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From novice to master, and back again (2013)

blog.djmnet.org

21–30 of 150 posts

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#21
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

Truly relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/1168/

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#22

I find my personal memory is very ephemeral, without repetition, things get quickly forgotten. In a long enough timeline, about 1-3 year, I start to fail recognizing my own code. Since I have trained most Jr Devs I work with they all have similar coding patterns as me, which makes it even harder. Granted, I have specific code tells, which helps, but like the article mentions I have forgotten the why or the bug that I…

That feeling when you go on a rant about how something was done in a super confusing way, so you do a ‘git blame’ or equivalent - and it’s all your fault. Oops.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#23
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

"It's like regex" could be another punchline for the joke

My biggest problem with regex is each language/program/whatever has their own take on it. You don't have to learn it over and over, you have to learn multiple slightly different versions of it over and over.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#25
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

This is why imo powershell (when done right) is more powerful than bash (no matter how correctly it’s done). Powershell cmdlet names are descriptive and generally make sense as do the parameter names, additionally the guidelines for how to make powershell commands forces a certain style that once you grok it makes sense for most powershell commands.

If bash has something like that I’m still missing it.

Obviously the brevity of bash can be its own power.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#26
I've had that happen with math teaching material a couple of times. One time I was dissatisfied with how I presented the definition of implication so I googled. The top link was to a discussion where the person answering linked to me. Like DJM, I found it a little unsettling.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#27
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

I use the `ln` command a lot. I use the `man ln` command _almost_ as much.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#28
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

I get a little offended by people who think stackoverflow is a character flaw. I go there because it will tell me things like if you get the arguments to ‘dd’ wrong you’ll zero out the drive you were trying to back up. That the function breaks if you pass in null for the second parameter. Or that it simply doesn’t work properly.

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#29

Zen Koan: Before I began my studies in Zen, I thought a tree was a tree and a stone, a stone. When I started to study Zen, I could see that a tree was not a tree, and a stone was not a stone. Now that I am a Zen master, I know that a tree is a tree and a stone is a stone. -- Source: my buddy in college I think you come full circle to learn that you can only keep so much in your head at one time and that you're always…

    Before enlightenment: chop wood, carry water
    After enlightenment: chop wood, carry water

Re: From novice to master, and back again (2013)

#30
post #21
post #17

This reminds me of an old joke I heard a while back, which is that the opposite of "it's like riding a bike" is "it's like the UNIX command line". No matter how many times you do it, you will have to re-learn it every single time.

Truly relevant XKCD https://xkcd.com/1168/

I’ve never understood that one. I realize it’s just a joke, but xvf/cfv (extract/compress, view, uh,. Ok I did have to look up f, which I think is file) and the z for gzip is one of the few commands I have no trouble remembering.
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