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Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

addyosmani.com

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Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#161

Post by talonx »

Decabytes wrote: post #108
throw1234651234 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I will form my thoughts as a reply to you, since it's in a similar vein. To me, writing is always a tedious process. I can ** out articles quickly, but 52 articles a year? This reminds me of people who say "Read a Book a Day"^tm. If you are really writing articles on topics you have a weak understanding of, while working full time, with the articles being somewhat original/new, how in the world are you writing one a…

I have a full time job so writing 52 technical articles a week would be too much. To give you an example of the type of articles I've written, here are the last 10 articles I've created. 1. Berkeley’s Digital Legacy: The Evolution of BSD and Its Influence 2. Tracing the Lines: From the Telephone to Unix 3. My experience with Pop!_OS Linux Distribution 4. Enhancing Emacs Efficiency with Xah Fly Keys 5. Learning to Tou…

> 52 technical articles a week

I think GP wrote "a year", not a week.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#162

Post by greensh »

moomoo11 wrote: post #84

I like writing but I think the whole “write it and you’ll get it” doesn’t work for me. It’s just extra effort. Writing is fun for the sake of writing. But I’ve not ever found it helpful for me to remember stuff or whatever. Either the subject matter makes sense on first pass, or I just need to practice it like math or something a few times and it sticks. Either you get it or you don’t. And write for fun.

Sometimes I learn something and think I understand it. But when writing about it (without looking it up again) or teaching it to someone, I often find gaps.

I can fill this gaps by reading it again or looking up another source.

I like to think this method of filling the gaps is faster then just reading the material again, because it forces me to recall it first and therefore sticks in my memory longer.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#163

Post by jacknobody »

I always wanted to be able to teach what I'm learning, so from the beginning of learning about a new topic is try and rephrase the information I receive and place it within the world I already understand. It's not so easy, but after years thinking about e.g. algebra I've become a good teacher.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#164

Post by fnands »

winter_blue wrote: post #56
p4bl0 wrote: post #50

I remember an old PhD comics strip where a professor says “Remember kids, the only difference between fooling around and science is writing it down.”. In the context the goal was obviously for it to be funny but it is actually a very good and wise advice.

Wow, that's actually deeper than it sounds. I do wonder though: did a lot of famous scientists (like Einstein, Feynman, Turing, etc) use writing as a vehicle for learning?

It's both flippant and surprisingly deep, which I think is a nice combo. It's also the opening quote in my PhD thesis.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#165

Post by throw1234651234 »

scotty79 wrote: post #95
LanceH wrote: post #88

See one, do one, teach one is the mantra in medicine. In the military it was common to hear, "you don't know something until you can teach a class on it." So there was an expectation that everyone should be able to pass on the skills they are responsible for.

Not necessarily. To teach somthing you need to understand it very well. The core of it. The essence of it. When I studied I was helping others with the material. I felt how much that improved my understanding of it. So they might have meant that you don't just need to be able to teach it. You'll understand it only after you've already taught it to someone.

I think it's also important to understand where the practical understanding cut off is. When you tell someone to npm i some_package, you need to pretty much tell them not to worry about how that works under the hood. When you are teaching someone to load a rifle (to follow the initial example used above), you need to pretty much cut them off when they start asking about the composition of modern smokeless powder vs black powder or something. My point is that knowing how deep NOT to go is key to practical knowledge or teaching it.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#166

Post by flir »

codeTired wrote: post #126
simonw wrote: post #89

I started publishing "TIL" posts a few years ago and everything in this post here resonated 100% with my experience of writing those. The great thing about TILs is that once you form a solid set of habits around them they can be extremely quick to put together: the majority of my TIL posts take between 15 minutes and half an hour to write. I make extensive personal notes on everything I'm doing (in GitHub issues thre…

I have this odd fear that sharing what I learned today will make me look stupid. “Look it’s 2023 this dude just learned about http error codes”. Silly example but you get the idea.

Turn off the comments ;) Or just publish anonymously.

I was actually considering doing this on gemini, because I've got that fear too. An append-only log habit is definitely helping me lately, why not make it (semi-)public?

I think there's a single meachanism underneath both this and rubber ducking. There's something about getting your thoughts in order at a verbal (or textual) level that aids understanding.

Re: Writing about what you learn pushes you to understand topics better

#167

Post by JJMcJ »

wrs wrote: post #147
akkad33 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I thought this was a myth

I still have the bound, page-numbered notebook issued to me by Microsoft in the late 90s for this exact purpose, along with a lecture explaining the methodology above. (A rather misguided effort by an IP attorney who was apparently new to software…)

Still being sold:

https://www.amazon.com/BookFactory-Black-Inventors-Notebook-...

for example.

Notice some of the features: pages are sewn in, so it will be obvious if one is removed, tamper-evident archival paper, space to sign each page.

Paper documents I think still have the most standing as evidence.

This doesn't look like size for a full notary seal but space for a witness to sign. I suppose a notary could stamp it someplace.

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