3 ms·
If you go a month without being able to find a bug in an algorithm/problem that you already understand in principle, it seems often a result of not talking to o
by WhitneyLand 8y ago
If you go a month without being able to find a bug in an algorithm/problem that you already understand in principle, it seems often a result of not talking to others enough.
Not that some smarter person would instantly give you the answer (although if so great), rather the way that the process of explaining the problem out loud and letting someone pick through your thought process can cause the solution, or just new lines of attack, to spontaneously pop into your head.
Surely this benefits most people at some point. I heard of a guy who articulates math problems to his dog, and doing so still added value, even though the dog doesn’t tend to probe or challenge his thinking very often.
Sometimes when I get stuck I explain problems to my wife (who is technical but specializes outside of CS) for only 15 minutes or so, and on occasion she provides me the solution without saying a word.
However I don’t know the mechanism, is there a formal name for the phenomenon?
I’d be curious to know how often during the month he had an opportunity to try this approach on his skip lists bug with different people.
- TimJYoung 8y agoHa, it's so funny that you mention this. My wife isn't a Luddite, but she's not a developer, either. I narrate design issues I have with our products to her, and she patiently lets me work through the issue out loud, although I'm not quite sure she would love being associated with a dog in this respect. :-) There's something about saying things out loud that clarifies the muddled mess in our heads. I also find this to be the case when having to teach something to someone.
- WhitneyLand 8y agoOh dear, please don’t infer any disrespect. I’m sure she is adding much more value than the dog, if for no other reason than you are forced to articulate things more cogently. I suspect it can work in different ways based on the experience/knowledge of the problem solving partner. Maybe your wife or an expert forces more precise thinking, maybe the dog for some people could create a more uninhibited environment, where we can share “dumb” thoughts we wouldn’t want to speak to a person yet could still lead down a productive path. I hope she appreciates her contribution. Seriously listening to someone is a great gift to give in so many contexts.
- TimJYoung 8y agoNo worries, I did not take your comments that way at all. In fact, we both just had a good laugh again about the subject when I mentioned that it had come up here. And yes, her listening is very kind and generous, although I do need to let her off the hook and get an actual tech partner at some point. 20+ years is a long time to subject someone to such things. :-)
- seren 8y agoIt is usually called rubber duck debugging, i.e. you explain your issue to a rubber duck. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_duck_debugging