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Ask HN: What will you learn this year?
36 points by Anon84 on Jan 1, 2009 | hide | past | favorite | 93 comments
Every year, I pick a topic I want to learn more about. Not just by professional imperatives but mostly by sheer curiosity. At one point, it was C++, Japanese, Monte-Carlo, Business, Politics, Economics, etc... This year, it's investing and finance in general and the financial crisis in particular (for obvious reasons).

With the new year still wet behind the ears, what have you decided to learn about?




Go back to the basics - This year, there is only book that I want to read - SICP. I get through that, and I know I will be a better developer for the rest of my days...

Of course I am currently reading Real World Haskell (just took a break to read HN), so its not quite the start I wanted, but hopefully learning Haskell will bring me to a closer understanding of the math behind programming

Less multi-tasking - I started this a week ago, when I was working I switched off the twitter client, the email, and the phone. And I got so much more done with so less effort.

Finding myself - More time meditating, and writing (like a journal). Time over the last 2 years has flown by and I feel like I have nothing to show for it. Meditating had always helped me compose myself, not to mention it will help with finding the "zone" (Along the lines of less multi-tasking)

More hacking, actually putting what I learn to metal. I tend to be academic in nature, but deep inside I know I that its when I put it to use that it really resonates with me

Finally, just being happy. Fretting over every new technology that I feel I just have to know about gives me the satisfaction of knowing about it, without getting enough depth to "know" it.


       Go back to the basics - This year, there is only book that I want to read - SICP.
I actually started going over it (along with the videos of the lectures) a couple of weeks ago.


I'm going to learn about making money via subscription payments. I've launched a few apps, some that I'm very proud of, but nothing that attempts to make money in the most straightforward way: charging for use. Consequently I've never felt like I really understood this simple thing, or how easy it would be to deploy it on a new or existing app.

More broadly, my goal is to learn about bringing a business to life. Having quit my day job and switched to consulting in the last year, I'd really like to start exploring new opportunities that could make money while I sleep.


I'm in the same boat. I want to learn to think of ideas for apps that would create real value that either consumers or businesses would be willing to pay for.


My plans:

  - dedicate an hour a day to nothing but reading
  - ditto for exercise
  - finish the MIT opencourseware course on intro neuroscience (scored the textbook on eBay for $14)
  - start a software project and bring it to being released
  - build an arduinome if finances permit
  - learn to dance
  - finally complete my pilot's license and get a glider certification (again, finances permitting)
  - go climbing outdoors as much as possible, time and weather permitting. 
  - figure out what I want to do professionally for the next few years (current job obligation ending summer)


If you build an arduinome, please document the process and put it online somewhere. It looks interesting; the Monome has always been one of those things that is super fascinating to me, but I could never justify buying.


"... If you build an arduinome, please document the process and put it online somewhere ..."

and if either of you decide to build one consider building them commercially. there is currently a bit of demand for the Monome & possibly the arduinome ~ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monome


Judo. I was so happy when I was doing it previously and I'm disappointed I ever stopped (graduated from college). But, the best dojo in town is right near my house, so there we go.

After that, I want to focus on polish. I too often focus on the end result but I'm bad at getting to the done-done stage - specifically, UI/UX.


Lots of mathematics, abstract algebra, computability, topology, linear algebra. Also, I want to understand more about theoretical computer science.


Technical: 1. Chalk up one more for SICP. I got started via the ebook. I'll probably shoot for 80% coverage of the exercises. 2. Also I'm hoping to get through the mathematical preliminaries section in TAOCP. 3. The "Great Algorithms" course that was posted here seems like particularly ripe fruit.

Non-technical: 1. Set better goals. I'm am freaking awful at setting goals. Need to focus on and experiment with setting goals.


The raising of my daughter.


You'll do great. How old is she?


8 months old in a few days!


Good age! She's interactive now.

Before you buy any books on parenting strategies, you need this book:

http://www.amazon.com/Doggy-Picture-Book-Thingy-Things/dp/07...


http://www.takingchildrenseriously.com/


Homeschooling?


Not hurting children, including not making them do things they don't want to do. (If it's good, convince them of that first.) This applies to school attendance, yes.


It has been shown that children under the age of about 9 / 10 have extremely poor risk assessment and decision making skills [1]. We are animals and logic is learned over many years. Logical appeals on a young child would work as well as on a dog.

Parents are meant to make decisions for their children and children are meant to do things they don't want to do if it's ultimately advantageous. That people think otherwise scares the bejesus out of me, but perhaps explains why kids are so pampered and spoiled nowadays.

