Programming is an area where someone who does not know how to do x himself or herself, and tries to get others to do that x for them, will simply sink and need to find another profession. Always was like this, always will be. "You do it for me" students will lose. A willingness to play with code and do it yourself and keep trying until successful is vital. And this is true of a lot of other professions as well. Bob Cochran Dipperstein, Michael wrote: > Over the years I've published some of my non-work related papers and software on > my personal web site. I have always been receiving e-mail from people that want > to discuss what I've published, and I enjoy receiving that kind of e-mail. > > Recently I've been receiving two or three letters a month titled something like > "Urgent. Please Help!" > > The body of the message usually continues with "I am a student at college> studying . I need a > program that will something I've published>. Please send me such a program." > > I've tried to make it clear that I don't do other people's homework assignments, > but if they have some questions about specifics or are stuck on a certain issue, > I would be willing to try to point them in the right direction in my spare time. > > I spend a good amount of time finding references to get the author started, but > there's never a follow-up. I'm assuming that's because they wanted a zero > effort solution. > > I know others on the list get similar requests. How do you handle them? Are > these types of students beyond help? Should I just junk the letter and not > waste any time with a response? > > -Mike > > -- > http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics > (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics > > -- Bob Cochran Greenbelt, Maryland, USA http://greenbeltcomputer.biz/ -- http://www.piclist.com hint: The list server can filter out subtopics (like ads or off topics) for you. See http://www.piclist.com/#topics