I’ve tried and quit learning how to code 7 times. Three times with Arduino (only got a third of the way through the starter kit), twice with Faust (finished the course, but only built two plugins), and once with C++ (stopped the free course less than a month in).
We often tell ourselves in repeat endeavors that “this time is different”.
And you know what?
It is.
There’s no moment like this moment. And you’re a different sum of experiences than you were even a week ago.
Last night I started the free Learn C++ Codecademy course for the second time.
But this time, it’s different. In a big way.
Last time I went through the exercises on their slick iOS app, 27 days in a row. Downloaded their cheat sheets. Looked them over while waiting in line for a burrito.
I let the course decide how I would study. They said, “Look over these cheat sheets if you get stuck” or “click this button for a hint”.
After reading a handful a books now on note taking and how the human brain learns novel hard skills, What a terrible way to train.
The strain of active, blind recall forms the synapses for learning. Not the subtle hint given, the poring over predigested tweetable shorthands.
Just like I learned last night that the complier takes my C++ code (what I can understand) and translates it into machine code (what the CPU can understand), I’m doing the same with C++ fundamentals.
Thanks to Sonke Ahrens, Scott Young, and Barbara Oakley, I’m not downloading a single cheat sheet. I’ve got to put any new information into my own words and force my brain to find a foothold for the knowledge.
The same goes for when I’m teaching a subject to someone. It feels like a favor to make the new information as digestible possible. Students “grasp” the information sooner. We get feedback that “we’re a good teacher” sooner.
This isn’t to say we shouldn’t use analogies or timeless principles. But it’s a no wonder 99% of U.S. Church Congregations can’t tell you point #3 from last week’s sermon when half of them follow along in a prewritten bulletin where they fill in the blanks.
The slow burn, the path less travelled, placing carefully curated resistance and safeguards in the right places – makes for a craft better practiced, a world better understood, and a more curious mind.
mkc
Michael Curtis 