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Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

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Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#81

Post by mindcrime »

I use a mixture of approaches, but w/r/t development I'd say one of the main approaches I use is to just start building something that requires me to learn something new, and then learn as I go. The actual learning is a mix of trial-and-error (in the case of programming), reading books, watching videos, taking classes, reading papers, etc.

For non-development topics (say, math) it's again a mixture of reading books, watching videos, working exercises, etc. And I try to attack problems from multiple angles, by using different books and resources. Just to illustrate with an example:

Last night I started working through How To Prove It by Daniel J. Velleman. I got to the Chapter 1 exercises, and hit a point where I needed to know if a given number was prime or not in order to verify my answer. It was a number larger than the list of primes I have memorized, and I didn't feel like testing all the possible factors by hand, so I just fired up R on my laptop, loaded the matlab library and used the isprime() function.

Later in those same exercises I got to a point where I had an answer, but wasn't sure if it was correct or not, so I just googled until I found a guy's blog where he posted his answers to the same problems. My answer matched his, so I felt fairly confident that it was right (of course, we might have both made the same mistake).

Had I not found that guy's blog, my plan was to post a question to math.stackexchange.com or one of the reddit.com math forums, asking if somebody could verify my answer.

So I started with a book, and eventually used a number of other resources as part of my overall learning experience (a scientific calculator was mixed in there somewhere as well, before I pulled out R).

This might lead one to ask "well, how did you learn R?" First of all, I wouldn't yet rank my R skills very high, but to the extent that I know some R, it was from (again) a mix of sources:

1. A bunch of Coursera classes, including several of the ones in the Johns Hopkins Data Science track, and the Duke "Probability and Statistics with R" track.

2. Working through parts of several R books, including R In Action, Learning R, Using R For Statistics, etc.

3. Trial and error, playing around, using the built-in docs, etc.

That's kinda it. I take notes using pencil and paper, sometimes a plain text file, occasional an OpenOffice Writer document, and sometimes a wiki (I keep a MediaWiki instance running locally).

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#82

Post by jgamman »

Two classes of problems: something related to what I'm already well versed in is different to something that I'm a noob.

For noob stuff, I make and quiz myself with physical cue cards. The act of writing the card and the answer seems to be 75% of the memorisation i need but i forget quickly... related to that, i write myself 'guides' that I wish i had read weeks/months before when i didn't know anything. something about writing the subject down as if i'm teaching it let's me anchor the beginning at a level that i can treat as a given and then baby steps all the way to the end. it's a bit Feynman-ish in that it really does force you to acknowledge when you're skipping over something and just rote-memorising.

Also, treat black boxes as a known unknown that you can always go back to. You often have to link up a dozen black boxes to get anywhere and if you go down each rabbit hole, you'll never get to the end. Better to play with them, get a feel for how they are behaving and dive in if/when they aren't doing as expected.

Quiz yourself. After a while it gets quite relaxing to glide over problems that stumped you when you first thought your should write them down. helps remind you that you _are_ learning.

Lot's of books/articles etc covering the same topic and re-reading them. You're different each time and you never know when you are _ready_ to learn that particular thing.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#84

Post by cs-student »

mikegerwitz wrote: post #9
adamnemecek wrote: post #6

For books, you have to generally read them like 5 times. The first pass might take me like an hour, it's mostly to establish a general mental framework for what's in the book (actually try to read the table of content, and like familiarize yourself with the words you might not know). On the second pass, you will actually try to read the book and retain like 20% of what you read. On the next one try the next 30%. This…

This was on HN quite some time ago: http://pne.people.si.umich.edu/PDF/howtoread.pdf I find it valuable for another reason: I'm always constrained for time, so I might not get through an entire book. If that book is deeply technical, it discourages me from continuing, because I have to take the time to re-skim what was read previously. I somewhat recently started trying the above method. With multiple iterations thro…

How does this work for mathematic books?

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#85

Post by fspear »

tchaffee wrote: post #22
GregBuchholz wrote: post #5

You might like: https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

I took the course. I thought it was excellent and it took less than a week for me to complete it working very part time on it. I was already using some of the suggested techniques, which was reassuring, and I learned some new ones. My progress with learning a new language and memorizing things in general has noticeably improved.

