How to Learn 2

Are you in the process of learning React? AngularJS? Node.js? Gulp? EcmaScript 6? Elm? {Insert your tool, framework or programming language here}? Have you ever gone through a tutorial and still don't feel like you have a good grasp of the concepts? Do you think learning a new technology is a slow and painful process?

If you are in the software profession, learning is an integral part of your job. Frameworks, languages and tools come and go so fast that in five years you are likely going to be working with a different set of tools. Although there are countless blog posts, tutorials and courses on the internet to teach you any topic you can imagine, that still doesn't mean learning is easy. Toby Ho will present principles and techniques that will allow you to learn faster and better - with a firmer grasp of concepts, which better allows you to transfer knowledge to new problem domains.

Toby gave the first version of this talk two years ago at ConnectJS. Since then he became a full time programming teacher, and has learned a lot more about how people learn than he previously did. He will share the current state of his thoughts on this topic to teach others to learn effectively on their own.

Transcript

1. How to Learn 2
2. About Me • Toby Ho • Veteran software developer 14 years • Blogger tobyho.com • Teacher at DigitalCrafts • Organizer of ATL.JS
3. ConnectJS 2015 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HcbjChlKjM
4. 2016 I became a fulltime teacher.
5. This Talk is for • Teachers • Mentors • Students • Learners
6. Learning to Code is Hard
7. Why Learning to Code is Hard • No recipe • The TMI problem • Elitism in the community
8. Programming vs Cooking
9. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanroscover/3450505729/ Backbone Marionette Ember.js AngularJS Knockout.js Vue React Flux Redux GraphQL React Native Relay NativeScript PhoneGap Ionic Famous Meteor Mocha Sass LESS Stylus CoffeeScript EcmaScript 6 TypeScript Om ClojureScript Elm jQuery D3 Browserify Webpack Underscore Lodash Require.js MongoDB CouchDB ElasticSearch PostgreSQL Testem Karma Grunt Gulp Brunch Broccoli Bootstrap Foundation Falcor Node.js Bower npm Express Hapi Sails Loopback Koa Sublime Text WebStorm Vim MEAN Polymer Shadow DOM
11. The TMI Problem
15. Motivation is Everything Motivation is Everything
16. How to Stay Motivated 1. The Big Picture 2. The Goldilocks Principle 3. The Growth Mindset
17. 1. The Big Picture
20. Toby’s Career • Masters degrees at Georgia Tech 2003 • First job day 1: start learning Hibernate ORM • Second job day 1: start learning struts and servlets • Third job day 1: start learning J2EE and Weblogic • Fourth job day 1: start learning Turbogears and SQLAlchemy
21. https://www.flickr.com/photos/dylanroscover/3450505729/ Backbone Marionette Ember.js AngularJS Knockout.js Vue React Flux Redux GraphQL React Native Relay NativeScript PhoneGap Ionic Famous Meteor Mocha Sass LESS Stylus CoffeeScript EcmaScript 6 TypeScript Om ClojureScript Elm jQuery D3 Browserify Webpack Underscore Lodash Require.js MongoDB CouchDB ElasticSearch PostgreSQL Testem Karma Grunt Gulp Brunch Broccoli Bootstrap Foundation Falcor Node.js Bower npm Express Hapi Sails Loopback Koa Sublime Text WebStorm Vim MEAN Polymer Shadow DOM
22. What should I focus on?
23. Technology Pyramid
30. Just because you are not using a AngularJS tomorrow doesn’t mean it was a waste to learn it
31. The bottom stack gets deep • Functions: higher-order functions, closures, functional programming, pure functions, currying, function composition, functional reactive programming, functors, monads • Objects: classes, inheritance, object-oriented programming and design, design patterns(observer, factory, MVC, strategy…) SOLID principles
32. 2. The Goldilocks Principle
34. The Experience Sampling Method
35. flow The state in which people are so involved in an activity that nothing else seems to matter; the experience itself is so enjoyable that people will do it even at great cost, for the sheer sake of doing it.
36. What people in flow say • “It was like floating” • “carried on by the flow” • “In the zone” • “one with the mountain” • “In the pocket” • “Time stands still” • “Time flies”
37. When you are in flow • You are really focused. • You are really engaged. • You are really having fun! • You are learning at a rapid speed.
38. Conditions for Flow • Undistracted • Clear goals and feedback • Task should match your current skill
39. The Flow Channel
40. Not too hot, not too cold
41. Goldilocks Principle • Match the task to your current ability to maximize your enjoyment, motivation, and learning • If the task is too easy, make it harder • If the task is too hard, make it easier
42. Strategies for making it harder • Don’t just read, do • If the tutorial provides a lot of hand-holding, remove the hand-holding • Redo the current exercise/project without any outside assistance or reference • Add an additional requirement to the exercise/project • Build it from scratch • Take on a more ambitious exercise/project
