4 ms·

I actually disagree with both of you. Programming is learning and the code is the side effect of what you have learned. If you jump at a large project but lack

I actually disagree with both of you. Programming is learning and the code is the side effect of what you have learned. If you jump at a large project but lack the fundamentals you are going to wasting energy on stuff you shouldn't be. Rather the best way to learn programming I find was to master the basics, memorize the most used routines and commands to avoid having to google it every time (ex. CSS) The problem now is we have LLM which kind of negate the need and we have lot of engineers who don't have good fundamental systems design. The other major issue is most of us engineers are scaling for a future that won't come. It's sufficient to squeeze ton of performance out of a single vertically scaled Postgres instance for example without the need to do exotic architectures. So prerequisites are important like in the article but less so now but the fundamentals and only learning what is needed is critical more than ever (ex. Kubernetes for a blog)

akira2501 2y ago
The best way to learn programming is to read and understand other programs. It's a really fun field, and you can isolate yourself and get very deep into thought, and then enter an exceptionally rewarding period of cycling between work and learning. I think a lot of programmers eschew more sensible things in favor of exclusively working in this mode.
ocean_moist 2y ago
> If you jump at a large project but lack the fundamentals you are going to wasting energy on stuff you shouldn't be. "Wasting energy" in this case would be learning. This learning happens faster than following a tutorial and "mastering" the basics. > The problem now is we have LLM which kind of negate the need and we have lot of engineers who don't have good fundamental systems design. Yeah if you use LLMs for everything you are just going to struggle 10x harder when you encounter a problem. This does not discount my point. Also why is your name a slur.
danaris 2y ago
> If you jump at a large project but lack the fundamentals you are going to wasting energy on stuff you shouldn't be. On the other hand, for many people (like me!) it can be hard to feel motivated to learn a new programming language/framework/etc just for the sake of it (especially when you've got plenty of stuff going on already). (Note that I use "motivation" here in the immediate, executive function sense, not in the broader desire to do a thing sense.) In such cases, I have found that the best way to learn how to do what a large project requires is to first define the project that you want to accomplish that uses them, and then break that down into all the parts you need to learn to make it happen. The outcome is still "mastering the basics" before you actually take on the large project as a whole, but it can still look very much like trying to tackle the large project from some angles.

akira2501 2y ago

The best way to learn programming is to read and understand other programs. It's a really fun field, and you can isolate yourself and get very deep into thought, and then enter an exceptionally rewarding period of cycling between work and learning. I think a lot of programmers eschew more sensible things in favor of exclusively working in this mode.

ocean_moist 2y ago

> If you jump at a large project but lack the fundamentals you are going to wasting energy on stuff you shouldn't be. "Wasting energy" in this case would be learning. This learning happens faster than following a tutorial and "mastering" the basics. > The problem now is we have LLM which kind of negate the need and we have lot of engineers who don't have good fundamental systems design. Yeah if you use LLMs for everything you are just going to struggle 10x harder when you encounter a problem. This does not discount my point. Also why is your name a slur.

danaris 2y ago

> If you jump at a large project but lack the fundamentals you are going to wasting energy on stuff you shouldn't be. On the other hand, for many people (like me!) it can be hard to feel motivated to learn a new programming language/framework/etc just for the sake of it (especially when you've got plenty of stuff going on already). (Note that I use "motivation" here in the immediate, executive function sense, not in the broader desire to do a thing sense.) In such cases, I have found that the best way to learn how to do what a large project requires is to first define the project that you want to accomplish that uses them, and then break that down into all the parts you need to learn to make it happen. The outcome is still "mastering the basics" before you actually take on the large project as a whole, but it can still look very much like trying to tackle the large project from some angles.