[JonnieCache]

Step 0 fire up the debugger/repl and poke.

Step 1 read the docs (again.)

Step 2 look at somebody else's code: the library and its tests, another similar project, or whatever. Use the source luke!

Step 3 put a natural-language-ish query into google/stackoverflow.

When you're properly competent with the language and tools you mostly won't get to step 3. By the time you get there, you're looking for a specific piece of info, not a solution.

[nraynaud]

I always start with 3. I even start with 3 before I have a bug, to see if I can't find a lib for my task, or if someone has a blog post on the thing where I can find some caveats or clever solution.

[JonnieCache]

Indeed, this routine depends on you reading up on the problems you're tackling ahead of time, outside of the development/debugging cycle. This is no different to 15 years ago when you'd look in a book rather than a search engine.