Citations: http://www.faqs.org/abstracts/Social-sciences/Are-young-chil... http://ideas.repec.org/a/jdm/journl/v2y2007ip225-233.html


If children have no judgment, shouldn't it be real easy to convince them of whatever you want? They won't know any better than to listen.


After your 'convincing' argument, what do you do when they simply reply "no"?


You ask him why not. Try to find out what his misconception is, so you can explain about that particular issue. Then he'll learn about the specific area he doesn't know.

If things are going right, sometimes he'll want to have a discussion. Other times he'd rather just do what you said without understanding it, so he can proceed now (nothing wrong with that if it's voluntary). And other times, just let him do it his way, if it won't be a huge disaster, and he can learn something from his mistake, and about how good your advice is.


You ask him why not. Try to find out what his misconception is, so you can explain about that particular issue. Then he'll learn about the specific area he doesn't know.

If you substitute in someone with the same level of rationality and decision making skills as a young child.. let's say.. a meth addict, does it still work?

Sure, there are some kids - especially older ones - who can take part in discussions and come to logical conclusions, but this is a learned skill over many years. The ability to take control of yourself and be rational is very much part of the definition of being an adult.

Asking a 4 year old kid if he wants to go to school or not is not rational parenting and a child should not make those sorts of decisions.

I remember thinking a lot of things were unfair as a kid and thinking I could make better decisions than my parents - and I was considered a pretty smart kid. Now I'm of my parents' age, I know I was mostly wrong. Adults and parents are there for a reason. They can make skilled judgments, and kids can't.


I know people raised like this. Their parents were psychologists. You ever hear the old saw about the people raised by psychologists?


No you don't know anyone raised like this. If you give me a comprehensive statement of what they did, I will point out ten ways they hurt their kids. You may say I am wrong on every count, but you won't be able to dispute that what I advocate is different than what was done.

People all the time come up and say they already do the stuff on the TCS website. So far the rate of that being true is exactly zero.

PS I do not like psychologists.


What's this, you say? A novel, ideologically extreme child rearing philosophy that's so rarely applied that I couldn't conceivably know someone raised under it? Sold!


Your attitude would reject all new ideas about parenting without any regard for their merit.

The reason the things I'm advocating are especially worth consideration is that they are in line with long standing traditions our society already places very high value on, such as individual freedom and happiness, and control over one's own life.


No, in fact most new ideas about parenting are not ideologically extreme. Uncomfortable, perhaps --- like attachment parenting, which put our kids in our bed for a year --- but not extreme.


Humans are not always rational. If their decision making skills are poor they don't stop making decisions. If you have poor judgment, you're likely to make a lot of poor decisions.


Presumably, you're not asserting that much of what parents and teachers do is "hurting" children.


Sure I am. For example, children who don't like a given set of homework problems are made to do it anyway. Doesn't matter if they have something else productive they want to do, it's outside of their interests, they have reasons (which have not been addressed) to think it's a waste of time, etc... That hurts.


Dr. Foster: Would you please tell your son to stop?

Ned's Dad: We can't do it, man! That's discipline! That's like tellin' Gene Krupa not to go [starts banging on the desk] "boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom bam bam bam, boom boom boom bam ba ba ba ba, da boo boo tss!"

Ned's Dad: We don't believe in rules, like, we gave them up when we started livin' like freaky beatniks!

Dr. Foster: You don't believe in rules, yet you want to control Ned's anger.

Ned's Mom: Yeah. You gotta help us, Doc. We've tried nothin' and we're all out of ideas.


I don't want people to be hurt. You present a situation where people are being hurt. I am not happy with that situation either. Something has gone wrong. A solution is needed. The difference is that I don't take it for granted the solution must or should be unpleasant for the child. Solutions should be good things that all people are glad to have.


Just like taxes, speed limits, and vaccinations!


Those all contain problems, which can and should be solved.

You don't want to find ways to reduce (or eliminate) taxes, without any negative side effects?

You wouldn't approve of a way to deliver vaccinations that hurts less than a needle? (Personally I don't mind it, but some people do.)

You wouldn't approve of finding a way to let people travel faster? One without negative side effects, of course.

You seem to be advocating for the status quo, and denying improvement is possible.


