Ask HN: What Are You Learning? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#121

Post by drivers99 » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:06 PM UTC

incanus77 wrote: post #76

I’ve been playing with bare metal Raspberry Pi programming and really enjoying it. There are two great frameworks — Circle and Ultibo. The former is in C++, but the latter is in… Free Pascal. Which is kinda weird but kinda fun. Having a Pi boot up and run your application in 2-3 seconds is pretty stunning.

I'll jump on your thread because it's similar in some ways. I'm learning Forth and more importantly, how to implement Forth from scratch. I'm targeting bare metal Raspberry Pi (especially the Zero at first). Looks like someone already combined bare metal Pi stuff from Alex Chadwick and an arm port of jonesforth (by Richard WM Jones which is in assembly but runs on Linux x86) but it also uses a lot of C libraries and stuff that they've added for USB keyboards etc and I just want everything to be a minimal assembly kernel and then build up from there in Forth itself. This is the branch that has taken things the farthest that I ran across: https://github.com/Avoncliff/pijFORTHos

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#122

Post by ARandomerDude » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:06 PM UTC

elias94 wrote: post #8

Clojure. Is a complex language but it seems really speeding up your programming when you learn how to use it properly. And the community is really addicted to it.

Hey congrats! I have been using Clojure professionally for 9 years and absolutely love it. A really important concept I tell all the new Clojurists at work:

Clojure is simple.

Nearly everything is just (function arg1 arg2 ...), even at a fundamental language level. It's actually our background experience in complex languages with all kinds of wacky syntax that makes Clojure seem hard at first. But it's very simple. So if you can't remember the syntax or why something is the way it is, step back and you'll realize it's just (function arg1 arg2 ...).

For example:

(defn add-these [x y] (+ x y))

is still just

(function arg1 arg2 arg3)

Where:

function = defn

arg1 = add-these (a symbol)

arg2 = [x y] (a vector)

arg3 = (+ x y) (an expression, which itself is just (function arg1 arg2))

You may already know all that, but regardless I hope it's encouraging because the bottom line is Clojure is easer than you think and you can do it! :-)

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#123

Post by elevenoh » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:07 PM UTC

andreskytt wrote: post #19

Swimming. Front crawl technique is a bottomless source of self-improvement and incremental gains

Likewise.

Front crawl really seems to be one of the most beautiful & rewarding processes to master.

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#124

Post by reidjs » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:08 PM UTC

Jtsummers wrote: post #95

Spanish - more relearning at this point and getting practice. Running - also relearning, which happened quickly this time. I'm already back to running 5ks after just a few weeks (though I also spent 6 months building up my cardio with a rowing machine). How to be offline and focused. Computers (and smartphones) are fantastic tools of distraction. I'm trying to regain my focus overall. Reading physical texts is helpin…

I don't know your background, but be careful ramping up long distance running too soon. Especially if you're running on concrete. It feels good till it doesn't lol

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#125

Post by nicetryguy » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:08 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #5

Piano. I've decided that more programming languages or web stacks are a complete waste of time. Piano is for life and I wished I had started doing this in earnest long ago.

Use a metronome.

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#126

Post by raspasov » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

elias94 wrote: post #8

Clojure. Is a complex language but it seems really speeding up your programming when you learn how to use it properly. And the community is really addicted to it.

Been using Clojure for 8 years or so. It's a very productive language.

Clojure is actually simpler (and eventually way, way easier) than most mainstream languages. It's just a bit different from what most people are used to and what is commonly taught as "programming".

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#127

Post by dorchadas » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:09 PM UTC

Currently working on textbooks in:

Topological Manifolds (Lee: Topological Manifolds)

Abstract Algebra (Dummit and Foote)

Geometric Algebra (Doran: Geometric Algebra for Physicists)

Differential Geometry (Fecko: Differential Geometry and Lie Groups for Physicists)

Though I'm less invested in these last two currently, as the diff geo's a prep for the masters I'll be doing and the other is something I'd really like to pursue but can't motivate myself to start working the problems out on.

I play around with some tech stuff, but nothing major -- just doing FreeCodeCamp and trying to keep my Python skills from going too rusty.

I'm fixing to start an Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics masters, so might review QM and CM as well as it's been a while since I've done them in school and I need a refresher, even if I hope to lean towards the 'Applied Math' (which is mostly numerical algorithms related, etc.) side of things in the masters.

Otherwise, I've been continuing working with Irish (Gaelic), and keep dabbling in some other languages, ranging from Spanish to Latin to Japanese. I also try to read widely in various topics from religious studies, philosophy to linguistics, psychology (I know...), sociology, pop science, etc. I've also bought an ocarina I need to try to practice since I'm off for the summer and don't have to worry about disturbing my roommate. But this is all mostly dabbling at this point, as I'm fixing to move countries for (at least) a year, so...

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#128

Post by dorchadas » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

susam wrote: post #92

Analytic number theory. I began reading a book on analytic number theory on my own sometime last year. While re-reading some chapters of the book again, I decided I might as well do the re-reading with a group of other folks who are interested in this subject. So I began hosting book club meetings for analytic number theory since March this year. I had made a Tell HN post about it back then. Those meetings are still…

Having a group to go through math books and check each other is always the best. Glad you were able to find one.

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#129

Post by ariosto » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:10 PM UTC

iOS development. I've been backend/infrastucture for a while now and want to be more well rounded.

Re: Ask HN: What Are You Learning?

#130

Post by bfors » Fri, Jun 25, 2021, 4:11 PM UTC

iKevinShah wrote: post #43

I am looking for ways to improve communication (and hence also negotiations). Far too many times I have been too very direct - I really envy typical HR's soft-spoken language, even if it is to deliver something horrific. I don't know if this is just how I am build mentally or not. The only way to find is to learn and try to adapt. So, not sure if this fits the question - spent a lot of time learning new tech, focusin…

You might want to checkout out NVC:

https://www.clearerthinking.org/post/2019/03/06/want-to-impr...

I found it through HN and for me, personally, it has helped.