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>You don't really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandma I've seen a lot of blog posts written for this reason, and they're all pretty

>You don't really understand something unless you can explain it to your grandma I've seen a lot of blog posts written for this reason, and they're all pretty crappy. I really hope that wasn't seriously a reason to write a book.

mettamage 5y ago
While the tone of the parent is a bit, well, it could be better :) I do think the parent has a point. For example, I just finished reading Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum. His experience shows. This form of experience cannot be showcased by someone who's learning or just has learned a particular technology. And I know I'm taking one of the giants as an example, and they show this particular example in its most extreme form. With that said, I have read/watched tutorials by people who just learned something and the empathy level to beginners is really high. That's something that can be missing with people who have years and years of experience.
- ehnto 5y ago
  Certainly agree, you forget all that you have learned and even harder to recall are those epiphany moments that altered your point of view entirely. If you can recreate those moments for others, you add an edge to your teaching.
- tfp137 5y ago
  I agree. That said, I think the "your grandma" line should be retired. 1. It's problematic. Why are we assuming that an old woman can't also be a badass programmer? Plenty of CS luminaries (a) were women, and (b) had kids (c) who themselves had kids, and therefore are someone's grandmother. 2. Your audience isn't necessarily non-technical. Generally your audience is going to be someone who's qualified to take the course. Which means that a good explainer is going to, as you said, have a high degree of empathy to beginners... but not explain things at such an introductory level as to leave people bored. 3. I don't agree that people who can't explain things well to non-technical people don't know their stuff; they lack an important skill that could make their knowledge far more useful to humanity, but that's a different claim from saying that the knowledge doesn't exist.
  - InitialLastName 5y ago
    Not to mention that the demographic of "grandparents whose grandchildren are old enough to explain computer issues to them" had mainstream access to computers much earlier in their lives than the same demographic ~20 years ago when access to computers hit its inflection point between "enthusiasts" and "everybody".
  - ska 5y ago
    > I agree. That said, I think the "your grandma" line should be retired. Attributed to Einstein: "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." I've always thought that was a better version. But this was never a comment that you should explain things as if your audience was a six year old. Part of communications skill is the ability to pick the right level for whatever your audience is. This quote is much more literal - it's saying the if the range of people you could explain this too doesn't include small children, there is more for you to understand. For what it's worth I disagree with your (3); it's not just about communication - people often feel that they really understand something when they have a handle on a lot of technical details, but this isn't true. There is a deeper level of understanding that will let you synthesize this and find the real core of what is going on. I've found it to be universally true that if someone cannot do this, however awkwardly communicated, they don't understand the subject as well as they think they do. This happens with PhD students and "sr" engineers all the time. They may have spent the last 6 months thinking deeply about an area, and when you ask them to explain it to an "talented outsider" they can't. A few years later if you ask the same thing their answers will be much better, because they understand much better.
    - jon-wood 5y ago
      Off topic, but as the father to a seven year old I’ve discovered how many things I don’t really understand over the last few years. His interest in black holes recently has me thinking I need to read a whole heap about relativity.
      - ska 5y ago
        I suspect this is why six was picked in the anectdote. Kids around that age are really good at asking "why" until you are stuck.
- dhosek 5y ago
  I'm finishing up my LaTeX book which has its origins from teaching LaTeX classes for the TeX Users Group in the 90s. That teaching experience is essential for the quality of what I have because I have the experience of knowing what's helpful for LaTeX beginners and what's needlessly confusing. I do suspect that my original target audience—math department secretaries—is no longer the target audience.
paxys 5y ago
I loathe this saying, along with the entire "explain it like I'm five" trend that has taken off in recent years. Yes simple and concise explanations are valuable, but there still needs to be a baseline. There are certain things that just cannot be explained to a layperson unless they have some prerequisite knowledge in the field. I didn't know Einsten's grandma, but it is safe to assume that the lady did not exactly grasp the theory of relativity or quantum physics. Here's a better quote (also sometimes attributed/misattributed to Einstein) – “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”

mettamage 5y ago

While the tone of the parent is a bit, well, it could be better :) I do think the parent has a point. For example, I just finished reading Modern Operating Systems by Tanenbaum. His experience shows. This form of experience cannot be showcased by someone who's learning or just has learned a particular technology. And I know I'm taking one of the giants as an example, and they show this particular example in its most extreme form. With that said, I have read/watched tutorials by people who just learned something and the empathy level to beginners is really high. That's something that can be missing with people who have years and years of experience.

