I’ve found it useful to know the underlying principles for a lot of things, but the details for a few. For instance, Understanding b-trees and log based data s

I’ve found it useful to know the underlying principles for a lot of things, but the details for a few. For instance, Understanding b-trees and log based data systems helps with most database systems - I look up the SQL syntax, Postgres and MySQL functions just in time, and I understand why Aurora is worth it. Understanding how some container or faas systems work (instead of their API) is h enough to understand most of them. Understanding how some distributed noSQL systems work is enough to understand whats capabilities most of them will have, and their limitations. Basically, if I understand the fundamentals of why and how something is built, it’s easy to guess the APIs abc capabilities of it and any comparable system, so you’re learning compressed patterns instead of lots of transient details.