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I learned everything I know through 'cloning'. When I was a kid interested in code (web dev + design specifically), I just recreated all my favourite interfaces
by EC1 13y ago
I learned everything I know through 'cloning'. When I was a kid interested in code (web dev + design specifically), I just recreated all my favourite interfaces. Every two seconds I was stuck, but for every obstacle you overcome, you won't need to in the future.
This is how I learned the Adobe suite so easily, by imitation.
I'm doing iOS dev now, and I'm doing the same thing. Cloning a few of my favourite applications feature for feature, pixel for pixel. It takes a long time but I haven't found a better way to learn since.
It's much more effective for me to do this than read a book or long broad tutorial on something.
Google -> Stackoverflow -> Implement. Rinse and repeat.
- adventured 13y agoAgree with this. Even tearing down a simple electronics device - eg Paul Allen or Wozniak taking apart things as kids to try to figure out how they work and put them back together - is a form of learning by cloning. When I was first learning to write code, my favorite thing to do was, upon finding a nice piece of code, walk through it and assemble a clone line by line to mentally recreate the process of how it works a to z (and often testing variations or different orderings etc).
- rahimnathwani 13y agoDo you start with simple apps first, and then progress to more complex ones? Or do you just start cloning a complex app by doing one screen at a time?
- EC1 13y agoIf I see an app that has a really interesting UI, I will isolate that part and try to recreate it. Like maybe some app has a really cool way to graph something with unique animations, I'll write that down in my notebook for reference later, and recreate when I have time.