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I think you've possibly hit on a fundamental difference between learning styles that people have. I've learned probably 95% of all my programming from doing.

I think you've possibly hit on a fundamental difference between learning styles that people have. I've learned probably 95% of all my programming from doing. I do take issue though with the idea that the learn by doing crowd is somehow less accomplished. It smacks of baseless elitism.

dlo 16y ago
Isn't thinking that others have little to offer to you a form of elitism as well? It seems neither option is particularly humble.
- spiffytech 16y ago
  It's not that others have little to offer, it's a different style of learning. Just like some people are visual or auditory learners, some are kinesthetic learners. Seeing other people's code does little for me because I miss all of the reasoning that went into it's creation. However, when I've fought through the same problem myself, I understand very thoroughly the traps, pitfalls, and solutions the task entails. When I reach this level, I can read other people's code and clearly see why they did what they did, and how it's better or worse than my method. I have to take a crack at the problem myself first, though, in order to learn well. Reading other people's code is, for me, a way to refine and reinforce my techniques, not to learn entirely new things. I learn much less effectively when I try that.