How I use LLMs to learn complex topics • Hacker News Board

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#61

Post by wiremine » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:35 PM UTC

Personally I'm excited about these sorts of experiments. We all learn in different ways, and these sorts of techniques allow us to create "on-demand" syllabuses and lessons that fit our learning style and learning level.

It's not perfect, but I'm optimistic this will be a useful way to teach/learn in the future.

And, to be clear, I think this will be best utilized within a group/community setting. I don't think it will replace teachers or classrooms.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#62

Post by vorticalbox » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

cautiouscat wrote: post #41

I’ve written a skill that I basically feed what I’m looking to do, some ideas I had for accomplishing it and any other details like tech stack, etc. The skill then riffs with me, judging my ideas and suggesting alternatives. We go back and forth until something useful comes out of it. This process isn’t unlike how I do normal development. However, once agreed it breaks the work into “steps”. It then creates a tutoria…

I’ve started doing a similar thing after reading a post on hn about manually applying the code so that you actually understand it.

I have done this for all my work this week and it works quite well.

For one it lets you actually query the LLM as to why, their plans give a high level not every single change and it allows you to correct it as you go and the plan will change.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#63

Post by throwaway63467 » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:37 PM UTC

That seems like a terrible way to learn. It’s a neat animation but cmon, there’s like educational TV programs from the 80s that explain this so well, in Germany there’s “Sendung mit der Maus”, not sure if they have a segment on chip manufacturing. But in these clips you can at least see the real stuff instead of some half wrong animation, just let the LLM write a few paragraphs for you or better find an ACM article or book on the subject, probably still takes less time than coming up with that animation…

God does everything have to be productized and glorified as if you’ve invented a new way of learning. Read some books!

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#64

Post by foo42 » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:40 PM UTC

I've been using them by reading some docs/wiki/tutorial, then when I think I understand something trying to do a rough explanation to the LLM and ask if I'm right. I'm usually making some analogy to something I already understand a little. I'm usually partially right but missing some key bits at the first pass. I go back and forward asking for explanations of various bits or asking for resources around the area I'm not understanding. Often times just discovering the relevant name for the area of study opens lots of doors. I basically use it like I would talk to a knowledgeable and patient teacher.

As for how useful it is to understand thins, I believe it's still useful and hope it will continue to be.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#65

Post by zapataband1 » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:42 PM UTC

"What you get is a beautiful animation that is 100% accurate and free of hallucinations."

Do you know it is free of hallucinations because you crossed checked it with the source material or because you told the LLM "don't hallucinate"

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#66

Post by reqo » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:42 PM UTC

Something that I have realized recently is that it has become so easy to get an answer to almost any question with the help of chatbots that its almost unnecessary to spend any effort thinking about the problem or the solution. I feel like before when I had to spend time researching a problem to find an answer I learned so many things around the topic itself which helped me understand the problem itself better and gained a deeper understanding. Today it feels like you can have an answer to the most complex questions you might have, yet you gain a superficial understanding of the topic and might forget about it quickly.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#67

Post by laurentiurad » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:46 PM UTC

bryanrasmussen wrote: post #56

wxw wrote: post #31

> What you get is a beautiful animation that is 100% accurate and free of hallucinations. I'm not sure I follow how this is actually guaranteed? The fact-checking process mentioned just seems to involve asking AI to review its own work.

I could certainly envision a scenario whereby review would increase reliability but not how it would every guarantee 100%, there is a pretty big logical gap there.

In my experience it depends on how much in detail you want to go. Chip manufacturing is a really opaque industry, so in this particular case LLMs might not even have the training data. However, using it for a high-level introduction into something is usually pretty safe from hallucinations.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#68

Post by gavmor » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:46 PM UTC

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #19

His other project, https://aivestor.tech/ , seems like a huge grift.

Or is it just an unproven attempt? Seems like a pretty straightforward value proposition. Caveat emptor.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#69

Post by laurentiurad » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:48 PM UTC

f311a wrote: post #21

What’s everyone’s opinion on learning new tech things in this day and age? My opinion swings between positive and depressing vision of the future. I still learn new stuff, but I’m afraid it won’t have any value in a year or so. For example, I’m pretty good at optimizing low level stuff, but right now you can just ask LLMs to do so and they are pretty good at it. They will profile the code and suggest reasonable optio…

The way learning new stuff rewires your brain cannot really be predicted, but the effects are positive.

Re: How I use LLMs to learn complex topics

#70

Post by misiti3780 » Sun, Aug 09, 2026, 8:49 PM UTC

8bitsout wrote: post #48

I thought LLMs were a great tool for learning new topics - perhaps even complex ones. But overtime, I have had several frustrations with this. First, I get exhausted reading LLM prose. I really don't want to read anything generated by something like Opus 5 at this point. Second, as I dive deeper, I need a way to organize the information in a useful way as I begin to branch out in many different directions. I have tri…

I think AI is surprisingly good at this. I use voice mode while working out to learn complex topics, follow up with reading, and then go back to ask the LLM more questions. They excel at simplifying complex ideas and have endless patience. One hack I found is telling the LLM to test my knowledge by asking me questions—that gives me a clear idea of what to read next. Overall, they’re a great tool to use alongside traditional learning methods like reading books and working through practice problems.