Need help with your projects or want to talk about programming tools, concepts, languages, and frameworks? This category is the place for you! But before you post, read on through to ensure your post meets our guidelines.

✅ What is allowed in this category:

• Questions for help regarding software development and programming concepts & languages
• Asking for feedback on a software development project or finding projects that are in need of contributors
• Conversations about open source news and opinions on tooling/packaging

❌What is not allowed in this category:

• Asking people to code for you or homework/test questions
• Posting or seeking job listings or contests
• Self-promoting your projects or advertising of any kind
• Badge Hunting

If you post something that is not allowed, your post may be removed without notice and you may receive a temporary ban 🛑.

If you’re interested in learning more about this category, we’ve put together a FAQ below.

FAQs

How can I get help with my programming/project question?

To ensure the best chance of help with your programming question, it’s essential that you follow a few guidelines.

1. Use the appropriate label on your topic 🏷️. This will signal to everyone that you need help and in which area.
2. If this pertains to specific GitHub features, add another label to your topic that indicates said feature(s) . This will allow the answerers to have a deeper understanding of the issue you’re facing.
3. Provide as much context as possible surrounding your question ✏️. Remember, the people who are here trying to help you probably haven’t heard of your project and don’t know the particular challenges that you’ve been dealing with. The more context you provide, the easier it will be for people to help you.
4. Provide a link to a Gist, a pull request, or to code in your repository 🔗. GitHub has a lot of tools for getting help and doing code reviews. It’s worth taking advantage of these tools to help yourself and the people working with you.
5. When your question has been answered, mark your topic as solved ✅. This will allow people to see at a glance which questions still need help and which ones have already been answered.
6. Give kudos to people who help you 👏. Everyone likes to be recognized for their contributions. If someone has been genuinely helpful, giving them kudos is an easy way to thank someone and also to indicate to the community who the helpers are.

Can I use ChatGPT to answer questions?

While we encourage non-AI answers to questions in community, we also love experimenting and using new technologies. We ask if you do use ChatGPT or similar programs, please disclose what software and model version number you used to generate the response you used in your reply in order to promote transparency in the community.

ChatGPT answers in a tone that sounds like a tech support professional and while we support trying out this software, it is important to verify that they are solutions before posting otherwise it may mislead users into thinking that they are receiving official responses when they are not.

Per ChatGPT's website, the program does have limitations like:

• "May occasionally generate incorrect information"
• "May occasionally produce harmful instructions"
• "Limited knowledge of world and events after 2021"

Please keep the above in mind as we support trying out new software, but recognize it is valuable to other community members that solutions are verified to be correct, in order to uphold the GitHub Community’s quality standards.

What do I gain from answering questions?

In addition to the warm, fuzzy feelings ❤️‍🔥 that come with helping others, answering questions and offering help is a great way to hone your skills and ultimately influence the next generation of programmers. Answering questions regularly is also a great way to gain a reputation among your peers for being a helpful and friendly expert in your field.

I’m just getting started with Git and programming languages - how do I start?

We created evergreen threads for resources, advice, and basic questions. Feel free to start there with our Getting Started with Git ⌨️ thread and Getting Started with Programming Languages Hub before creating your own discussion.

I feel ready to join the professional world; is there anywhere I can go for advice?

First off, that’s awesome, and congratulations on taking the step from amateur to professional coder. We have a Discussion already open with helpful links and advice - but keep the party going and ask what is on your mind 🧠.

Can you help me with a project that is hosted on GitHub?

If you're asking how to use the piece of software that you found in a repository on GitHub, the best way is to first contact the maintainers by:

• Checking the README for instructions on how to operate the software and pointers to documentation or troubleshooting info.
• Checking the SUPPORT file, if one exists, for instructions on how to best contact the maintainers for support.
• Checking the CONTRIBUTING guide, if one exists. Sometimes if there isn't a SUPPORT file, the CONTRIBUTING guide will give instructions on how to contact the maintainers for support.

All of these documents can be found, if they exist, in the repository where you found the software itself.

Happy programming!