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by sainez 1157 days ago
I find the best way to learn technical topics is to build a simplified version of the thing. The trick is to understand the relationship between the high level components without getting lost in the details. This high level understanding then helps inform you when you drill down into specifics.

I think this book is a shining example of that philosophy: https://www.buildyourownlisp.com/. In the book, you implement an extremely bare-bones version of lisp, but it has been invaluable in my career. I found I was able to understand nuanced language features much more quickly because I have a clear model of how programming languages are decomposed into their components.
2 comments
joe_the_user 1157 days ago
I find the best way to learn technical topics is to build a simplified version of the thing. The trick is to understand the relationship between the high level components without getting lost in the details. This high level understanding then helps inform you when you drill down into specifics.

I agree but that's a good guide to build a technical understanding of a complex subject, not sufficient-in-itself tool set for considering questions in that complex subject.

Especially, I'll people combining some "non-technical summary" of quantum-mechanics/Newton Gravity/genetic engineer/etc with their personal common sense are constant annoyance to me whenever such topics come here.

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nomel 1156 days ago
> constant annoyance to me whenever such topics come here.

I'll say that thinking about things at the edge of my understanding, where "Eureka!" moments are low hanging fruit, results in the highest dump of dopamine out of any other activity. Having silly fun speculating (and I make it clear when I am) my way through some thought process is literally the most fun I can have. Seeing those types of conversations, full of genuine curiosity, thoughtful speculation, and all the resulting corrections/discussions/insight, etc, is why I love HN so much, and I hope it's always a place to nerd out.

One mans trash is another mans treasure, I suppose. :)

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Chocobean 1156 days ago
Thanks for the link. Could you give an example of something you learned better/easier after having implemented a simplified version?

Side question: Is there a entry level build your own language model or gan type learning tool out there as well?

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