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Re: Free computer books

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On 11-10-09 11:59 PM, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
> On Fri, 07 Oct 2011 23:03:37 -0300, Arved Sandstrom
> <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> wrote:
> 
> [snip]
> 
>> Although I could be badly mistaken, I have a theory about programming
>> education in general. My gut feeling is that the natural programmers -
>> the ones with real aptitude - won't be significantly affected by the
>> quality of teaching materials. This discussion does not apply to them.
> 
>      How do you know?  It might be that someone who would be a natural
> gets caught on the one point wrong.  How many times have you been
> stuck on a problem and someone points out a solution that you would
> not have come up with in a long time?  After all, we have newsgroups.

I said "significantly" affected. There's leeway in that statement for
occasionally struggling with crap or non-existent documentation...or
even posing a question on a NG or mailing list.

The entire thing is a spectrum. Obviously even a "natural" benefits from
high-quality documentation (which is all that educational material is,
and vice versa). The other strength that above-average or great
programmers have is, that the more "natural" they are, the better they
are at recognizing and discarding tripe. Complete novice or substandard
coders suffer from not recognizing absence of information and dubious
information, just as much as they suffer from poorly-presented correct
and complete information.

You or I or someone else with some experience and ability might
frequently think "whoa, that can't be right" or "wait a sec, buddy
didn't even mention anything about _that_"...a novice won't do that.

>      I have taught newbies.  Getting them enough knowledge so that
> they can continue on their own is critical.  It is also tougher than
> it looks, especially if there is no two-way communication (as, say,
> with a book).

I'll take your word for it. That all makes sense. I haven't taught
newbies, although often enough I have to do end-of-contract knowledge
transfer to internal/staff developers...and often enough that feels like
teaching newbies.

> [snip]
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Gene Wirchenko

AHS
-- 
I tend to watch a little TV... Court TV, once in a while. Some of the
cases I get interested in.
-- O. J. Simpson

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Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 13:15 -0700
  Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-05 15:26 -0700
    Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-05 23:37 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-06 06:37 -0700
        Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-07 11:00 -0700
          Re: Free computer books markspace <-@.> - 2011-10-07 11:37 -0700
          Re: Free computer books Lew <lewbloch@gmail.com> - 2011-10-07 17:38 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-07 23:03 -0300
              Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-09 19:59 -0700
                Re: Free computer books Arved Sandstrom <asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> - 2011-10-10 14:06 -0300
                Re: Free computer books Gene Wirchenko <genew@ocis.net> - 2011-10-10 11:11 -0700
            Re: Free computer books Roedy Green <see_website@mindprod.com.invalid> - 2011-10-15 18:12 -0700
      Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 14:37 -0400
        Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:17 -0400
  Re: Free computer books Jeff Higgins <jeff@invalid.invalid> - 2011-10-10 15:54 -0400

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