3 ms·

Insanely powerful and underutilized technique: write a list of techniques you can apply (in this case, patterns). Just write the names, you want this to be dens

Insanely powerful and underutilized technique: write a list of techniques you can apply (in this case, patterns). Just write the names, you want this to be dense. When you have a choice to make, look at the list. It doesn’t take long to scan 12 names.

rmbyrro 5y ago
That makes sense. Just thought about having the list as a colletion of flashcards and using a software like Anki to automate the revisions. I know and have used these patterns. Some I use frequently, like Observer. The less frequent ones just fade in memory, and I get myself constantly in need to read about many again to refresh and identify which to use in a particular case. And I suspect I'm missing many potential uses, due to not having them very fresh in mind all the time. That's where I presume SRS can help...
- travisjungroth 5y ago
  I’m very familiar with SRS and I think you don’t need it here. I get what you’re going for. You learn the patterns, but then you don’t recognize the opportunity to use them. You think you have to keep the pattern in your recent memory so you’ll recognize the opportunity to use it. Here’s the trick: you don’t have to recognize the opportunity to use a pattern. You just have to recognize the opportunity to use a pattern. Instead of thinking “ah yes, Builder pattern would go here” you can just think “maybe there’s a pattern that would be useful here. I’ll scan my list of patterns taped to my monitor. Builder would maybe work? I’ll double check what that means”. This is 1. Way easier 2. Consistent across many patterns. Instead of learning to recognize pattern A, B, C and so on, you just get a vague feeling of “pattern”. This (obviously) doesn’t just apply to patterns. Super useful for web frameworks. List the 10 places you could put behavior (model, field, view, etc) and choose consciously. Same for data structures in algorithms and even all sorts of non-programming stuff.

rmbyrro 5y ago

That makes sense. Just thought about having the list as a colletion of flashcards and using a software like Anki to automate the revisions. I know and have used these patterns. Some I use frequently, like Observer. The less frequent ones just fade in memory, and I get myself constantly in need to read about many again to refresh and identify which to use in a particular case. And I suspect I'm missing many potential uses, due to not having them very fresh in mind all the time. That's where I presume SRS can help...

travisjungroth 5y ago
I’m very familiar with SRS and I think you don’t need it here. I get what you’re going for. You learn the patterns, but then you don’t recognize the opportunity to use them. You think you have to keep the pattern in your recent memory so you’ll recognize the opportunity to use it. Here’s the trick: you don’t have to recognize the opportunity to use a pattern. You just have to recognize the opportunity to use a pattern. Instead of thinking “ah yes, Builder pattern would go here” you can just think “maybe there’s a pattern that would be useful here. I’ll scan my list of patterns taped to my monitor. Builder would maybe work? I’ll double check what that means”. This is 1. Way easier 2. Consistent across many patterns. Instead of learning to recognize pattern A, B, C and so on, you just get a vague feeling of “pattern”. This (obviously) doesn’t just apply to patterns. Super useful for web frameworks. List the 10 places you could put behavior (model, field, view, etc) and choose consciously. Same for data structures in algorithms and even all sorts of non-programming stuff.