THE FEYNMAN METHOD TO LEARN TO CODE FASTER
Richard Feynman (1918–1988), was a Physicist genius, nowadays is a legend for some, and to me is an excellent man thinking in an excellent way, (I will try to adapt his learning technique to my bootcamp experience),
few of his achievements was:
*He took part in the Manhattan Project ( Nuclear Bomb)
*He aid to resolve problems, one story tells that one time one of his colleagues spend 3 months resolving an issue, when he met Feynman, the genius showed him another way to do it, and in 3 minutes the problem was resolved
- He was 24 at that time
*He though about nanotechnology before anyone else
The way that Feynman was raised, aid him to think in sceptical ways, he was taught to ask the right questions, he said : Knowing the Name of Something and Knowing Something it’s not the same
The key of learning it’s explaining, to yourself first, but the adventurer mode is explain it to kids!… ok ok perhaps that’s too hard, but is worth the shot!
Let me explain
Feynman Principle 1, you must not fool yourself. (and you’re the easiest person to fool)
Step 1: Take a piece of paper (or a blank note) and write concept’s name at the top
when coding you enter a new world, actually it’s like you’re learning to “talk”…with the computer, every concept has tons of information and the Mozilla Developer Network is one resource that won’t allow me to lie. So, to go step by step, first thing is… go little by little
Step 2: Explain the concept using simple language
when coding you as a human know the answer to the problem, but the computer doesn’t, so, give try to explain your knowledge about the concept/problem down, using the most common words in your language (english, spanish, french, etc.)
Step 3 Identify problem areas, then go back to the source to review.
coding as I said above, it’s a bunch of tons of heavy concepts, but it could be separate in small pieces, so you must check carefully if your knowledge is with the right basis, if not you should check again
Step 4 Pinpoint any complicated terms and challenge yourself to simplify them.
usually the simpler you get, the best you understand it. and the greatest curios being is a kid, they always ask why?, and then is when you know if you already get it (the concept you’re trying to explain) or not.
So, the next time you’re having trouble with some excercise, thinking in simple terms and looking for the best way to teach a kid the problem you’re having, may help you to find a way to solve it.
