
Ask HN: If you have a short time to learn and do, what will be your strategy? - sre79chn
I am interested to know how others learn and build something in a short time. For example, if you do know about using cryptography protocols, what will be your approach if you need to use an authentication library? What will be the balance to aim between depth and pragmatism ?
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jlukecarlson
Personally, I might start by reading up on some background literature but
ideally I'd move into a phase of building out an initial system as soon as
possible.

It's only when you really try to build something that you uncover assumptions
you made and aspects of the task that you don't truly understand. From there
you can read further on a topic or try watching a lecture or two on the
specific issue you encountered. Otherwise you may spend hours/days/months just
passively learning without gaining fundamental understanding.

Eventually, you scrap everything from your first couple of attempts and
actually put together a working solution.

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ipnon
For a well defined field, the best text book is going to balance depth and
breadth. For a research subject, you will need to read scientific papers until
you reach the cutting edge. For a trend in the arts, you will need to follow
the trendsetters on social media until you catch up to them.

