[mattlutze]

Well, as a counterpoint, imagine how much time could be saved if you were able to recall from memory not just the most-used functions that you need for a problem, but the next level down of sometimes or rarely used ones. Or for patterns, or for other such things that can be simplified down into memorizable / recallable blocks.

Regularly looking things up is ok, but actively re-experiencing the thing you're trying to learn is a better way to make it stick.

[bluGill]

In many cases less time that what I spend looking it up. I regularly look up things I haven't needed before, a few minutes of reading and I know it. Many of those things are something I expect to never need again in my lifetime. The few seconds to memorize all those things is greater than the time saved. Particularly since I don't know what I will need next week and so I'll be spending a lot of time learning things I turn out to never need.

[kd5bjo]

> actively re-experiencing the thing you're trying to learn is a better way to make it stick

On this we agree, but to me this means practical application in various contexts, rather than call-and-response memory drills.