Ask HN: What programming or math advice would you love to give out in 2023? | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: What programming or math advice would you love to give out in 2023?

9 pointsnewsoul4 comments

My advice for CS or mathy people in 2023 would be:

1. CS/Programming - Learn more about programming languages and how they work. Learning it creates mental models which can help you pick up new languages faster and use them more judiciously. Check out Dan Grossman's 3 part Programming Langauages course on Coursera. Or maybe learn some PL Theory. There are many books. Pick what suits you.

2. Math - Learn how to solve Fermi problems or approximation problems. It is also known as Street Fighting Mathematics. It helps develop intuition as to what the answer to a problem can be and provides you with a vague foggy path nonetheless a path to start progressing forward.

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I would echo OP's suggestion of learning approximation problems for getting better at math.

There is a course on MIT OCW by Prof Sanjoy Mahajan called Street Fighting Mathematics: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-098-street-fighting-mathemati....

It uses a book of the same name. You can find more about it here: http://streetfightingmath.com/index.html

There is also Concrete Mathematics by Don Knuth et al. You can find it for free as a pdf if you google properly. It is a mixture of discrete and continuous math.

Also Polya's How to Solve It.

Programming -

Stick to a specific set of tools YOU are comfortable with. Don't go with the newest fad. What matters are your skills and concepts. Not what tool you use. A skilled craftsman can use very basic tools to build impeccable creations while a naive one with the latest fancy tools can create junk. So don't jump editors, just learn the one you are comfortable with and do is in much depth.

Math -

Don't look for the golden trick. Just solve more and more problems and you will eventually get good at recognizing patterns.

The programming advice is good for productivity, but learning new things is fun too, and sometimes it becomes the best option afterwards. To add (personally), don't use new fads in a production setting or when productivity is critical, but if it's for fun or exploration, I think it's all good.

I use vim (mediocre with) for my side projects, but VS Code (proficient with) at work, for example.

Programming Advice -

Try to reverse engineer stuff by surfing through documentations and protocols. There is a youtube channel that does this: https://www.youtube.com/@LowByteProductions

Also start making small hobby projects that don't scale. Just to get the feel of how things work.

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