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From the article: "Suzuki says that although he used computer software for the design, the simulation of its motion was entirely in his head only, and that seei

From the article: "Suzuki says that although he used computer software for the design, the simulation of its motion was entirely in his head only, and that seeing it take shape was a major motivation." "Then I observed to my delight that I could visualize with the greatest facility. I needed no models, drawings or experiments. I could picture them all as real in my mind. ... My method is different. I do not rush into actual work. When I get an idea I start at once building it up in my imagination. I change the construction, make improvements and operate the device in my mind. It is absolutely immaterial to me whether I run my turbine in thought or test it in my shop. I even note if it is out of balance. There is no difference whatever, the results are the same. In this way I am able to rapidly develop and perfect a conception without touching anything. " - From Nikola Tesla's Autobiography "My Inventions"

Exuma 5y ago
I always wished I had much stronger spatial awareness like that. In my mind I got strong visualizations that last ~2 seconds before they evaporate like a cloud of vapor, and I need to "rebuild" them over and over in a fairly fragmented way of 2 second spurts to try to visualize certain complex things (in code, or otherwise). This is in the planning phase however. On the other hand, I extensively excel at intuition AS I'm working/experiencing. I will get flashes of insight not from linear thinking, and they guide me along (which often goes against what most people are used to, which is extensive planning). I suppose my way can come off more "off the cuff" but I have built some really complex systems really elegantly, but the entire time never feels like I'm sure of anything until the very last piece goes in and it "all comes together at once." I sometimes envy people like this guy, or Tesla... with their incredible spatial awareness/visualization, where the entire thing can be planned entirely in the mind without rapidly "dissipating." That would be certainly less stressful than my way. Quite interesting how minds work
- 0xdeadb00f 5y ago
  I definitely identify with your way of thinking as well. Frequently I have an epiphany only for it to just poof away. The harder I try to remember it the further back it seems to get pushed. Maybe I need to cut down on my cannabis use.... Lol
- KronisLV 5y ago
  I can definitely relate to some of this, since i also find it difficult to visualize detailed things in my "mind's eye". Because of this, i've always wondered whether artists and people in visually driven careers are on average better at this sort of visualization than the rest of us, or whether they also experience the same spectrum of variation. More interestingly, some people don't have that ability in any capacity whatsoever, which is very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia It's about as startling of a thought, as discovering that some people don't have any sort of a internal monologue either. Now and then you find an interesting thread where people share their experiences in this regard, for example, this one on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/exan65/today_i_told_my_mom_that_i_have_no_internal/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/exan65/t... The human mind is interesting stuff!
  - Exuma 5y ago
    I draw and paint every day, and believe it or not I approach art in the same way. I can get flashes of what something looks like finished but they're somewhat distant feeling. On the other hand, I will just know exactly what to do from a deeper part of my subconscious that doesn't require thought (as far as composition, shape harmony, value relationships, etc). My friend has aphantasia and it's really hard for me to believe how difficult that must be. I've asked him... "so you can't even picture your parents face in your mind???" and he says no. That must be crazy...
noduerme 5y ago
This is how it goes with me, but it's quite frustrating and leads to a kind of doldrums. I reach the point where I've visualized so many extensions and classes I need to write, I can (and do) recite them to myself in the shower or while I'm doing dishes... and reorder them and come up with endless refinements... following each out to their conclusions or collisions... so that when I get to the point where I need to actually write them it's a totally redundant pain in the ass. This is how my projects begin to stall. Particularly once I get to adding UI features. What's a lot harder than visualizing how it will all work and knowing you're right is sitting your ass in a chair and churning the goddamn thing out. Which, to his credit, this kid actually did. And which separates him from someone who just sees how the clock would work.
- janekm 5y ago
  I'm familiar with the challenge, you could call it a kind of "imperfection paralysis", the unwillingness to commit to anything before it has been perfected conceptually. It can be really freeing / productive to "allow" yourself to put down a "crappy" rough draft in code with the mindset that you can rewrite it later when the whole domain is more clear.
  - Cthulhu_ 5y ago
    Another catchy term is "analysis paralysis". I think every SWE goes through a perfectionist phase, before the disillusionment hits that it doesn't actually matter, the code is ephemeral, the application may become obsolete within 5-10 years or just written off because of politics, etc. Or become an unmaintainable mess because one person (not targeting anyone in particular) wrote the application to the best of their abilities. Never write the smartest code you can.
    - noduerme 5y ago
      Yeah, this is why I need to spend more time talking with other SWEs... I've been freelance and out of the day loop for a long time. For better or worse, the software I write has to be polished and perfect, user friendly and UI complete for business users with every update. The actual enjoyment I get, or the fun part, is working on the logic... but I then have to make sure all the visual/interactive stuff is dummy-proof, or I get to spend the next month in a tech support role if a button breaks. So I sort of have to do both. And I'd rather iterate in my head than in realtime on the phone with end users. But I don't get paid for the hours I iterate in my head, which is problematic. As far as stuff being shelved in 5-10 years and just making it work... yeah, that's definitely a lesson I've only learned the sad and hard way after watching a lot of beautiful code become obsolete once a company is sold or a platform gets replaced. I do think there's a specific kind of writer's block that happens if you're responsible for both the front and back end of a large piece of business software... because even once you fully grok the business logic and you know how you want go handle the data, and you know what they think they want on the front end, you have to put yourself in the position of an employee and think about everything that could possibly go wrong with a click or a transaction. And when you do finally work that all out, the last thing you really want to do is sit down and write event listeners and components.

