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Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#41

Post by logicallee »

Just put into youtube the name of the subject and "easy explanation" (or similar words) and pick one of the videos to watch.

Since this is my go-to method, I tried it for the two subjects you suggest: "kernel development" and "writing proper C".

Check it out my results:

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=kernel+developm...

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=writing+proper+...

For the first one, I expect if you watched the top few results (17 minutes: Kernel Basics, 9 minutes:What is a kernel - Gary explains, 43 minutes:Manuel Schölling: Linux Kernel Development for Newbies) you'll be well on your way to learning this information. (The ones I didn't just quote are great too: "Basic Linux Kernel Programming"; "Write and Submit your first Linux kernel Patch"; etc etc etc etc. The whole page of video results is great.)

My second search above was a bit less of a match. The first four results seem too beginner for you, but the fifth result on that page is a 1 hour 40 minute Bjarne Stroustrup (the inventor of C++) talk titled: CppCon 2015: Bjarne Stroustrup “Writing Good C++14”.

So as you can see this method isn't fool-proof (even the result I just mentioned is about C++ rather than C) but in my experience, a fantastic way to learn that has not been mentioned in these comments so far. (There are currently 38 comments in this HN thread and 0 mentions of youtube.)

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#42

Post by Isamu »

>I've been considering skimming through the whole things to get kind of a big picture of what the thing is and where I'm going and then going back a second time to catch then the details and experiment.

That's what I would recommend ... quite often every detail is not necessary, but it helps to know where to look should you need more detail in the future.

Mortimer Adler discusses this, where first you want to get an overall gist of a book, and then skim it and dip further into areas. It helps you to start to formulate questions that you can answer with deeper reading. Then you might read the whole thing ... but maybe not, based on what you learned on grasping an overview.

It is particularly freeing to realize you don't need to completely read a book to get the most out of it FOR YOUR PURPOSES.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#43

Post by f1gm3nt »

I’m completely self taught and the strategy I use most often is to grab a book on the topic. Either a lame men’s copy or a college text book and skim as much as possible.

Once I’ve skimmed it I pretty much have a good idea of the outline and where the material is at within the book. After that I just read the parts I need most and implement them into a project.

I will often times go back and read things again an reimplement until I’m happy I understand most of it.

It might not be the best way but it’s worked for me and has helped me implement new things in a short amount of time.

Also becoming obsessed helps.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#44

Post by joyeuse6701 »

dghughes wrote: post #39
tomlong wrote: post #5

I've learnt recently (not much former higher education) the power of making long hand notes on pen and paper. It helps me connect with and think through the material and take it in at a pace I can process it. It's not quite the same, but I recently studied for a technical exam/certification where the syllabus included about 400 slides (about 10 days of teaching & lab work). I failed the exam just reviewing the slides…

There is a reason for that I've seen articles on it. If you take notes using a pen to write on paper you retain more. Using a computer to type notes into a text application is terrible. There is a disconnect between listening, then looking to type (or at the screen). I've noticed it myself. I went back to school late in life (48) and at first I wrote in notebooks. Feeling a bit old compared to my much younger classma…

I've experienced something similar though I find that I hate my handwriting and messy notes.

My wife and coworkers have found a solution in using a tablet like the iPad with stylus or something like reMarkable. The technology may be at the point where it is a satisfactory solution to the digital type vs note writing problem.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#45

Post by arsome »

sl1ck731 wrote: post #28
BossingAround wrote: post #23

I am fairly sure this is not the optimal way, but I've been learning complex information/structures in passes. For example: - 1st pass - I consume the materials as well as possible, and apply my knowledge. Typically, I have to look things up, some things are unclear, I can't remember much. Applying the knowledge is quite difficult. That's ok. - 2nd pass - I return to the materials, re-read much less thoroughly. I rea…

I do this in reverse. First blaze through reading with very little comprehension, then go back thoroughly. My reasoning is "I don't know what I don't know" on the first pass and my first goal is to understand that all of the things "exist", then how things individually work.

This is my exact approach - get familiar with the vague concepts and where you might use them, having lots and lots of these concepts to dig through in your head can be extremely helpful - then go back and learn in detail when it seems like one might be applicable to a given situation.

In defense of the other people here - often doing this properly involves a bit of a dense pre-read to make sure you can at least understand where these might be applicable. With a totally new area to you there's a big learning curve there.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#46

Post by jimktrains2 »

As I'm learning something, I cannkindnofnput placeholders/blackboxes in where I don't know the details, but where at this level or stage knowing the details doesn't help advance my understanding of something.

We do this all the time, using simplified models, but for some reason it feels alien when the end goal is to get rid of the model and make it more detailed, like when learning a new codebase.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#47

Post by hellofunk »

I’m a big fan of osmosis learning on really complicated stuff. I just read everything I can get my hands on, with the frustrating realization that I will not understand the vast majority of it. But I read it anyway. And lots of variety, from lots of different writing styles and perspectives, writers with different levels of expertise. Just soak it all In. At some point, it is always true, that things will start clicking. Then I can go back and reread that stuff and actually understand it.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#48

Post by jononor »

sl1ck731 wrote: post #28
BossingAround wrote: post #23

I am fairly sure this is not the optimal way, but I've been learning complex information/structures in passes. For example: - 1st pass - I consume the materials as well as possible, and apply my knowledge. Typically, I have to look things up, some things are unclear, I can't remember much. Applying the knowledge is quite difficult. That's ok. - 2nd pass - I return to the materials, re-read much less thoroughly. I rea…

I do this in reverse. First blaze through reading with very little comprehension, then go back thoroughly. My reasoning is "I don't know what I don't know" on the first pass and my first goal is to understand that all of the things "exist", then how things individually work.

I do the same. First pass is mostly getting a feel for what the extents and pieces in the system are, and getting familiar with the vocabulary. Then one can search targeted and efficiently afterwards when working on a task.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#49

Post by techthumb »

Slowly!

Learning tends to be inefficient. You do have to put in the time.

Working with people who have experience in the field will save time as they will be able to guide along the way.

Articulating what you have learned to someone will re-enforce your understanding.

Re: Ask HN: How do you learn complex, dense technical information?

#50

Post by BurningFrog »

For programming, I think learning by doing is the best.

I can read big fat manuals, nod knowingly at all I read, and then forget most of it when trying to build something.

If I have something concrete to build, figuring out how to do just that works much better.

Of course, there is a time for reading a lot in my model too. But it's interspersed with the doing.

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