Groups | Search | Server Info | Keyboard shortcuts | Login | Register [http] [https] [nntp] [nntps]

Groups > comp.lang.java.help > #1223

Re: Free computer books

Show all headers | View raw

On Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:06:55 -0300, Arved Sandstrom
<asandstrom3minus1@eastlink.ca> wrote:

>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.

     Missing data can be a *showstopper*.

     I was taking a course on computer graphics which is not an area
that I have worked much with at all.  How does one map an image to a
cylinder in OpenGL?  I hunted and hunted for how to do it.  Without
being able to do such mapping, I would be unable to complete my
program.

     Finally, someone handed me a snippet of code.  I had to do more
work to get it to work, but I finally did get the mapping working.
Without that snippet, I would not have been able to do it.

     My question was not esoteric.  Indeed, it appeared to be one of
the most commonly asked questions -- if not, the most asked -- about
OpenGL in the various sites that I checked.

>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.

     Exactly.

>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.

     Or worse, might false alarm on something.

>>      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.

     It is worse with beginners.  With people who can already program,
they probably already have significant background that you can tap
into.  A true programming newbie probably will not.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

Back to comp.lang.java.help | Previous | Next — Previous in thread | Next in thread | Find similar | Unroll thread

Thread

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

csiph-web