both teacher AND student.

Answer 2

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design#Programming

To me this is like divide-and-conquer vs creation. In fact, at the link, under Neuroscience and Psychology:

"...A bottom-up process is characterized by an absence of higher level direction [they know where they're going by faith or intuition]...[top-down...is characterized by] a high level of direction...by more cognition, such as goals or targets..."

And where's teacher...answering questions? Perhaps both camps, bridging the gap.

Answer 3

true. im trying my best not to answer assignment questions, and only answer those questions with codes on them that needs to be debugged.