When Someone Says, "Why would you want to do that?"

My favorite bash.org quote is relevant here.

<glyph> For example - if you came in here asking "how do I use a jackhammer" we might ask "why do you need to use a jackhammer"

<glyph> If the answer to the latter question is "to knock my grandmother's head off to let out the evil spirits that gave her cancer", then maybe the problem is actually unrelated to jackhammers

Disagree with the article. Most of the time, this question, coming from geeks, is helpful. The implicit statement is, "Hmm, why do you want to do that? What problem are you solving? Are you sure that's the best tool for the job? Let's look at the bigger problem first, before drilling down to some arcane and difficult detail."

And yes, "because I want to learn how it works" is a valid answer. But the question is valid too.

I usually use this phrase to signal, that deed that the person asking me is trying to perform is really not a good idea for a variety of reasons, while simultaneously I can't think of a single good reason for performing the deed: e.g.: If somebody asked me "how do I go about writing an XML parser for Java", I would firstly respond with the question. And then proceed to explain to our little grasshopper. That ALL the grasshoppers I know have been ignorant enough to go and write their own XML parsers which weren't really good, and made them waste precious life energy (not to mention community's resources) on something they had no business doing.

There is a big difference between writing an XML parser for purpose of learning how they work, and writing an XML parser because you are too ignorant to learn how many times before they were already done badly, but still way better than what you will produce.

I would also respond with forementioned question if somebody asked me: "How do you go about mending car chassis with duct-tape??".

But then I might also ask the question, when faced with a new concept that might be really, really cool. But I was thus far completely unaware of - due to either my own ignorance or lack of experience.

In either case - I use the phrase to introduce some humor (or vent some frustration) in an awkward situation.

Bill Hicks offers another answer:

I've noticed a certain anti-intellectualism going around this country; since about 1980, oddly enough. … I was in Nashville, Tennessee, and after the show I went to a Waffle House. I'm not proud of it, but I was hungry. And I'm sitting there eating and reading a book. I don't know anybody, I'm alone, so I'm reading a book. The waitress comes over to me like, [gum smacking] "What'chu readin' for?" I had never been asked that. Not "What am I reading?", but "What am I reading for?" Goddangit, you stumped me. Hmm, why do I read? I suppose I read for a lot of reasons, one of the main ones being so I don't end up being a fucking waffle waitress.

I think, when trying to help someone, asking for more context is a good thing. The examples that are given in the article are often things that arguably sound a bit more complicated than necessary (writing a windows app in assembly). Thus, the question is a valid way to establish a bit of context and by no means an implicit denial of the validity of what is being asked. "Because I want to know how it works" or "because I have reason to believe it is the only way it will work/be fast enough" are good replies and the whole thing leads on to a nice discussion (No not an exchange of tweets, a real discussion!)

The question I ask is "What problem are you trying to solve?", which more unambiguously states what I mean.

In a tutorial, like the book referenced in the article, the reader is being demonstrated things that they might need someday.

I disagree with almost all the replies here. Answering the followup question may be helpful, but it is not providing anything in the way the request.

In my opinion it is more polite and less ego centric to simply answer the question first, and then, if you are still inclined to prejudge the query as something reflecting the ignorance, mention you are suspicious of its intent.

This sort of question annoys me to no end. My bosses and coworkers always asked me this whenever I proposed refactoring code (improving "perfectly good" old spaghetti or removing unused code). How would one go about answering this question in such a situation?