Do, or do not - there is no "learn".
Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
21–30 of 84 posts
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#22If you really want to learn it, take what you need, disconnect (devices off), go sit in a field, no people around and read until you understand something.
If you then still can't focus or make enough effort, you simply don't want to learn it.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#23I get incredibly frustrated with 1) people who "design" (and I use the term very, very loosely) the actual tools you're learning, and 2) then even more so for the people who teach the tools, as though it's the only thing that existed - even though any member of the target audience has to know a thousand very closely related things, so that honestly you could just point out the 5 tricky things.
For point 1 - things should be like Python, not like resolving dependency hell in the 90's. Installation should be a double-click. Errors should not be easy to make, it should be obvious what things do, and error messages should be obvious. The people who design tools don't care about any of this stuff.
For point 2 - honestly, 99% of people - as in, 99 out of 100 people, who pick up a Rust tutorial have programmed literally 4 other languages - they have written working lines of code in 4 other languages. Look at this shit: https://doc.rust-lang.org/book/ (open the menu at top-left) - Guessing Game! The Dining Philosophers! "Let’s set up a new project. Go to your projects directory. Remember how we had to create our directory structure and a Cargo.toml for hello_world?" in just as many words that your poor audience has to read through you could have said: "semicolons terminate statements; blocks in curly braces; module import is use module::submodule::symbol; comment with // or /* */ which can nest." Look very very closely at my two strings in this paragraph: they contain literally just as many characters.
You could start by summarizing go in a sentence and get people going, not trace it back to the ENIAC. I hate this GOBS and GOBS of time people assume we have.
And back to point 1, tool writers assume we have like infinite time to follow 27-point directions that could be 100% automated. And tutorial writers assume we have infinite time to read all about the history of the world. I have to watch YouTube videos at 2x speed so that they're sounding like they're rapping, just so I can get to all the stuff I don't need.
Get to the point, people. Not everyone has a picnic following directions that shouldn't even exist.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#24First, you must understand that, to LEARN effectively, you must be PATIENT, because effective learning requires concentration with no distraction and, focus on what the reward for acquiring a new knowledge will be. So, learn patiently, forget about every other thing including other contending study need, take it one at a time and keep moving forward steadily.
http://ayietim.wordpress.com
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#25I don't necessarily do the practice exercises, but I'm not impatient. For me, the only good way to learn something is to start playing with it, using it. I learn from struggling.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#26[deleted]
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#27I get incredibly frustrated with 1) people who "design" (and I use the term very, very loosely) the actual tools you're learning, and 2) then even more so for the people who teach the tools, as though it's the only thing that existed - even though any member of the target audience has to know a thousand very closely related things, so that honestly you could just point out the 5 tricky things. For point 1 - things sh…
1, tool writers assume we have like infinite time to follow 27-point directions that could be 100% automated. And tutorial writers assume we have infinite time to read all about the history of the world.
An alternative explanation is that their audience is wider than your stated 99%.
Somewhat ironically, if you scroll down ~20 lines on the Rust book page you linked there is the deep water you are demanding.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#28It really helps me when I am learning something that is a ton of fun to learn. The OSCP cert may not be exactly your area of interest, but I guarantee you will have fun and gain a ton of confidence in your technical skills. OSCP teaches you how to do security pen testing. It has been so much fun and so addicting that I often struggle to pull myself away from the computer until 3AM. Many of the tools I use are written in python and ruby. It will also teach you to take the responsibility to write secure code very seriously.
https://www.offensive-security.com/information-security-cert...
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#29I get impatient with learning materials in video rather than text form.
I can read considerably faster than you can speak. Please just give me written materials.
Re: Ask HN: Do you get impatient when learning new things?
#30Find a little project you want to do using the technology. For example if you are learning Python, come up with a little program/website idea you want to make, and do it in Python. It's always easier to learn "as you go" rather than just reading a book in isolation.
For a skilled programmer who is fluent in a couple of other languages, I actually think that is counter-productive. Better take your time to learn that new technology properly in its entirety and then start playing with it. This way you will have a complete mental model of that technology in your head and you will be more likely to do stuff properly from the first try.