Exuma 5y ago

I always wished I had much stronger spatial awareness like that. In my mind I got strong visualizations that last ~2 seconds before they evaporate like a cloud of vapor, and I need to "rebuild" them over and over in a fairly fragmented way of 2 second spurts to try to visualize certain complex things (in code, or otherwise). This is in the planning phase however. On the other hand, I extensively excel at intuition AS I'm working/experiencing. I will get flashes of insight not from linear thinking, and they guide me along (which often goes against what most people are used to, which is extensive planning). I suppose my way can come off more "off the cuff" but I have built some really complex systems really elegantly, but the entire time never feels like I'm sure of anything until the very last piece goes in and it "all comes together at once." I sometimes envy people like this guy, or Tesla... with their incredible spatial awareness/visualization, where the entire thing can be planned entirely in the mind without rapidly "dissipating." That would be certainly less stressful than my way. Quite interesting how minds work

0xdeadb00f 5y ago
I definitely identify with your way of thinking as well. Frequently I have an epiphany only for it to just poof away. The harder I try to remember it the further back it seems to get pushed. Maybe I need to cut down on my cannabis use.... Lol
KronisLV 5y ago
I can definitely relate to some of this, since i also find it difficult to visualize detailed things in my "mind's eye". Because of this, i've always wondered whether artists and people in visually driven careers are on average better at this sort of visualization than the rest of us, or whether they also experience the same spectrum of variation. More interestingly, some people don't have that ability in any capacity whatsoever, which is very interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphantasia It's about as startling of a thought, as discovering that some people don't have any sort of a internal monologue either. Now and then you find an interesting thread where people share their experiences in this regard, for example, this one on Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/exan65/today_i_told_my_mom_that_i_have_no_internal/ https://www.reddit.com/r/NoStupidQuestions/comments/exan65/t... The human mind is interesting stuff!
- Exuma 5y ago
  I draw and paint every day, and believe it or not I approach art in the same way. I can get flashes of what something looks like finished but they're somewhat distant feeling. On the other hand, I will just know exactly what to do from a deeper part of my subconscious that doesn't require thought (as far as composition, shape harmony, value relationships, etc). My friend has aphantasia and it's really hard for me to believe how difficult that must be. I've asked him... "so you can't even picture your parents face in your mind???" and he says no. That must be crazy...

noduerme 5y ago

This is how it goes with me, but it's quite frustrating and leads to a kind of doldrums. I reach the point where I've visualized so many extensions and classes I need to write, I can (and do) recite them to myself in the shower or while I'm doing dishes... and reorder them and come up with endless refinements... following each out to their conclusions or collisions... so that when I get to the point where I need to actually write them it's a totally redundant pain in the ass. This is how my projects begin to stall. Particularly once I get to adding UI features. What's a lot harder than visualizing how it will all work and knowing you're right is sitting your ass in a chair and churning the goddamn thing out. Which, to his credit, this kid actually did. And which separates him from someone who just sees how the clock would work.

janekm 5y ago
I'm familiar with the challenge, you could call it a kind of "imperfection paralysis", the unwillingness to commit to anything before it has been perfected conceptually. It can be really freeing / productive to "allow" yourself to put down a "crappy" rough draft in code with the mindset that you can rewrite it later when the whole domain is more clear.
- Cthulhu_ 5y ago
  Another catchy term is "analysis paralysis". I think every SWE goes through a perfectionist phase, before the disillusionment hits that it doesn't actually matter, the code is ephemeral, the application may become obsolete within 5-10 years or just written off because of politics, etc. Or become an unmaintainable mess because one person (not targeting anyone in particular) wrote the application to the best of their abilities. Never write the smartest code you can.
  - noduerme 5y ago
    Yeah, this is why I need to spend more time talking with other SWEs... I've been freelance and out of the day loop for a long time. For better or worse, the software I write has to be polished and perfect, user friendly and UI complete for business users with every update. The actual enjoyment I get, or the fun part, is working on the logic... but I then have to make sure all the visual/interactive stuff is dummy-proof, or I get to spend the next month in a tech support role if a button breaks. So I sort of have to do both. And I'd rather iterate in my head than in realtime on the phone with end users. But I don't get paid for the hours I iterate in my head, which is problematic. As far as stuff being shelved in 5-10 years and just making it work... yeah, that's definitely a lesson I've only learned the sad and hard way after watching a lot of beautiful code become obsolete once a company is sold or a platform gets replaced. I do think there's a specific kind of writer's block that happens if you're responsible for both the front and back end of a large piece of business software... because even once you fully grok the business logic and you know how you want go handle the data, and you know what they think they want on the front end, you have to put yourself in the position of an employee and think about everything that could possibly go wrong with a click or a transaction. And when you do finally work that all out, the last thing you really want to do is sit down and write event listeners and components.