Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software • Hacker News Board

Re: Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software

#91

Post by kumthekar » Mon, Jan 07, 2013, 7:29 AM UTC

ams6110 wrote: post #77

gwern wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think memorization doesn't really help understand the fundamentals of any topic. Rote memorization can only get you so far. As concepts get harder and complex, dependence on mere memorization leaves a lot of holes in the understanding of any subject matter. The existing research says that spaced repetition helps with abstracting and generalizing understanding as well as 'rote memorization': http://www.gwern.net/S…

Abstracting and generalizing, and understanding advanced concepts, is impossible if you don't have the fundamentals memorized.

I look at the role 'rote memorization' plays very differently from what spaced and interleaved repetition does. Rote memorization is short-lived because the kind of patterns and associations that the brain builds internally is not that strong. Our brains 'remember' well when a piece of knowledge (for the lack of a better word) is repeatedly encountered in diverse settings. More the associations the better we remember and recall.

It is true that without a good understanding of fundamentals the advanced concepts will be difficult to comprehend. But, rote memorization should not be construed as something that lays a strong foundation of fundamentals. Even if we are able to recall basic concepts 'learned' via rote memorization, their applicability to understanding advanced concepts is very limited.

Re: Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software

#92

Post by oscardelben » Mon, Jan 07, 2013, 7:44 PM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #87

oscardelben wrote: post #15

Oddly enough, I've tried SR multiple times in the past, with very bad outcomes. For example, if I added 10 new english words on day 1 (english is my second language), I would only recall ~10-20% the day after. Then a few days ago I started reading The Memory Book which really emphasizes on visualizing things, making correlations, etc. The effort of visualizing and using imagination really made a difference: in one ho…

The Loci Method? It's a well respected way of storing information. But (drawing a terrible analogy) it's a linked list, not a hash. It's hard to perform a random lookup on something 2/3rds of the way through your mental tour. SRS works on the well understood phenomena of repeated exposure and tested recall. They're very good at imprinting atomic information even if that information has no context whatsoever. The orig…

To solve the hash problem you can use association and substitution. For example, while learning the word bowler the other day I imagined a bowl that served as a "tana" (my first language translation) for animals. It's a ridiculous association but it kinda works. The nice thing is that I then put words on Anki too.

Re: Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software

#93

Post by atsaloli » Tue, Jan 08, 2013, 5:14 AM UTC

jacques_chester wrote: post #23

atsaloli wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What happened to your research proposal? Did you do the research?

I submitted 4 proposals; I wound up doing a different one. The others were: * a robust user-tracking protocol for websites (this is the project I went with). Inspired by a business idea I had in 2008; currently the basis of my "big" startup project. * a "whole-machine" architecture proof-of-concept -- basically a blog app targeting a VPS. Gives you a lot more design options if you can control the architecture from th…

Great!

Re: Memorizing a programing language using spaced repetition software

#94

Post by pi18n » Wed, Jan 09, 2013, 10:34 AM UTC

xiaoma wrote: post #52

pi18n wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But can't you also use SRS with larger chunks? I think that's what the All Japanese All The Time author does and he's fairly confident about the results.

Putting whole sentences into an SRS definitely beats isolated words, but it's still not a replacement for actual reading. The AJATT guy was big on SRS, but he was also watching hours of Japanese TV each day and even playing Japanese music and various other MP3s in his sleep. He got the requisite comprehensible input. He achieved a good level of language skill, but for the time he put in it wasn't exceptional. L2 acqu…

Haha, no, I believe you! Just curious to hear another perspective on it... and I had forgotten that he was getting hours of passive input in addition.

It just always sounded interesting because I had reasonable success with flashcards for single words. In retrospect, that was before I had the ability to read even short stories, so maybe I am remembering the utility of them wrong, or they seemed useful because the alternative was nothing.