[somethingAlex]

In regards to that four-quadrant infographic - how could Technical Reference fall into the category of "theoretical knowledge?"

I'd think tutorials would fall under theoretical because if it gets too practical, are you not effectively writing a how to guide?

I'm not really sure the four categories fit into that quadrant scheme as well as they'd like.

[dnautics]

I'm not sure why this is being downvoted. I'll throw in my two cents (not the OP or anything):

It's not theoretical knowledge in the sense of "theoretical/applied physics", but rather theoretical knowledge because there is an extra step between it and application.

So if I give you a list of functions in a module/class and just tell you what they do, that is more theoretical than a code block that you can cut and paste as running code.

I'm not sure how else you would label this axis, theory/practical seems just fine.

[DanieleProcida]

This is a good question.

Practical knowledge is knowing how to do something - tie your shoelaces, instantiate a model class, authenticate to an LDAP server.

Theoretical knowledge is knowing what is the case - that the cross-flow valves must be closed at take-off, that everything in Python is an object, what a Python property decorator does.

Technical reference is theoretical knowledge (that you apply in practice), as is explanation. Tutorials and how-to guide contain practical knowledge.