Thanks for giving me a message board thread to geek out on while waiting for dinner to cook, and, I suppose, for inducing me to consider TCS; have a happy new year.


not so much being a pessimist, but being a realist. hope is nice and all, but are you seriously going to invent a new vaccination mechanism before your child needs her MMR shots? you may not mind injections, but I've never seen an infant or toddler that was much of a fan. given that, will you spare your child the discomfort of the needle and expose her to the risk of catching an easily preventable (and dangerous) infection? measles are far less pleasant than an injection. life is punctuated by the occasional unpleasantness and protecting your child from that entirely until adulthood does her a great disservice.


My daughter is 7 and she will take your eyes out before she lets you poke her with a needle --- and that's after the inevitable well-reasoned, polite, non-patronizing conversation about why vaccinations are important, which she of course understands and appreciates.


Vaccinations are easy. just offer topical anesthetic and be nice about it. the reason people have problems with them is they don't think about the kids at all, and don't give the kid any control over the situation, and scare them.


Each of your three reasons is presumptive, mildly insulting, and ultimately incorrect --- is what I'd say if I was insisting on being a message board geek.


[deleted]


Today there are all sorts of simple solutions, such as anesthetic, or just the doctor being nice is usually good enough. Why did you bring up vaccinations? They are easy!


[deleted]


well that's great that you know how to get rid of bad doctors and find nice ones, and consider that worth the effort just to help your kid be happier! what do you disagree about then?


[deleted]


You must be doing something else wrong then. Because in fact vaccinations are good, and not very painful especially with anesthetic.

I don't say this to insult you. I say it because problems have solutions. That is what you seem to be trying to deny. You want to say this thing went wrong, and therefore children must be hurt, it's inevitable, and trying to prevent it is crazy. I take the view that when people are hurt, someone has made a mistake, and we can try to do better.


[deleted]


I like privacy, and consider peoples' personal lives to be irrelevant to discussions of ideas.


[deleted]


Please stop guys.


Wow, is that creepy.


I value the pursuit of happiness, individual freedom, human rights, etc

I just apply them to a minority group that you don't recognize as fully human.


Oh, absolutely no offense taken.


That's life


thanks qqq. thanks for inflicting yet another monster on society, who thinks the world needs to justify itself to her. Hopefully the creature's teenage years will be a punishment enough for you.


nazgul, you are recognising a stereotype of teenagers, who 'think the world needs to justify itself to them'. You see these kinds of adolescents all the time, which is why you recognise that stereotype.

You have never met a TCS-raised child. Why do you think that TCS, which you have never encountered, will without doubt produce this stereotype of teenager, which you have encountered often?


I'm not talking about teenagers. I've seen the results of this in people in their 20's and early 30's.

I live in one of the richest counties in the US. (formerly #1 actually). I see children raised like this ALL THE TIME. It is far more common to see a parent explaining themselves to a child who is throwing a tantrum than it is to see a parent putting their foot down. These children grow up totally unprepared for a world that does not make every concession to their current mood. With the exception of the ones who have trust funds (quite a lot around here) and thus don't ever have to face the real world, these kids almost universally wind up as only semi-functioning adults.

I'd go so far as to say that it is inflicting environmental retardation on your child. You job as a parent isn't to be your child's friend. It is to socialize them and prepare them for life. If you want to be friends, you'll have to wait until they're an adult.


I guarantee you have never met a TCS-raised child. A TCS child wouldn't throw such a tantrum. When you throw a tantrum you are already in a state of coercion, of being hurt or frustrated. A TCS child trusts their parent to help them out before it gets to that stage, and a TCS parent helps their child out before it gets to that stage. Both parent and child are interested in, and have always been interested in, problem-solving. Not fighting or revenge or huring each other, but finding mutual preferences and both being happy with the outcome.

I don't think I'd want to be friends with a person who had hurt and coerced me all my life. As for socializing, 'no man can use his brain to think for another man'. A parent can't socialize their child. The child must socialize themselves. The parent can only either persuade their child, trying to help them, or else coerce them, that is, harm them.

One of these is the attitude of a human, the other of a monstrous tyrant. It is always alarming to hear a person say that for the individual, tyranny is the only way to a successful outcome, when time and time again it has wrecked whole societies who together were unable to withstand its corrosive effects.


right, reality never imposes frustrating conditions on people.


Here I am wanting no one to be hurt, and in return you hope I'll be hurt :(


I want to learn more about social psychology. I've just read Cialdini's book "influence" and have become fascinated with the subject.

As far as technical stuff goes I'd like to go through SICP - I had a small exposure to lisp years ago and would like to try it out again.

I'm also going to be doing some courses with the UK's open university (distance learning) - a math refresher and a course on processors/hardware.


I'd like to learn more about economics. I'm happy to hear suggestions about what I should read.