ehnto 5y ago
Certainly agree, you forget all that you have learned and even harder to recall are those epiphany moments that altered your point of view entirely. If you can recreate those moments for others, you add an edge to your teaching.
tfp137 5y ago
I agree. That said, I think the "your grandma" line should be retired. 1. It's problematic. Why are we assuming that an old woman can't also be a badass programmer? Plenty of CS luminaries (a) were women, and (b) had kids (c) who themselves had kids, and therefore are someone's grandmother. 2. Your audience isn't necessarily non-technical. Generally your audience is going to be someone who's qualified to take the course. Which means that a good explainer is going to, as you said, have a high degree of empathy to beginners... but not explain things at such an introductory level as to leave people bored. 3. I don't agree that people who can't explain things well to non-technical people don't know their stuff; they lack an important skill that could make their knowledge far more useful to humanity, but that's a different claim from saying that the knowledge doesn't exist.
- InitialLastName 5y ago
  Not to mention that the demographic of "grandparents whose grandchildren are old enough to explain computer issues to them" had mainstream access to computers much earlier in their lives than the same demographic ~20 years ago when access to computers hit its inflection point between "enthusiasts" and "everybody".
- ska 5y ago
  > I agree. That said, I think the "your grandma" line should be retired. Attributed to Einstein: "If you can't explain it to a six year old, you don't understand it yourself." I've always thought that was a better version. But this was never a comment that you should explain things as if your audience was a six year old. Part of communications skill is the ability to pick the right level for whatever your audience is. This quote is much more literal - it's saying the if the range of people you could explain this too doesn't include small children, there is more for you to understand. For what it's worth I disagree with your (3); it's not just about communication - people often feel that they really understand something when they have a handle on a lot of technical details, but this isn't true. There is a deeper level of understanding that will let you synthesize this and find the real core of what is going on. I've found it to be universally true that if someone cannot do this, however awkwardly communicated, they don't understand the subject as well as they think they do. This happens with PhD students and "sr" engineers all the time. They may have spent the last 6 months thinking deeply about an area, and when you ask them to explain it to an "talented outsider" they can't. A few years later if you ask the same thing their answers will be much better, because they understand much better.
  - jon-wood 5y ago
    Off topic, but as the father to a seven year old I’ve discovered how many things I don’t really understand over the last few years. His interest in black holes recently has me thinking I need to read a whole heap about relativity.
    - ska 5y ago
      I suspect this is why six was picked in the anectdote. Kids around that age are really good at asking "why" until you are stuck.
dhosek 5y ago
I'm finishing up my LaTeX book which has its origins from teaching LaTeX classes for the TeX Users Group in the 90s. That teaching experience is essential for the quality of what I have because I have the experience of knowing what's helpful for LaTeX beginners and what's needlessly confusing. I do suspect that my original target audience—math department secretaries—is no longer the target audience.

paxys 5y ago

I loathe this saying, along with the entire "explain it like I'm five" trend that has taken off in recent years. Yes simple and concise explanations are valuable, but there still needs to be a baseline. There are certain things that just cannot be explained to a layperson unless they have some prerequisite knowledge in the field. I didn't know Einsten's grandma, but it is safe to assume that the lady did not exactly grasp the theory of relativity or quantum physics. Here's a better quote (also sometimes attributed/misattributed to Einstein) – “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler.”