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Algorithm of reading books on programming

Hello. My name is Boris, for several years I have been interested in the theory of learning and memorization - how the brain works with new information. Today I will share my way of reading books.


Perhaps you have heard about the algorithm of reading books, which allows you to keep a maximum of information in your head. The speed reading coach told me about it, and later I saw this algorithm in Buzan’s book “Supermind”.


Algorithm for ordinary books


Everything is very simple:


  1. We read the author and title;
  2. We ask questions, the answers to which we want to find in the book;
  3. Scroll: looking at pictures, quotes;
  4. We read the content, table of contents, annotations;
  5. We read the book (the faster, the better);
  6. Select the main topic;
  7. Select the facts and novelty;
  8. Scroll through the book;
  9. Optionally: we write it in a tablet in Excel, what the book is about, who advised it, whether to reread it and why.

If after six months you need to remember what was in that book, you can just browse through it - that will be enough. Works great with books on psychology, negotiation, marketing, etc.


Alas, read in this way the book of David Flanagan «JavaScript. Detailed manual, 6th edition "or ng-book is meaningless and useless. In my head there will be nothing, and time will be lost. And in general, the speed reading technique for such books is more harmful than useful.


I once studied the book "Learn Ruby the hard way" (when it was still free). Its main principle is that you need to reprint 100 programs. Of course, some of them need to be improved, but the main thing is to reprint 100 listings. In the process of reprinting errors are inevitable. And in the process of searching and correcting errors comes an understanding of what is actually done in the program. A little later, I looked at the Coursera course on how to build my own learning correctly, and gradually I developed my own algorithm for reading technical literature.


Algorithm for technical literature


It looks like this:


  1. We formulate the problem that we want to solve by reading a book;
  2. We begin to read slowly and carefully, reprinting each of these listings;
  3. Regularly - once in half an hour - an hour - we pause and remember what we did the previous hour;
  4. Finishing the next topic, we look whether we have learned enough to solve the problem;
  5. Slowly but surely, we read to the end;
  6. Once again we recall what the book was about;
  7. We write the program using the maximum of what was in the book.

We formulate the problem that we want to solve by reading a book.


Our brain is arranged in such a way that it is much better to search and save information if it understands what it is looking for and why. Tasks can be different, but the better you imagine what you need, the more effective the reading will be.


We begin to read slowly and carefully, reprinting each of the above listings.


The key word “slow” - no need to hurry, especially if in this topic you still do not understand or understand not everything. Here the principle is the same as with the ruby ​​book: manual labor generates errors -> errors cause problems -> problem solving trains the brain and adds understanding.


Regularly - once every half hour or hour - we pause and remember what we did the previous hour.


Oddly enough, a pause of 5-10 minutes allows the brain to structure information, and therefore it is better to keep it and quickly get it, if necessary.


Finishing another topic, we look whether we have learned enough to solve the problem.


And if it is enough, then we either finish the reading (we will return to this book when the need arises for this), or we supplement and expand the task. It is important that this should be done before you start reading further: try to complete the task and figure out how it could be solved in an ideal world.


Slowly but surely, we read to the end


Well, or stop reading, because they learned everything that was needed.


Once again we recall what the book was about.


I look at the table of contents and reproduce in my head what was said, then I look through the listings and remember what mistakes I had there. If there are very voluminous and complex programs, then it is possible to comment in the most difficult places in each line about what is happening there and why.


Important! We write the program, using the maximum of what was in the book


Our brain is extremely rational thing and what is not used, quickly dies and is forgotten. In order for new knowledge to fall into place, you need to apply it immediately.


This ends my algorithm. If you follow it, you can extract maximum benefit from each book. But the main thing is not to forget that reading a book at least 100,500 times more useful than delaying the reading in order to do everything correctly, but then.


useful links



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Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/312932/

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