You said "the stuff you use a lot", which is the key. Without training, I'll get frustrated and I won't start using anything a lot.
I misspoke when I talked about wasting time looking stuff up. My concern with looking stuff up does not involve the amount of time. What I meant was that having to start from scratch every time kills my motivation and forward momentum. So my pattern has been that when that happens, I get frustrated, and I change tracks onto requirements and documentation, which I enjoy. I've been doing requirements and documentation on my projects all my adult life. I just don't have code to show for it.
One of the main purposes of flashcards and classes is to remind me that I need to do some programming. They are some of the few ways that I exert discipline on my mind to put my butt in the seat and get some practice. I would not carry forward lessons about problem-solving, and I would not form fruitful habits of mind, without external reminders to practice with sufficient frequency.
I need an external regimen like that, because playing around with code is not something I do for recreation, for its own sake. I do it because all of the projects I want to accomplish require programming. You see the distinction I'm drawing.
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Date: 2009-01-31 06:45 am (UTC)I misspoke when I talked about wasting time looking stuff up. My concern with looking stuff up does not involve the amount of time. What I meant was that having to start from scratch every time kills my motivation and forward momentum. So my pattern has been that when that happens, I get frustrated, and I change tracks onto requirements and documentation, which I enjoy. I've been doing requirements and documentation on my projects all my adult life. I just don't have code to show for it.
One of the main purposes of flashcards and classes is to remind me that I need to do some programming. They are some of the few ways that I exert discipline on my mind to put my butt in the seat and get some practice. I would not carry forward lessons about problem-solving, and I would not form fruitful habits of mind, without external reminders to practice with sufficient frequency.
I need an external regimen like that, because playing around with code is not something I do for recreation, for its own sake. I do it because all of the projects I want to accomplish require programming. You see the distinction I'm drawing.