Learn X in Y Minutes | Hacker News Reader

Learn X in Y Minutes

learnxinyminutes.com

60 pointsmodinfo15 comments

It's a great site, of course, but lists don't make good submissions to HN. The comments will be about the lowest common denominator of the items on the list, and this is usually pretty generic.

It would be better to pick one of the most interesting items on the list and submit that instead.

https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=true&sor...

If a language fits into a familiar paradigm, the absolute fastest way to learn, I've found, is to whip open the LXY page and docs, and translate a known quantity such as Advent of Code or a personal toy project.

100%. I feel like with this + standard library documentation can help you learn familiar (e.g. not Haskell) languages the quickest way possible.

For example, I’m taking an AP CS A course right now and I wanted to learn Java beforehand. Knowing C++, Python, Rust and JavaScript gave me a head start do I just needed to learn the syntax and method names on standard types.

I learned Python by solving about 70 projecteuler.net problems with it -- well enough to get a job where the interview process included a coding test in Python (not a developer job, but still).

Any particular Advent you recommend? I don't have a large number of toy projects to pull from, but this has always been the most effective way to learn for me.

I’ve yet to play a year that wasn’t fun. If you don’t like one year, try another. The problems eventually get very difficult so don’t be discouraged if you don’t get very far. It’s a game after all.

A programmer can use this and get right up to speed, I would call this a huge cheat sheet

As a syntax cheat sheet this has always been a great site.

Just don't look at it as "learn c++ in 24 hs".

"Learn" is meaningless with cheatsheets like this. There's much more to a language than its syntax, and I'm afraid that's the part one can't have a cheatsheet for.

For this reason, I never tried LXiYM for Common Lisp/Racket/Clojure because actually lisping in those languages involves a new way of thinking, not knowing a new notation.

I agree that “learn” is not the right word, but I use this site all the time for reference when working in less familiar languages

I would not say it is meaningless.

I have found this site helpful in the past, but I have decades of experience with multiple programming languages. The site is useful for reminding you of some basic differences, and I think that's pretty much the purpose of the site. No one should think "a whirlwind tour" is for deep learning.

This site is a Rosetta Stone of programming languages.

that alread exists tho. see https://rosettacode.org/wiki/Rosetta_Code

One of the best resources online IMHO. I always wondered if the original intent was to have a number of different “Y”, ie separate tutorials to choose from: learn c in 10 minutes and learn c in 30, etc.

I see Jira is not listed among the tools you can learn in Y minutes. I assume because it's not possible to learn Jira in minutes, even an arbitrarily large number of them...

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