Re:How do you learn?
by xirium on Tuesday February 05, 2008 @05:06PM
(#109952)
> Learn Blub in 21 Days
I find these books really objectionable. They propagate bad practice and minimal understanding. Furthermore, the type of people who need to Learn Blub in 21 Days are in headless chicken mode - they've got less than 21 days and they don't RTFM.
Another objection is the cookie-cutter approach to the teaching which may work for some but frustrates if you want to understand underlaying rules. If I had 21 days to learn French, then I'd start with the grammar. This phrase-book approach to programming gives you 20% of the benefit after exerting 80% of the effort. The 80-20 rule is suppused to work the other way. You're supposed to get 80% of the benefit from 20% of the effort.
> K&R
I read some of the first edition of K&R and I found it enlightening because they'd written it for the benefit of other C compiler writers. Furthermore, the first edition is a snapshot during development and they're quite candid about unfinished features. It also gives tips on programming style. Ignore these tips and you'll discover the cost later.
I find these books really objectionable. They propagate bad practice and minimal understanding. Furthermore, the type of people who need to Learn Blub in 21 Days are in headless chicken mode - they've got less than 21 days and they don't RTFM.
Another objection is the cookie-cutter approach to the teaching which may work for some but frustrates if you want to understand underlaying rules. If I had 21 days to learn French, then I'd start with the grammar. This phrase-book approach to programming gives you 20% of the benefit after exerting 80% of the effort. The 80-20 rule is suppused to work the other way. You're supposed to get 80% of the benefit from 20% of the effort.
> K&R
I read some of the first edition of K&R and I found it enlightening because they'd written it for the benefit of other C compiler writers. Furthermore, the first edition is a snapshot during development and they're quite candid about unfinished features. It also gives tips on programming style. Ignore these tips and you'll discover the cost later.