In this internet age, we even have a new word to use whenever someone needs to find something out – we tell them to “Google It”. When they do, they usually get more “hits” than they bargained for and can get bogged down going through each search result until they find the one actually relevant to their need.
Specific Questions Get Specific Answers
A commercial search engine can still be somewhat like firing scatter shot in the general direction of your target – you should hit what you want but you will, in all probability, hit many other things as well – no matter how specific your question. Not only should you refine your search criteria but, you would also be well advised to refine the places you go to in order to conduct that search.
Specific Places Get Better Answers
Today’s internet connectivity enables many computers in many lands to “speak” to each other and share information. Huge data files can be stored on an interconnected series of high capacity servers and accessed by anyone with knowledge of the entry requirements. Although we call this “cloud computing”, it is not up in the air at all, the computers storing the data are very much on the ground but, you do not need to go anywhere near them – the internet does that for you.
Let us suppose that you are an open source software developer working on a project involving data stored in Hadoop compatible file systems and you have a problem expressing some of your logic in HiveQL. We all know that a major feature of open source software is that, by making the information fee, developers can share their ideas with each other and improve the software in the process but; do you know who to turn to for help on your specific problem? There may be thousands of people working on Hive improvements and, possibly, one of them, somewhere in the world, may have already solved your particular stumbling block. Fortunately, many of these fellow developers have become members of mailing lists and share their information through the list.
Furthermore, there are also Hive Mailing List Archives where specific questions about specific problems with Hive will receive specific answers. If there is no answer, then you can pass the problem on to the other members on the list.
