[kamaal]

It is not infantile, it is just a different way of approaching a problem. Instead of telling you what things are, they just ask you questions so that by answering them you discover the things yourself.

There is a big difference between two approaches. In the former you get facts as knowledge. In the latter your invent the knowledge yourself, and understand the processes, whys and hows you got there. The latter is a far better way because its hard to forget what you invented yourself.

[yakshaving_jgt]

How does the space reserved for jellybean stains guide the reader towards the desired problem-solving approach?

[kamaal]

Well I'm guessing you haven't read the book yet.

Basically all throughout the book(s), they authors use food names as variable, function names etc. It is indeed a nice idea because people do tend to associate good memories with delicious food. Especially if the food is greasy or sweet!

That quote This space is reserved for Jelly Bean stains is basically a filler sentence at the end of a chapter on a page, which happens to be high up in the page, the remainder of the page is basically empty, so they put it in as a joke.

This is not any different than the joke at the beginning of the 'Camel Book', Laziness, Impatience and Hubris, the three great virtues of a programmer.

You really should read those books, its one of those unique kinds of books that use a very innovative(albeit a very ancient) technique to teach you some very mind bending concepts. Its is possible that the approach will help you in understanding other things as well.

[yakshaving_jgt]

I'm not taking a position on whether or not the infantilism is appropriate, so whether or not I have read the book is neither here nor there.

The previous commenter characterised the text as needlessly infantile. It seemed clear enough to me that they were referring to the jokes about jelly bean stains. I am confused why you interpreted their challenge as being about some approach to problem solving.

> Its is possible that the approach will help you in understanding other things as well.

This is either such a general statement that it isn't worth saying, or it is direct condescension which I don't appreciate.

[kamaal]

Whatever rocks your boat!

Feel free to not read those books! Works fine for me.

[sfpotter]

Yes, I was talking about the jelly bean stain stuff and the cartoons. I don’t see the point.

(I do also think the format of these books is pretentious and not actually that sound didactically, but that wasn’t what I was referring to when I said “infantilizing”.)

[pksebben]

I've always seen a sense of humor as an essential component of problem solving. Stressy, serious, businesslike modes tend to get stuck in the weeds and miss the forest etc

[Apocryphon]

This blog is such a classic for that.

http://computationaltales.blogspot.com

[pksebben]

thanks for this! there's some good stuff in here. Kinda reminds me of master foo http://www.catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/ten-thousand.ht...

[sfpotter]

It isn’t an essential part of problem solving. I think the fact that you think any technical material that isn’t humorous is automatically “stressy” may mostly say something about you… :\

For what it’s worth, I do have a sense of humor. Harvey Birdman is one of my favorite shows. The Sebben and Sebben employee orientation video is on another level.

[pksebben]

I'm afraid I wasn't communicating effectively. I have no problem with non-humorous technical material - the parent comment asked

>How does the space reserved for jellybean stains guide the reader towards the desired problem-solving approach?

... and I was suggesting that perhaps the authors were using the medium as the message - I find that being relaxed helps with debugging, typically.

[yakshaving_jgt]

Seems like a false dichotomy to me. Authors can choose to write plainly and clearly.

[Jtsummers]

The books are actually clearly written. They also have some humor in them. The horror.

[yakshaving_jgt]

Why are you directing this sarcastic comment towards me?