I seem to have answered a lot of questions on Quora about Java, which is strange because Quora is really a poor choice of place to ask questions like this. Stack Overflow is better because the voting is done by people who demonstrably know what they're talking about. On Quora, people who have a very poor understanding can write a rubbish answer, and will get upvotes if they have plenty of followers.
However, given that people are asking Java questions on Quora, I sometimes feel like helping them by giving a good answer.
- Is it considered good coding to make every field a variable if it is used more than once?
- What are good Java design practices about static inner classes?
- What is a utility class?
- Will this code not compile because of the use of instance variables in a static context?
- What's the purpose of void methods in java?
- Why do people recommend to learn a programming language by starting with java, but still say that java is slow? What is slow in java?
- Java: How do I read username and password from a file and verify whether the user entered it correctly or not?
- Is it a bad practice to omit vowels from Java variable names? (yes)
- Is creating a java class with one static method that will be used by many classes in the project good practice?
- How should I use "." In Java?
- Do developers still create brand new applications using Java?
- What is the use of default constructor? (a real gotcha as it means something different in C++)
- What is the best way to write utility classes in Java?
- When was The Java™ Tutorials, an official oracle site launched?
- How does the Iterator interface work in Java?
- What is the motivation behind the hashcode formula for strings in java?
- What are the differences between java.sql.Date vs java.util.Date vs TimeStamp vs Calendar? (no doubt a real FAQ)
- If I define byte b=127 and I execute ++b, b will be -128, but if I execute b=b+1, will b be 128?
- What kind of miracles can Java programmers do (only by using Java)?
- What are the advantages and disadvantages of having a static method in Java?
- How do you judge a Java programmer with only 5 questions? (bit controversial)
- In short, what does the Oracle Binary Code License Agreement for Java SE actually say or prohibit?
- In Java why is it permissible to reference a static method or field which is defined on a superclass using the subclass name?
- Java (programming language): How can we specify what to be printed when we print objects?
- How does Java consider RuntimeException as unchecked while its superclass Exception is considered checked?
- What are some good ways to do automated tests on Java logging code?
- Are there any special testing frameworks that software companies use for Java aside from the simple JUnit?
- When do you really need to create an abstract class?
- How is Java commonly used today? (opinion)
- Can someone explain data type formatting in arrays?
- When I go to a web page that uses Java, I have to go in and tweak my Java settings to allow the Java to run. I thought that running Java in web browsers went out with the 90s?
- How does Arraylist in java internally implemented? Is it change its size to double? Then Why double?
- In simple English. How would you explain how to setup this Java blogging engine?
- What are some good ways to create a variable that can only be set once, but not "final" and immediately upon declaration?
- Are most enterprise systems built using C# or Java?
- How do you define if an MVC View component is doing what it is not supposed to do?
- Why is instanceof a keyword in Java and not a method (it returns a boolean)?
- What is a nuance/difficult concept in Java? Why?
- Is the Prototype pattern still used in Java?
- While writing code (Java) for a personal project I easily get uninspired and abandon it halfway. Is this a common experience among developers and how can I maintain the drive to complete a project?
- What are some little known features or best practices in Java that you have seen? I'm specifically looking for ways to write cleaner & maintainable code.
- What is the most significant advantage of Java?
- Does '_' as a variable name in Java or other languages mean anything other than just its name?
- How can I save var values to JavaScript cookies?
- Object Oriented Programming: why are getter and setter methods important?
- How can I master Java programming in 7 days?
- Monster Parenting: How do you teach Java to a 3-year-old child? (jk lol)
- What does "!" mean in Java?
- What are value classes in Java?
- Which is better, Joda-Time or Java 8 Dates?
- Is my understanding of overriding toString() method is correct? (got an upvote from Joshua Engel!)
- How can I determine file creation date with Java 6?
- Why doesn't the following program print 30 and prints 2010 instead?
- What are the best programming languages to learn today?
- Why should I learn Java if I know C++ and Python except for Android mobile development?
- Does Java allow strings and integers to be concatenated?
In a few cases, I've found the act of writing an answer helpful myself, because it's forced me to get my own thinking clearer. More often, I've found satisfaction in simply giving a full and correct answer, communicated clearly - a job well done on my part (and rarely taking more than a few minutes). This is probably what keeps me answering technical questions on Quora: the possibility of doing a really good job, quickly. So many of the other questions I answer on Quora are so much more subjective.