61–70 of 205 posts
Maybe there should be another programmer maxim: DRO (dont repeat others)
You must repeat the doing but not the inventing. I propose the following maxim: Good programmers invent, great programmers copy.
Yes and no. I'm a co-founder of http://devbootcamp.com so I see this every day in the context of people learning to be programmers. "The best programmers I know understand how to architect and build large projects piece by piece. They can focus on the macro because don’t get hung up in the pieces. They know how to use Google to find solutions fast. DRY." I agree with the first and second bit and strictly speaking the…
Correct. If I'm understanding you, I'd summarize the distinction as follows: Google should be used as a reference . It should not be used in place of educated judgement. This goes along with the ideology that you should not trouble yourself with monkey-memorization. When learning to program (for instance), concepts are far more important and useful, as you are constantly faced with making educated decisions. Decision…
More formally, it's nothing more complicated than a standard fallacy of the converse. We have "being an expert implies being the quickest to use Google." This does not imply the converse: "being the quickest to use Google implies being an expert."
Yes and no. I'm a co-founder of http://devbootcamp.com so I see this every day in the context of people learning to be programmers. "The best programmers I know understand how to architect and build large projects piece by piece. They can focus on the macro because don’t get hung up in the pieces. They know how to use Google to find solutions fast. DRY." I agree with the first and second bit and strictly speaking the…
But they key to becoming a non-beginner are the first two bits, not the third. It's developing that filter experts have which separates relevant information from irrelevant information. Lots of beginners use Google in a backwards sort of way, having been trained to "look for the solution." It's not about memorization, then, it's about this compression algorithm we call "being an expert." I think this goes pretty much…
Watch a lawyer scan through a contract or a copyeditor edit your essay -- same thing. They catch in a second something you'd never catch in hours and hours, if ever.
"The best doctors are the quickest to Google." "The best scientists are the quickest to Google." "The best engineers are the quickest to Google." Are the above statements true? Quite possibly. I would argue that the best in their fields are those writing the answers that are indexed by Google to be found by others. However, usually the best in their fields are also good at using Google. Unfortunately, the worst in th…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Absolutely. Doctors are particularly egoistic and don't deal well with long-tail problems. But that doesn't make yours the best doctor; the best doctor wrote the original material. Willingness to research the answer just makes your doctor an effective doctor, because they ultimately deliver the correct answer.
the best doctor wrote the original material I agree with everything else in your comment, but that doesn't make sense. How do you arrive at that conclusion?
Yes and no. I'm a co-founder of http://devbootcamp.com so I see this every day in the context of people learning to be programmers. "The best programmers I know understand how to architect and build large projects piece by piece. They can focus on the macro because don’t get hung up in the pieces. They know how to use Google to find solutions fast. DRY." I agree with the first and second bit and strictly speaking the…
But they key to becoming a non-beginner are the first two bits, not the third. It's developing that filter experts have which separates relevant information from irrelevant information. Lots of beginners use Google in a backwards sort of way, having been trained to "look for the solution." It's not about memorization, then, it's about this compression algorithm we call "being an expert." I think this goes pretty much…
It's an opportunity. Not an easy one, by any means, but still an opportunity.
I'm not quite sure what is so revolutionary about this post. If you don't know something of course you will Google it. However, a good programmer can make better queries precisely because he/she knows more background about the problem than a less experienced programmer, so in the end, it's still down to who has internalized more information.
Yes and no. I'm a co-founder of http://devbootcamp.com so I see this every day in the context of people learning to be programmers. "The best programmers I know understand how to architect and build large projects piece by piece. They can focus on the macro because don’t get hung up in the pieces. They know how to use Google to find solutions fast. DRY." I agree with the first and second bit and strictly speaking the…