Quora is the new hot new thing, started by a couple of former Facebook engineers. It’s a wiki-style question and answer site, somewhat similar to the StackExchange sites, except not focused on a particular topic, and with some of the usual social network features. You can follow people and topics, for instance.
What kind of topics? Both broad and niche. Here’s some that I follow:
- How many servers does X have?
- What Technology Stack does X Use?
- Programming Languages
- Domain-Specific Languages
- Mobile Development
- Programming
- Web Application Frameworks
- Server-Side Javascript
As well as some interesting questions:
- How does one market a programming language?
- What programming language is Gmail implemented in?
- What are the main weaknesses of Python as a programming language?
- What are the main weaknesses of Ruby as a programming language?
etc. etc.
Technically, Quora is extremely well executed. It has excellent search for topics and questions. Real-time updates. A very well executed way of linking to topics, people and other questions. There’s also quite a few high-profile tech company people there, including many Amazon, Twitter and Facebook engineers.
I’m really liking it a lot. Asking a question is more or less anonymous, so you there’s no such as looking stupid asking a dumb question. And sharing your knowledge by answering questions is always a satisfying thing to do. Give it a shot!
