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Do you need to people to tell you what to do? Asking other's advice is as stupid as judging a book by its cover. If you have studied a tad, or read books in t
by SFjulie1 11y ago
Do you need to people to tell you what to do?
Asking other's advice is as stupid as judging a book by its cover.
If you have studied a tad, or read books in the past, there are ways to efficiently evaluate a book:
Read some pages randomly. Think 30s if you liked it. TAOCP is indigest for sure.
Then take a topic for which its relevant. Read it.
Did you learnt something?
A) no, either you or him is an idiot. Go to B)
B) Was it luck? Reproduce nth time (n being left to your choice and whatever)
C) after nth iterations :
- is something interesting worth learning?
- can you understand the book (don't lie to yourself)?
- do you like reading it?
Then look at the tag price. You look at your internal evaluation and buy or not the book according to your needs.
I liked reading part of this book, and i grasped the underlying context fast enough to be so bored (trying to build a consistent mapping between algebrae and code) that I never opened it again.
In microelectronic you learn to draw your logic on Silicium and wire the logic... It is much more powerful and is one of the key concept of parallelism. Geometric approach.
But, this is my subjective opinion of the book. Talent comes with strong balance between opinions and curiosity.
If you want to understand better computers I would suggest to take a look at VHDL rather than TAOCP ... if it SUITS you.
You should be the master in your choices.
- noir_lord 11y ago> Do you need to people to tell you what to do? No but if I want advice on building a wall and I'm not a builder I might ask one. If I want advice on how to make bread I'd ask a baker. There is nothing wrong with asking more knowledgeable people for advice, in fact the inverse, I've learnt skills in my life the brute force way by trial and error where just been able to ask someone who'd done it for advice would have saved me a whole bunch of time.
- engi_nerd 11y agoThe two easiest ways to learn how to solve a problem: looking at a system that does exactly what you want and copying it shamelessly, and asking someone who has already done what you're trying to do how they did it.
- tdsamardzhiev 11y agoFunny how you tell him he doesn't need other people to tell him what to do, and then you tell him what to do :)
- SFjulie1 11y agoI give him a methodology that seems to have been lacking in his education. Not the conclusion he should reach. Maybe because I have a lutherian culture based on the belief that critical reading is the only way to improve the world and avoid the ravage of superstition? (Yes, the first act of faith of a lutherian is read the bible with a critical eye and refusing the interpretation of experts (called authority), but to accept discussion of other critical open readers on an equal foot based on experience). Maybe I come from a family that knows better than none the effect of people the importance of books as long as they are read critically. Maybe, because my family is on the run since 4 centuries from various places/religions/situations around the world. Monoculture is bad. Consensus is dangerous. Basically I resent bigots from all schools of thinking.