Here's a lesson for any programming newbies in our midst.

1. Never be afraid to ask a question.

I've been programming for 40 years but there are a billion things I don't know, and I don't care who knows it.

I wanted to do something, and I wasn't sure how to frame the question in a search engine, so I just posted a question on my blog, got the answer, and a few hours later, I've got it working.

The key is to ask the question with enough info so people know how to answer it.

Programmers are by nature helpful people. And we like to show off what we know. So if you put some effort into asking, you'll very often get the help you seek.

The key is to provide enough info so people can answer the question. In this case I made a video to be sure people knew what I was talking about.

And here's a corollary to that lesson.

2. We're all newbies. Every damn one of us.