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I've constantly struggled with something along these lines too. I've always had a difficult time in Chemistry because i wanted to know the why's of things as o

by jxm262 12y ago

I've constantly struggled with something along these lines too. I've always had a difficult time in Chemistry because i wanted to know the why's of things as opposed to just memorizing things. Even in programming, my intro Java class everyone learned the basic public static void main(String[] args){} and we were expected to take it for granted. The first Hello World assignment took most students a few minutes to complete, but sent me researching the Oracle docs, which led me to the java trail, which made my assignment like a week late lol. If there's any life hacks on how to minimize this mindset, I'd love to hear about it. I'm constantly struggling to find this balance of memorizing abstractions vs digging in the details.

_RPM 12y ago
I think some things you just have to accept as is. If you do not, you will find yourself constantly looking for why something is the way it is. Why does the sum of 1 and 1 equal 2? I couldn't tell you why. I just know that the sum is 2 because I know.
- Bahamut 12y ago
  That is simply because + is defined such that 2 is 1 + 1
  - jxm262 12y ago
    Well yes, you're correct. And I wouldn't obviously struggle with simple addition like 1+1. But... for me, the hard part is the "accepting as-is" on more complex things. Especially on topics that I'm new to, or some higher level concepts. I'm currently learning Scala and really trying to learn FP for the first time and have similar issues. Also, fwiw, you can take anything to the extreme. Even simple addition :) http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/321939/proof-of-the-standard-algorithm-for-addition http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/321939/proof-of-the-...
spion 12y ago
YMMW, but I use "I can always fill in that gap later if I have the time" and move on. Later, if I do indeed have the time or I find out that I'm struggling because of missing details, I'll get back to it. Its like making a temporary mess in a project while trying to understand the problem you are solving and making a promise that you will refactor it later, once you get to something that works.
- RankingMember 12y ago
  This is where OCD really kicks my ass. I want to understand everything that I'm typing, and it's a major hurdle to have to accept that, no, I just can't have all the answers.
dropit_sphere 12y ago
I would remember that knowledge is not fungible, while prestige and money are. Do enough things for prestige and money, and you'll have time to do things for knowledge. </darkside>
afarrell 12y ago
What I do is keep a notepad next to me. When I start something, I first write what my goal is. This guides me as to how deep I am willing to go. If my goal is just to learn things, I start out with a tutorial and write notes about what I don't understand as things that I can follow-up on later. It helps that I've spent some time explicitly trying to learn things on multiple levels. If you like doing that, look at MIT's class 6.004 and it will give you a deeper understanding of computer architecture.
ScottBurson 12y ago
Never stop digging. Just realize you can only dig into one thing at a time, and be selective about what that is.

by jxm262 12y ago

_RPM 12y ago

I think some things you just have to accept as is. If you do not, you will find yourself constantly looking for why something is the way it is. Why does the sum of 1 and 1 equal 2? I couldn't tell you why. I just know that the sum is 2 because I know.

Bahamut 12y ago
That is simply because + is defined such that 2 is 1 + 1
- jxm262 12y ago
  Well yes, you're correct. And I wouldn't obviously struggle with simple addition like 1+1. But... for me, the hard part is the "accepting as-is" on more complex things. Especially on topics that I'm new to, or some higher level concepts. I'm currently learning Scala and really trying to learn FP for the first time and have similar issues. Also, fwiw, you can take anything to the extreme. Even simple addition :) http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/321939/proof-of-the-standard-algorithm-for-addition http://math.stackexchange.com/questions/321939/proof-of-the-...

spion 12y ago

YMMW, but I use "I can always fill in that gap later if I have the time" and move on. Later, if I do indeed have the time or I find out that I'm struggling because of missing details, I'll get back to it. Its like making a temporary mess in a project while trying to understand the problem you are solving and making a promise that you will refactor it later, once you get to something that works.

RankingMember 12y ago
This is where OCD really kicks my ass. I want to understand everything that I'm typing, and it's a major hurdle to have to accept that, no, I just can't have all the answers.

dropit_sphere 12y ago

I would remember that knowledge is not fungible, while prestige and money are. Do enough things for prestige and money, and you'll have time to do things for knowledge. </darkside>

afarrell 12y ago

What I do is keep a notepad next to me. When I start something, I first write what my goal is. This guides me as to how deep I am willing to go. If my goal is just to learn things, I start out with a tutorial and write notes about what I don't understand as things that I can follow-up on later. It helps that I've spent some time explicitly trying to learn things on multiple levels. If you like doing that, look at MIT's class 6.004 and it will give you a deeper understanding of computer architecture.

ScottBurson 12y ago

Never stop digging. Just realize you can only dig into one thing at a time, and be selective about what that is.