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I don't quite understand your first sentence. How can you learn anything new if you don't run into your own limits?

by sbov 16y ago

evo_9 16y ago
Ha! Good point... I was trying to get at this idea that some people are naturals and Jeff seems to be that type of person; for what he might lack in formal education - and hence may run into these 'limits' more than others might - he has other worthwhile traits that compensate or even compliment this perceived lack on his part. For all we know it's his lack of knowledge that gives him an edge - he runs into something he doesn't get or hasn't been exposed too and dives in, eats it up because he needs to really know it. Compare that to a guy that takes a class on some esoteric aspect of coding, when he/she doesn't have any need to apply it, when they just care about getting a good grade - which person really has learned the material? Does the person that already learned it but didn't need it at the time have a really big advantage? They might work through the problem faster, so maybe that's the advantage - you save some time. But I like the root of your point - one doesn't grow/learn without trying to hit their own limits and push past them. Good stuff man.
- sbov 16y ago
  That makes sense. Theres one big difference between real life and (undergrad?) CS classes: the discovery phase. In most classes, the solution is laid out for you or implied in some way. Algorithms classes generally just consist of following a spec outlined by the book/teacher. But when you run across a problem in real life it doesn't tell you to use a specific algorithm to solve it. Because of this, finding the solution usually requires a deeper level of knowledge. When I graduated, that was the scariest part for me. Sure, I knew a bunch of algorithms, but I didn't have much practice in discovering when to use them and applying them to problems.
  - evo_9 16y ago
    Exactly - how to find answers to new problems is huge. That's probably the question that makes or breaks interviews I give to new programmers. If they can't tell me how they'll figure something out on there own, yeah not good. In fact, even just being honest and saying you'd not consider this and weren't sure would be fine too. But you'd be surprised how many people how no real answer or scramble something out that doesn't quite cover it. The funny thing is - esp. depending on how old you are - it is incredible how much easier it is to learn/find answers now. Pre-google it was tough - I frequented Barns & Nobles often to see what new books had arrived, or just to go find an answer in a book I knew they had. But I digress... google/stackoverflow/etc have all made our lives so much easier.

I don't quite understand your first sentence. How can you learn anything new if you don't run into your own limits?

by sbov 16y ago

I don't quite understand your first sentence. How can you learn anything new if you don't run into your own limits?

evo_9 16y ago

Ha! Good point... I was trying to get at this idea that some people are naturals and Jeff seems to be that type of person; for what he might lack in formal education - and hence may run into these 'limits' more than others might - he has other worthwhile traits that compensate or even compliment this perceived lack on his part. For all we know it's his lack of knowledge that gives him an edge - he runs into something he doesn't get or hasn't been exposed too and dives in, eats it up because he needs to really know it. Compare that to a guy that takes a class on some esoteric aspect of coding, when he/she doesn't have any need to apply it, when they just care about getting a good grade - which person really has learned the material? Does the person that already learned it but didn't need it at the time have a really big advantage? They might work through the problem faster, so maybe that's the advantage - you save some time. But I like the root of your point - one doesn't grow/learn without trying to hit their own limits and push past them. Good stuff man.

sbov 16y ago
That makes sense. Theres one big difference between real life and (undergrad?) CS classes: the discovery phase. In most classes, the solution is laid out for you or implied in some way. Algorithms classes generally just consist of following a spec outlined by the book/teacher. But when you run across a problem in real life it doesn't tell you to use a specific algorithm to solve it. Because of this, finding the solution usually requires a deeper level of knowledge. When I graduated, that was the scariest part for me. Sure, I knew a bunch of algorithms, but I didn't have much practice in discovering when to use them and applying them to problems.
- evo_9 16y ago
  Exactly - how to find answers to new problems is huge. That's probably the question that makes or breaks interviews I give to new programmers. If they can't tell me how they'll figure something out on there own, yeah not good. In fact, even just being honest and saying you'd not consider this and weren't sure would be fine too. But you'd be surprised how many people how no real answer or scramble something out that doesn't quite cover it. The funny thing is - esp. depending on how old you are - it is incredible how much easier it is to learn/find answers now. Pre-google it was tough - I frequented Barns & Nobles often to see what new books had arrived, or just to go find an answer in a book I knew they had. But I digress... google/stackoverflow/etc have all made our lives so much easier.