7 ms·

Yes! I totally get this. I think it's akin to the "mind palace" method popularized in media.

maga 6y ago
That's an apt observation, actually. I used to practice mind palace when I had to memorize lists, and I do feel more comfortable when information is "physically" placed somewhere like a page, I guess it's all connected.
- hikarudo 6y ago
  I wonder if source code could be read and understood more effectively if it were paginated.
  - jhgb 6y ago
    I'm happy that someone came Forth with that idea here.
  - Jiocus 6y ago
    Source code often does facilitate it's own method of paginating, into different files. One could argue that is the whole point of the practice. Pagination or not, both pagination and files provide some degree of spatial sense just as 'loci' and memory palaces. Edit addendum: There are theories about which senses are our dominant ones, and how they affect our learning processes. Some may lean towards visual ques in their mental life, others on kinetic or sound. Personlly I experience my mental models as spatial. Even abstract thoughts become situated "somewhere", if not by itself, then by contrast of other things on my mind. "Everything is a Memory palace." Needless to say, when I'm deep off in a terminal with something, I don't think I'd describe it as text-based.
    - cycomanic 6y ago
      Actually the whole different people learn with different senses has been disproved in neuroscience. It's a myth that holds itself persistently in education. There is a very good article about this: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3817 https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3817
  - necovek 6y ago
    Source code has a bunch of other properties that make pagination less useful. I.e. we strive for short functions, we use indentation heavily, it is commonly rendered in fixed-width fonts (this helps with spatial memory/overview too), etc.
    - hikarudo 6y ago
      Good points. Also, code can change frequently, so the "visual memory" reinforced by pagination becomes less useful, maybe even a hindrance.

maga 6y ago

That's an apt observation, actually. I used to practice mind palace when I had to memorize lists, and I do feel more comfortable when information is "physically" placed somewhere like a page, I guess it's all connected.

hikarudo 6y ago
I wonder if source code could be read and understood more effectively if it were paginated.
- jhgb 6y ago
  I'm happy that someone came Forth with that idea here.
- Jiocus 6y ago
  Source code often does facilitate it's own method of paginating, into different files. One could argue that is the whole point of the practice. Pagination or not, both pagination and files provide some degree of spatial sense just as 'loci' and memory palaces. Edit addendum: There are theories about which senses are our dominant ones, and how they affect our learning processes. Some may lean towards visual ques in their mental life, others on kinetic or sound. Personlly I experience my mental models as spatial. Even abstract thoughts become situated "somewhere", if not by itself, then by contrast of other things on my mind. "Everything is a Memory palace." Needless to say, when I'm deep off in a terminal with something, I don't think I'd describe it as text-based.
  - cycomanic 6y ago
    Actually the whole different people learn with different senses has been disproved in neuroscience. It's a myth that holds itself persistently in education. There is a very good article about this: https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3817 https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn3817
- necovek 6y ago
  Source code has a bunch of other properties that make pagination less useful. I.e. we strive for short functions, we use indentation heavily, it is commonly rendered in fixed-width fonts (this helps with spatial memory/overview too), etc.
  - hikarudo 6y ago
    Good points. Also, code can change frequently, so the "visual memory" reinforced by pagination becomes less useful, maybe even a hindrance.