Comments on: The learning curve http://nirak.net/2009/02/03/the-learning-curve/ Karin Dalziel Wed, 10 Feb 2010 05:14:16 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: nirak.net - Musings of an LIS Student » with a little help from my friends http://nirak.net/2009/02/03/the-learning-curve/comment-page-1/#comment-94211 nirak.net - Musings of an LIS Student » with a little help from my friends Wed, 04 Feb 2009 14:54:22 +0000 http://www.nirak.net/?p=391#comment-94211 [...] is a sort of follow up to yesterday’s post. Steve posted a nice comment, assuring me that “In the end, you’re better off developing a [...] [...] is a sort of follow up to yesterday’s post. Steve posted a nice comment, assuring me that “In the end, you’re better off developing a [...]

]]> By: Steve http://nirak.net/2009/02/03/the-learning-curve/comment-page-1/#comment-94168 Steve Wed, 04 Feb 2009 04:22:07 +0000 http://www.nirak.net/?p=391#comment-94168 "Finally, I feel that, lacking a computer science background, I am missing something vital to the understanding of these technologies." Trust me. You're not. Systems like Tomcat and Cocoon can be extremely overwhelming. A lot of us started with them when the former was a kitty and the latter was a few strands of silk. Now they're huge, multi-layered systems, and people devote their whole lives to them. But it's always this way. When I started, I used to get nauseated walking into the computer section of a bookstore. It still makes me anxious to see dozens of titles on technologies I've never even heard of (despite the fact that I spend half my life keeping track of these sorts of things). I don't know how to make sense of it all for you, but I will say that having a CS degree -- for all its many benefits -- does nothing to alleviate these jitters. After all, there are design paradigms in Cocoon that literally didn't exist ten years ago (so even people of a certain age with *doctorates* in computer science would have to start anew). In the end, you're better off developing a relaxed attitude toward the fact that you will *always* feel a bit stupid in this business. Books hold out the promise of solving all of one's problems, and in my younger days, I bought a *ton* of computer books. Nowadays, I buy a lot fewer (even though there's just as much to learn). Instead, I tend to proceed in two phases: 1. What does this bloody thing do? Like, what *exactly* is a web application container? Why do I need Cocoon (instead of some far simpler method of doing XSLT)? What's the relationship between Solr and Lucene? And what's Lucene again? 2. After I get a handle on that, I then ask myself what I want to do with it right now (or what the person who's bugging me wants to do with it). I then go out on the Web and try to figure out that specific problem. Now, this doesn't work for some things. You can't learn genetic algorithms, relational database design, or linear algebra this way, for example (that's what books are for). But you'd be surprised how far it will take you with flavor-of-the-month tool or framework -- including some really complicated ones. Just think: You've been doing this with Linux for awhile, and amazingly, you now know a lot. It'll be this way with the other stuff. It just takes time. Don't worry. You go, girl. “Finally, I feel that, lacking a computer science background, I am missing something vital to the understanding of these technologies.”

Trust me. You’re not.

Systems like Tomcat and Cocoon can be extremely overwhelming. A lot of us started with them when the former was a kitty and the latter was a few strands of silk. Now they’re huge, multi-layered systems, and people devote their whole lives to them. But it’s always this way. When I started, I used to get nauseated walking into the computer section of a bookstore. It still makes me anxious to see dozens of titles on technologies I’ve never even heard of (despite the fact that I spend half my life keeping track of these sorts of things).

I don’t know how to make sense of it all for you, but I will say that having a CS degree — for all its many benefits — does nothing to alleviate these jitters. After all, there are design paradigms in Cocoon that literally didn’t exist ten years ago (so even people of a certain age with *doctorates* in computer science would have to start anew). In the end, you’re better off developing a relaxed attitude toward the fact that you will *always* feel a bit stupid in this business.

Books hold out the promise of solving all of one’s problems, and in my younger days, I bought a *ton* of computer books. Nowadays, I buy a lot fewer (even though there’s just as much to learn). Instead, I tend to proceed in two phases:

1. What does this bloody thing do? Like, what *exactly* is a web application container? Why do I need Cocoon (instead of some far simpler method of doing XSLT)? What’s the relationship between Solr and Lucene? And what’s Lucene again?

2. After I get a handle on that, I then ask myself what I want to do with it right now (or what the person who’s bugging me wants to do with it). I then go out on the Web and try to figure out that specific problem.

Now, this doesn’t work for some things. You can’t learn genetic algorithms, relational database design, or linear algebra this way, for example (that’s what books are for). But you’d be surprised how far it will take you with flavor-of-the-month tool or framework — including some really complicated ones. Just think: You’ve been doing this with Linux for awhile, and amazingly, you now know a lot. It’ll be this way with the other stuff. It just takes time.

Don’t worry. You go, girl.

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