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Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#21

Post by eccp »

brown wrote: post #7

Project Euler ( http://projecteuler.net/ ) is great for this kind of thing. The problems start simple, which is perfect for the "learn the syntax" / "learn the tools" phase. Then the problems get harder, which is perfect for the "learn the advanced features" / "learn about the community" phase.

Exactly this! ... I started learning Clojure but I was too green to build something complex, so my problem was "Where do I get problems to solve with it?" and somehow I stumbled with Project Euler, where many others implement solutions in other esoteric languages as well.

Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#23

Post by _xhok »

I think "build something" would be better reworded as "do something;" that is, use the technology. Studying theory before diving in may work for other fields but if, say, you're trying to learn Django, you learn more from making a web app with it than you do from reading or watching several tutorials or guides. If you want to use vim, just write your next program with it, and consult the help every time you notice an inefficiency in your work flow.

I think this approach works with hacking because there are so many little perks you have to know about and finishing a project is one of the best ways to expose yourself to many of them.

Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#24

Post by pelanne »

christiangenco wrote: post #20

1. Hear about cool new technology for the 3rd time, this time seeing a clear application for how it could be used 2. Get really excited and go to technology's homepage.io 3. Get 40% through homepage.io's tutorial before I get frustrated and confused 4. Shelve new technology away in my brain as a list of potential things I could build something with 5. Months later, get a really Cool Idea for something I could build w…

Hah! Scarily accurate.

Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#26

Post by gamegoblin »

ripberge wrote: post #25

So 123 of you (at this moment) just "build something" without reading anything? Like you just open a text editor and the code flows out of your fingertips due to your vast computer science knowledge? Typical HN b.s.

I think by "build something" that involves looking up precise stuff as one goes along.

I learned Go without looking at any tutorials. I just started coding and googled for things like "array declaration in Golang" as I needed it. My first Go program was a dynamic image resizer that used seam carving to intelligently scale images. I had never used Go before, nor implemented that particular algorithm before.

So by "build something", that is to say I didn't go through a book first, or a tutorial first, or a video first.

Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#27

Post by tomku »

For me, it's a mixture of books/e-books, screencasts, self-directed projects and free web resources. Paid versus free doesn't really matter much to me - whether it's a $20 book or free series of blog posts, the time investment tends to dominate the money investment. I'm more worried about wasting time on poor resources than saving a couple bucks, and books have treated me very well in that regard.

Re: Poll: How do you learn new technologies?

#29

Post by Mikeb85 »

christiangenco wrote: post #20

1. Hear about cool new technology for the 3rd time, this time seeing a clear application for how it could be used 2. Get really excited and go to technology's homepage.io 3. Get 40% through homepage.io's tutorial before I get frustrated and confused 4. Shelve new technology away in my brain as a list of potential things I could build something with 5. Months later, get a really Cool Idea for something I could build w…

Haha +1 to this... Familiar path, this is how I learned Clojure.
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