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A bit random plug - I made a flashcard site and generated flashcards based on this resource (because I want to learn computer architecture, among other tech top

A bit random plug - I made a flashcard site and generated flashcards based on this resource (because I want to learn computer architecture, among other tech topics) https://brightmind.space/app/en/topic/677e9b273de1c962084316e0 https://brightmind.space/app/en/topic/677e9b273de1c962084316...

bluechair 2y ago
This almost guaranteed to be a waste of time for others, though, because you created them for yourself, perhaps less so for you. Learning isolated facts via flashcard give you the illusion of learning something. Most likely, when it comes time to apply it, it will not surface.
- samuelbalogh 2y ago
  I got very positive feedback from students preparing for high school keystone exams (given that it can generate questions from a given online resource / PDF) so I'm pretty happy about that!
nilsherzig 2y ago
Wasn't the first rule of flash cards not to memorize things which you don't already understand? Generated (LLM?) flashcards might result in you missing out on the whole "understanding the text and breaking it down into flashcards" part of the process - which seems rather important.
- samuelbalogh 2y ago
  Yes, it's meaningless if the topic is mostly unknown to the learner. But that's not the goal of flashcards - the goal is to first read the text, and then reinforce what you learned with bite-sized questions/answers. Everyone learns differently, I always found flashcards to be incredibly useful and entertaining.
rramadass 2y ago
Michael Flynn is a legendary name in Computer Architecture; his taxonomy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn%27s_taxonomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn%27s_taxonomy His computer architecture book (listed here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42621236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42621236) is still one of the best focusing on principles and design and hence timeless. The language is succinct and very focused on explaining things. I have found it much better than many popular textbooks on computer architecture. As an example, the submitted article is just 18 pages (pdf) and yet manages to highlight all the major points; a absolutely beautiful overview.

bluechair 2y ago

This almost guaranteed to be a waste of time for others, though, because you created them for yourself, perhaps less so for you. Learning isolated facts via flashcard give you the illusion of learning something. Most likely, when it comes time to apply it, it will not surface.

samuelbalogh 2y ago
I got very positive feedback from students preparing for high school keystone exams (given that it can generate questions from a given online resource / PDF) so I'm pretty happy about that!

nilsherzig 2y ago

Wasn't the first rule of flash cards not to memorize things which you don't already understand? Generated (LLM?) flashcards might result in you missing out on the whole "understanding the text and breaking it down into flashcards" part of the process - which seems rather important.

samuelbalogh 2y ago
Yes, it's meaningless if the topic is mostly unknown to the learner. But that's not the goal of flashcards - the goal is to first read the text, and then reinforce what you learned with bite-sized questions/answers. Everyone learns differently, I always found flashcards to be incredibly useful and entertaining.

rramadass 2y ago

Michael Flynn is a legendary name in Computer Architecture; his taxonomy - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn%27s_taxonomy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flynn%27s_taxonomy His computer architecture book (listed here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42621236 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42621236) is still one of the best focusing on principles and design and hence timeless. The language is succinct and very focused on explaining things. I have found it much better than many popular textbooks on computer architecture. As an example, the submitted article is just 18 pages (pdf) and yet manages to highlight all the major points; a absolutely beautiful overview.