Read the error message before closing it and/or asking for help.

Every other day on SO:

(-5) "Please help to fix php bug Trying to get property 'name' of non-object on shitCode.php:l70"

Complete with the downvotes and the poorly written question with an obvious answer.

@nitnip Not a PHP person.

Does that mean something like
```
$value = 5.name;
```
?

@netikras Pretty much, yeah. I mean the error spells it for you.

You are trying to access a property on something that is not an object. Only objects can have properties, therefore the operation is illegal.

@ostream it changes nothing. Still read the error BEFORE you close it or ask for help

Have I gotten this so many times...

Lads be asking on why it doesn't work...

Literally the error message: "file or directory not found" >.>

Or my friend from college: guitargirl help my code doesn't work!
me: did it throw an error?
her: yes
me: so you going to tell me what the error was, or not?

@guitargirl15 at least they know it throw an error, I can’t count how many times someone asked me for help to solve something that was just reading the terminal.

@eptsousa my friend isn't terrible at programming, just a bit insecure and expects me to be able to figure out anything, even without telling me what's wrong. I've taken to asking people "What's supposed to be happening, and what's happening instead?" and it's surprising how often they don't even know what they want to happen.

@guitargirl15 that’s a great approach, I usually make them discover the problem while giving them a few hints.

@guitargirl15
> expects me to be able to figure out anything, even *without telling me what's wrong*

this, also called "it's not working", is the disease all the muggles (non-tech people) are suffering from. Try working in IT support - you'll see :)

So far the only cure I've come across is to learn at least some IT basics about the domain.