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Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

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Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#61

Post by rwnspace »

escape-effect wrote: post #38
rwnspace wrote: post #5

I planned to go from beginner Python to employed developer. Went a bit off track and learned the basics of lots and lots of languages. Kept switching the domains I wanted to work in. I studied a fair bit of CS, but in a fairly shallow way (it's been a decade since my last maths lesson). This year I proved to myself I could learn lots - next year is proving I can do the same, just in one or two things!

It's harder to focus on learning a single thing perfectly with all the noise out there. Did you get employed as a python developer?

Nah, it turns out opportunities for Python + first job in the UK are somewhat rare, especially as I don't have a completed degree. If you don't live in London, C#/.NET or JS + a framework make up 90% of opportunities. Of course, just learning the right language isn't how it works, and it took me a while to take that on board.

> It's harder to focus on learning a single thing perfectly with all the noise out there

Preach! I've definitely flipflopped languages and target positions based on a combination of reading posts here (and on Reddit), and a few damning/exciting articles or blog posts - not that I'd admit that at the time. I continue to seriously consider various levels of disconnection from the web, from blocking a couple of sites, to editing my hosts file, to using my routers child-blocking settings (block device by time, website etc)...

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#62

Post by lizmat »

asicsp wrote: post #57

Did not plan it as such, but trying to convert Perl one-liners to Ruby one-liners led to learning Ruby more than I expected. I tried my hand at translating "Think Python" to "Think Ruby" and by November, I even published a book on Ruby regular expressions. For next year, I hope to continue learning various tools for text processing

Ah, another translation of "Think Python"! Laurent Rosenfeld originally wanted to translate "Think Python" to French, but then decided to translate it to Perl 6: Think Perl 6 (https://greenteapress.com/wp/think-perl-6/). Which in turn got translated to Spanish by Luis F. Uceta: Piensa en Perl 6 (https://uzluisf.gitlab.io/piensaperl6/). Where will it stop? :-)

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#63

Post by asicsp »

lizmat wrote: post #62
asicsp wrote: post #57

Did not plan it as such, but trying to convert Perl one-liners to Ruby one-liners led to learning Ruby more than I expected. I tried my hand at translating "Think Python" to "Think Ruby" and by November, I even published a book on Ruby regular expressions. For next year, I hope to continue learning various tools for text processing

Ah, another translation of "Think Python"! Laurent Rosenfeld originally wanted to translate "Think Python" to French, but then decided to translate it to Perl 6: Think Perl 6 ( https://greenteapress.com/wp/think-perl-6/ ). Which in turn got translated to Spanish by Luis F. Uceta: Piensa en Perl 6 ( https://uzluisf.gitlab.io/piensaperl6/ ). Where will it stop? :-)

that's because Think Python is simply too awesome ;)

I did about 60-70% before stopping mine though, hopefully will finish next year or ask for ruby community to pitch in.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#66

Post by atiredturte »

Took a French course on a whim, and ended up learning moving to France for a month, getting myself to comfortably conversational in the space of 5 months in all. Had my first insightful conversation on Blockchain tech entirely in French!

note: French shares many long and technical words with English, thus more complicated topics are often easier to discuss.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#67

Post by atiredturte »

120bits wrote: post #40
thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

Nice! I'm learning German as well. Can you tell me if you used any books/tutorials/apps/classes? Thanks in advance.

Not OP, but I had great success with learning languages after reading Gabriel Wyner's "Fluent Forever". Don't pay attention to the way he advertises his new app, frankly it does a disservice to the quality of the book. I ended up thinking and gaining much more fluency in my chosen languages after reading his book and using his techniques.

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#69

Post by thiago_fm »

mortivore wrote: post #47
thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

I'm curious, what kept you motivated to learn German? I've tried learning languages multiple times in the past, but keeping up with it has proved difficult because I have no use case.

Because I've moved to Berlin :-)

I currently speak 3 languages and have learned then due to needing to speak in my day to day life. Just move abroad!

Re: Ask HN: What did you learn in 2018?

#70

Post by thiago_fm »

120bits wrote: post #40
thiago_fm wrote: post #17

Improved my German considerably. Can definitely deal with any situation by now, but I still have much to improve. Also learned a lot of Elixir. Both are things which in the past year I've commited to learn. Learning is a constant process, next year I expect more of the same, but a higher mastery level! Also learned a decent amount of management things, better organization skills etc, but that I didn't plan for.

Nice! I'm learning German as well. Can you tell me if you used any books/tutorials/apps/classes? Thanks in advance.

Duolingo, normal classes in the beginning. Nowadays mostly speaking to people and watching TV and every once in a while reviewing grammar.

Give it time.

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