What are your learning strategies?
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I wonder what are your strategies for learning a new technology. Do you read one or more books first to get a grasp of what a certain technology is capable for, or do you start developing or practicing creating apps after reading some articles and then googling the missing pieces along the way as you code? I know people who never read books cover to cover and just learn on the go. I like to have a better grasp of the technology first before starting a project, so I try to read a beginner book first, then some intermediate to advanced books, sometimes before even trying to create an app. Sometimes I just try to have a big picture of all the capabilities of a certain technology before starting to code and just go back to a certain topic when I am about to code. It is sometimes a problem of learning to much firsts before starting coding. If you try to go and immediately code after reading a few tutorials, you may be able to create a full app without entirely knowing the full capabilities of the technology, and so you may try to do certain things the wrong way when there are a more official way on doing it. Let's put React.js for example. I can simply learn react by looking at the "Getting Started" and some basic concepts, and then start coding immediately. But then I will miss concepts like redux and other patterns if I don't read an entire book. What are your thoughts? What is the better way to learn and be comfortable with a certain technology?
I like to read first, then work the samples in the book. From there I start to change the samples to see what happens and what else can be done. How to 'break it' and how to 'fix it'. Then move to more advanced books and repeat.
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Old ain't bad. It equates to experience. The danger is as a fellow employee who is equally old demonstrates, don't get rigid in your thinking or methodology. Of course, the shift from functional code to object oriented isn't easy even if you are young.
With an open mind you'll learn and grow.
Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film. Steven Wright
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With an open mind you'll learn and grow.
Everyone has a photographic memory; some just don't have film. Steven Wright
LOL! Poorly phrased, but the equally old dude I was referring to sits about 4 feet from me. His mind is partially open as he can create one giant class to do his entire project, but fails to see why anyone would use properties or break classes into smaller explicit classes.
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I wonder what are your strategies for learning a new technology. Do you read one or more books first to get a grasp of what a certain technology is capable for, or do you start developing or practicing creating apps after reading some articles and then googling the missing pieces along the way as you code? I know people who never read books cover to cover and just learn on the go. I like to have a better grasp of the technology first before starting a project, so I try to read a beginner book first, then some intermediate to advanced books, sometimes before even trying to create an app. Sometimes I just try to have a big picture of all the capabilities of a certain technology before starting to code and just go back to a certain topic when I am about to code. It is sometimes a problem of learning to much firsts before starting coding. If you try to go and immediately code after reading a few tutorials, you may be able to create a full app without entirely knowing the full capabilities of the technology, and so you may try to do certain things the wrong way when there are a more official way on doing it. Let's put React.js for example. I can simply learn react by looking at the "Getting Started" and some basic concepts, and then start coding immediately. But then I will miss concepts like redux and other patterns if I don't read an entire book. What are your thoughts? What is the better way to learn and be comfortable with a certain technology?
