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It is not infantile, it is just a different way of approaching a problem. Instead of telling you what things are, they just ask you questions so that by answeri
by kamaal 4y ago
It is not infantile, it is just a different way of approaching a problem. Instead of telling you what things are, they just ask you questions so that by answering them you discover the things yourself.
There is a big difference between two approaches. In the former you get facts as knowledge. In the latter your invent the knowledge yourself, and understand the processes, whys and hows you got there. The latter is a far better way because its hard to forget what you invented yourself.
- yakshaving_jgt 4y agoHow does the space reserved for jellybean stains guide the reader towards the desired problem-solving approach?
- kamaal 4y agoWell I'm guessing you haven't read the book yet. Basically all throughout the book(s), they authors use food names as variable, function names etc. It is indeed a nice idea because people do tend to associate good memories with delicious food. Especially if the food is greasy or sweet! That quote This space is reserved for Jelly Bean stains is basically a filler sentence at the end of a chapter on a page, which happens to be high up in the page, the remainder of the page is basically empty, so they put it in as a joke. This is not any different than the joke at the beginning of the 'Camel Book', Laziness, Impatience and Hubris, the three great virtues of a programmer. You really should read those books, its one of those unique kinds of books that use a very innovative(albeit a very ancient) technique to teach you some very mind bending concepts. Its is possible that the approach will help you in understanding other things as well.
- yakshaving_jgt 4y agoI'm not taking a position on whether or not the infantilism is appropriate, so whether or not I have read the book is neither here nor there. The previous commenter characterised the text as needlessly infantile. It seemed clear enough to me that they were referring to the jokes about jelly bean stains. I am confused why you interpreted their challenge as being about some approach to problem solving. > Its is possible that the approach will help you in understanding other things as well. This is either such a general statement that it isn't worth saying, or it is direct condescension which I don't appreciate.
- kamaal 4y agoWhatever rocks your boat! Feel free to not read those books! Works fine for me.
- sfpotter 4y agoYes, I was talking about the jelly bean stain stuff and the cartoons. I don’t see the point. (I do also think the format of these books is pretentious and not actually that sound didactically, but that wasn’t what I was referring to when I said “infantilizing”.)
- pksebben 4y agoI've always seen a sense of humor as an essential component of problem solving. Stressy, serious, businesslike modes tend to get stuck in the weeds and miss the forest etc
- yakshaving_jgt 4y agoSeems like a false dichotomy to me. Authors can choose to write plainly and clearly.
- Jtsummers 4y agoThe books are actually clearly written. They also have some humor in them. The horror.
- yakshaving_jgt 4y agoWhy are you directing this sarcastic comment towards me?
- Apocryphon 4y agoThis blog is such a classic for that. http://computationaltales.blogspot.com http://computationaltales.blogspot.com
- pksebben 4y agothanks for this! there's some good stuff in here. Kinda reminds me of master foo http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.html http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.ht...
- sfpotter 4y agoIt isn’t an essential part of problem solving. I think the fact that you think any technical material that isn’t humorous is automatically “stressy” may mostly say something about you… :\ For what it’s worth, I do have a sense of humor. Harvey Birdman is one of my favorite shows. The Sebben and Sebben employee orientation video is on another level.