Can you summarize some of the techniques suggested in the course?

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#87

Post by edanm »

whiteandnerdy wrote: post #75
edanm wrote: post #68

Depends on what I'm trying to learn, but for things like Math and other technical topics, I'll try to find textbooks/video lectures, go through them, while adding them to Anki. If you don't use Anki - you really, really should. I'd be lost without it - it's one of the greatest life-hacks I have. Without it, I don't really feel like I've learned something "for life", only just for a moment. Also, reading multiple text…

Totally agree on Anki. It's not just for language learning (although it's great for that - I use it for Japanese). I also have a deck for those day-to-day random facts I used to just keep forgetting - family birthdays, proportions for French press coffee, etc. Gwern calculated the total time spent reviewing the average card is 2 mins across your lifespan ( https://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20 repetition) - so anything wor…

Absolutely, and I love Gwern's article as well. I use it for random facts, remembering faces, pretty much anything I learn academically that I can (economics, maths, etc), as well as studying some "lists of facts" just cause, like the location of all the countries in the world.

It's also an amazingly designed piece of software in terms of functionality, even if it does have a bit of a learning curve.

Honestly, my only complaint is that I can't figure out how to give them money! I'd love to donate to them but can't seem to :(

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#88

Post by __strisk »

hyfgfh wrote: post #78

Setup [ ] Define a subject, and a goal [ ] Get resources [ ] Create a topic list [ ] Filter the resources and assign resources to the topic list [ ] Think about possible projects Study - For each topic [ ] Collect data in a reference note [ ] Create flashcards [ ] Search and create questions / exercises [ ] Explain the subject in a piece of paper (Feynman's technique) [ ] Apply the knowledge in quizzes and practical…

we think alike! I have this process written down and pinned to my wall. I have been refining my thought process regarding learning. currently I have:

1. try to find a overarching synopsis of the main topic or goal. This can be done by looking at a summary article or by skimming the summaries of a textbook or by checking an expanded table of contents

2. Extract major topics and write these on a spreadsheet/graphical program/(giant) index card/ paper. If you used index cards or a graphical program or index cards try to discern dependencies between these topics by using the gui tools or simply laying out index cards on the ground.

3. Find resources that explain the topics. The resources do not need to be from the same resource. One source can explain topics a,b,c well but not d. You can use another resource for topic d.

4. map projects to topics: extremely important. After finding out the topics and associated resources, you should be able to come up with applications of the topics. These could be as simple as solving problems from a textbook or they can be grand like building a motorcycle (actually, that's too grand). Keep the primary goal to be learning the topics you set out to learn or completing your goal.

5. execute the projects

6. check off topics as you encounter them

7. reflect on the results of the project or application

8. if you encounter difficulties find more resources and drill down on topics you found interesting or challenging.

Not perfect, but its working well for me. You can start from practical applications or theoretical concepts. Books are great because they contain a structured approach to a topic. ALWAYS MAKE SURE THE BOOK HAS PROBLEMS THAT HAVE (some)ANSWERS!! You should be able to do quick knowledge checks.

topic based learning is more difficult and I feel like it's like making your own sandwich vs buying a prepackaged one.

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#89

Post by xbili »

danielvf wrote: post #43

The biggest test of what I've learned about learning was the day I had to learn embedded programming in twenty four hours. A customer called me at 5 pm. They had a possible six figure hardware sale, but a key aspect of their hardware was too slow, their only embedded software/hardware guy was no longer working there, and they had to have the new code in 24 hours for a demo. The software component to be sped up was th…

"I've found that you can think in your sleep. Maybe this is just me again, but I've learned that as long as I clearly layout a problem, solution, and tools before I sleep, I wake up with the answer."

- This is something that occurs to me too, which is why I always scribble the hardest problem I have at hand before I sleep every night. Does wonders. :)

Re: Ask HN: What's your process for learning?

#90

Post by BOOSTERHIDROGEN »

sghiassy wrote: post #44

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Anki cards. It's a scientifically proven method to learn any topic through spaced repetition. Any time you find some thing you want to learn - add a card to Anki. Anki will make sure you never forget and truly understand the topic. I highly recommend AnkiApp: https://www.ankiapp.com Or: https://apps.ankiweb.net

could you post your anki's setup? Thank you
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