43. Strategies for making it easier • Choose helpful tools • Break it up • 80/20 rule • Simple to complex
44. Choose Helpful Tools Strategies for making it easier
45. Helpful Errors
48. Programming Languages
49. JavaScript is a horrendous first programming language. Try Python.
50. Frameworks • React - more helpful • AngularJS 2 - more helpful • AngularJS 1 - less helpful • Ember.JS - less helpful
51. </choose_helpful_tools>
52. Break it up Strategies for making it easier
88. Did you know? Working Memory can only hold up to ~7 things
89. Learn piecemeal Solution: Don’t eat the whole thing at once
91. Kevin Wang - founder of Launch School
98. Snowball effect?
99. Did you know: Each of these skills is orthogonal to each other. React Redux JSX Classes Arrow Functions Webpack
100. </break_it_up>
101. Prioritization
102. Which to learn first?
103. 80/20 Rule a.k.a the Pareto principle a.k.a the law of the vital few
104. 80/20 Rule for many things, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
105. 80/20 Rule Examples • “80% of your sales come from 20% of your clients.” • “80% of Italy's land was owned by 20% of the population.” • “the richest 20% of the world's population controlling 82.7% of the world's income.”
106. Which 20%? React Redux JSX Classes Arrow Functions Webpack
107. Toby’s suggested order • React + JSX - the ~20% that gets you to 80% • Add in ES6 classes - prevalent, and if you know classes from another language say Ruby, this is easy • Add in Redux - because everyone is all about Redux • Add in ES6 arrow functions - easy just syntax sugar • Add in Webpack - this set up gives you modules
108. React / Redux Quickstart • https://gist.github.com/airportyh/ f0547b7c9fb41f6a0845b686b26d4ccc • https://gist.github.com/airportyh/ 382aab8753ad81a05b3517e8a3462530
109. </80_20_rule>
110. Simple to Complex Strategies for making it easier
111. When breaking it down doesn’t work
112. Start with a hello world!
115. Hello world with Redux
116. Hello world with Redux
118. Once you have the smallest example of a whole app…
119. …make a more complex whole app.
120. </simple_to_complex>
121. </goldilocks_principle>
122. 3.
123. The Power of Yet Carol Dweck
125. How do you react when met with a challenge?
126. What if I fail? I might look dumb.
127. I love a challenge! I was hoping I would learn something!
128. Fixed mindset Growth mindset What if I fail? I love a challenge! I might look dumb. I was hoping this would be informative.
129. Fixed mindset: the belief that your intelligence and abilities are fixed.
130. Growth mindset: the belief that your intelligence and abilities increase with effort.
131. The Praise Study
133. Praise Template 1 “Wow, you got eight right. That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.”
134. Praise Template 1 “Wow, you got eight right. That’s a really good score. You must be smart at this.” Ability Praised Group
135. Praise Template 2 “Wow, you got eight right. That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.”
136. Praise Template 2 “Wow, you got eight right. That’s a really good score. You must have worked really hard.” Effort Praised Group
137. When given a choice • Ability praised group chose to skip a new challenging problem • Effort praised group (90%) chose to work on the new challenging problem
138. Enjoyment • Ability praised group: “It’s not fun anymore.” • Effort praised group: “The hard ones are the fun ones.”
139. Performance • Ability praised group performance plummeted • Effort praised group performance improved
140. Self Report • Ability Praised Group: lied to boost their scores
141. The Fixed Mindset • Failure is proof you are not smart • Choose easier paths assure themselves of their smartness • Avoid challenges • More likely to cheat or lie about their performance • Performance plateaus
142. The Growth Mindset • Failure is an opportunity to learn and get smarter • Embrace challenges, persist longer • Not afraid to make mistakes • Performance continually improves over the long run
143. Mindset can be changed
144. Growth Mindset Classrooms • In one year, a kindergarten class in Harlem, NY scored in the 95th percentile on the national achievement test – many of those kids could not hold a pencil when they arrived at school. • In one year, 4th grade students in the South Bronx, way behind, became the #1 4th grade class in the state of NY on the state math test. • In a year to a year and a half, Native American students in a school on a reservation went from the bottom of their district to the top, and that district included affluent sections of Seattle. So the Native kids out did the Microsoft kids.”
145. Debugging Mindset
146. </growth_mindset>
147. Summary How to Stay Motivated 1. The Big Picture 2. The Goldilocks Principle 3. The Growth Mindset
148. Resources • How it Feels to Learn JavaScript in 2016 - Hacker Noon • Why Learning to Code is so Damn Hard - Viking School • Programmers: Please don’t ever say this to beginners • The Power of Yet - Carol Dweck • Flow - The Psychology of Optimal Experience - Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi