> If there was one thing that I should have done as a young programmer, it would have been to read the reference of the thing I was using.
I'd love to do this, but (if I may play the victim for a second), I have real trouble reading something long form; I glaze over after a few paragraphs or just fall asleep. I don't find it compelling reading, especially not if I realize the vast majority won't be relevant.
I don't know if this is from a broken attention span thanks to spending 25 years online, or simply from experience - there's so many tools I've used for one project and never again, or questions I've only ever had once, and "studying" feels wasteful.
This goes back to when I learned Java in college, second year; we had a book, I think I did like the first two pages, but after that I just winged it and googled stuff if I needed it. (which was probably the other huge change in the software development world at the time, Google and easily searched / found online documentation)
I'd love to do this, but (if I may play the victim for a second), I have real trouble reading something long form; I glaze over after a few paragraphs or just fall asleep. I don't find it compelling reading, especially not if I realize the vast majority won't be relevant.
I don't know if this is from a broken attention span thanks to spending 25 years online, or simply from experience - there's so many tools I've used for one project and never again, or questions I've only ever had once, and "studying" feels wasteful.
This goes back to when I learned Java in college, second year; we had a book, I think I did like the first two pages, but after that I just winged it and googled stuff if I needed it. (which was probably the other huge change in the software development world at the time, Google and easily searched / found online documentation)