Quote Originally Posted by dilettante View Post
I believe success is determined by your ability to read and comprehend written material and then follow this up with creative experimentation. This primarily means reading manuals, but it also requires reading code written by others.
I totally agree. Adding to that going to conferences if/when you can, as well as reading through development magazines. I don't always use or learn everything I come across. But once in a while, I have those moments where I go "Wait, I just read something about...." and then I go through my stack and find what I was looking for. There's a quote I once heard that has stuck with me through the years, and it's been fairly accurate. It goes something like this: A good programmer will know a little about everything. A great programmer will know a lot about a few things. But the best programmer will know where and when to look things up.

Quote Originally Posted by dilettante View Post
The nature of some questions in programming forums sometimes makes me feel despair. So many of these questions would never be asked if the poster had ever read through the manual. One can only wonder if they try driving long trips without looking over maps first too. They must find unanticipated detours somewhat frightening.
I can just see those postings now: Halp! I took the highway and hit a sign that said Road Closed. I don't know what to do. Some one gimmie tirp plz!!!!!! 111111s"
These are the same people that drive their cars off a cliff because they were blindly following their GPS.

-tg