Hamming said in "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering" that he was in no way the foremost expert on Hamming codes, because he still conceptualized them star

Hamming said in "The Art of Doing Science and Engineering" that he was in no way the foremost expert on Hamming codes, because he still conceptualized them starting from what he knew when he began the research that ultimately led to their invention. He found that those who were taught them directly without needing to pass through all the theoretical dead ends he went through had superior understanding without all that extra baggage. His understanding of Hamming codes was a leaf or twig at the limit of his tree of knowledge. Those who learned them early had them in their roots or trunk, and that led them to reimagine and reinvent Hamming codes in ways that Hamming never could.