25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds

Re:25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds by groundCode on Wednesday April 03, 2019 @02:06AM (#19561144)

I think it goes both ways. Yes the student has to expend effort to understand, but teachers can make a huge difference. With Stackoverflow, I think often the simple questions point to a possibility that technical documentation isn’t all that beginner friendly. That and a lack of good examples in many tech docs. Good questions answered by good teachers can be an amazing shortcut to better understanding.

> But it’s more your own lack if you’re not able to imagine these thing inside your mind by yourself

Maybe that in itself is a taught skill?

Disraeli said “the fool wonders, the wise man asks”

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Re:25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds by mattkevan on Wednesday April 03, 2019 @07:49AM (#19562564)

Technical documentation can be unhelpful as it sometimes leaves out a lot of surrounding context. So even if you’ve got the docs it can be unclear how to apply what they say as so much other knowledge is assumed by the authors.

This is understandable as they tend to be written by people who know the thing inside out and backwards, but there can be a gulf between the beginner getting started guides (if any) and the proper docs, that only reading/asking questions can properly fill.

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Re:25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds by neovive on Wednesday April 03, 2019 @09:53AM (#19563291)

Very true. I think Stackoverflow questions provide context that tends to be missing in most technical documentation. Many times starting in SO and ending in the docs is more practical than just starting in the docs.

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Re:25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds by OscarTheGrinch on Wednesday April 03, 2019 @02:17AM (#19561191)

We are the sum of all the questions we have asked.

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