note that what you're exploiting here is the fact that it's a lot easier to identify "a mess" than it is is to identify a gap in your understanding of the langu

note that what you're exploiting here is the fact that it's a lot easier to identify "a mess" than it is is to identify a gap in your understanding of the language; identifying the mess helps guide you to the gap. That's an interesting way to look at it. I guess I do struggle, because of the way I learn a new language or a technology. I spend a lot of time reading books, or other people's code, but I don't spend enough writing out a solution for I fear it will be not the right way to do it. Your suggestion turns this around on its head - try and write a solution, no matter how unpolished or un-idiomatic is, then step back and see what could be improved. I like your take on this. Although, I will admit, I am still a little puzzled. Take, for example - I am currently spending time learning Clojure, and decided to attack the 99-Lisp-Problems to help me out. For a particular solution, I wrote a function that was about 8 lines long and I could not find a better way to solve the problem. A quick Google search revealed a solution that was a one-liner! I guess that's my feedback loop - Other people's solutions to the same problems.