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=415683

Someone who likes to read a lot elsewhere in cyberspace just recommended to me the Becker-Posner blog.

http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/


Here are the blogs I'd start with: For behavioral and general economics, my two favorites are Tyler Cowen and The Big Picture

http://www.marginalrevolution.com/

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/

For Development/Macroeconomics two great ones (besides Becker/Posner) are Greg Mankiw & Danny Rodrik

http://gregmankiw.blogspot.com/

http://rodrik.typepad.com/

Mankiw is a bit more traditional than Rodrik, so they tend to have some great back & forth, and when the discussion jumps above college-level they tend to link/explain things. </econ nerd>


Thanks for the suggestions. I see Big Picture just moved to a new URL.

http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/


Public speaking. I'm signing up to some Toastmasters meetings and learning to do that well.


Cool. I've been doing it for over a year now and it's a lot of fun and very helpful.


Keeping costs as low as possible long term.


The main thing I want to learn more about is cryptology, and in particular cryptanalysis. I've been collecting papers that I want to read but I'm still missing a lot of the mathematical background that I need to understand them.

I'm currently working through a new book called Applied Cryptanalysis - Breaking Ciphers in the Real World and plan to fill in the math as needed from other sources.

Like many other people I also have SICP on my list and it will remain there until I have finished it including most of the exercises.

I have also been learning Haskell over the last year and plan to continue using it as much as possible, especially for mathematical oriented projects such as implementing attacks from the cryptanalysis book.


I'm just starting to learn about web development with Clojure. Even though I'm barely beyond the "hello world" stage, I've put my app on Slicehost at http://ericlavigne.net and I'm documenting the learning process on my blog at http://ericlavigne.wordpress.com


How to turn a one-man startup into a real company.


Learn to manage my time better and stop procastinating with HN :-)

More seriously, I want to read SICP seriously and play again with Ocaml (I used it quite a bit in university and really liked this language)

On things outside of programming, I'm going to get my chinese back into shape...


The math behind signal processing; curing and drying ham and salami.


I want to learn more about marketing and SEO. I have the basics, but I want to take it a step further.


1, Get a solid foundation on statistical learning theory and machine learning. I'm currently working my way through the cs229 course online on the stanford site

2, Learn how to network with people and start a company and apply to Ycombinator for the summer 09 cycle.


be serious about javascript, re-learn C, re-learn stats, master user interface design


I strongly recommend: - jQuery (all the documentation you'll need is online) - O'Reilly JavaScript: The Definitive Guide - Firebug Javascript Debugger for Firefox. - Emacs Javascript Mode - Some virtual machine environment for IE6 testing (IE6 testing will be your biggest chore, but it's essential for any public website)

Also, read the source code of sites you like or to see how novel effects work.

This should be (almost) everything that you'll need.


Violin. Started 3 weeks ago.


Time management: I want to become expert at time management. Math and business in general. Regarding programming instead, SICP, Erlang and Closures are what I'm working right now.


1. Statistics: Hate the way it was taught in college.

2. And maybe the Guitar. I'll start by learning to tune it first, which was the reason it's gathering dust in the first place.


Guitar string frequencies are 82 Hz, 110 Hz, 147 Hz, 196 Hz, 247 Hz, and 330 Hz. Generate each frequency and twist the knobs until you can no longer hear a beat frequency. Or buy a tuner.

If the strings are hard to keep in tune you will want to replace them. In that case google "change guitar strings".

Then you search "smoke on the water tab", and you should be good from there.


Good advice. When buying a tuner look for a "chromatic" meaning it can tune ALL frequencies (within a certain range) no more than $40. This will give you more flexibility down the road. String names from high (the skinny one) to low are E B G D A E. And your first string change will probably be awful. Leave extra room and try to keep the winds even. Good Luck!


Along the lines of the first string change; don't try to tune the strings until they're all on and in the general vicinity of the correct tension.

It takes some practice until you realize you really have to tune all six strings at once until everything is tuned approximately right. Then you can fine tune on a string-by-string basis.


"Statistics: Hate the way it was taught in college."

I don't know how statistics was taught to you in college, but I find

http://statland.org/MAAFIXED.PDF

a very inspiring article about how statistics ought to be taught, and it includes recommendations of better textbooks, some of which are quite readable for self-study.

Here's another good critique of how college statistics courses are usually taught:

http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=10...


If you have a mac search for "tuna pitch", it's a decent free guitar tuner


To read (at least phonetically) and write in Armenian.


I'm definitely going to learn more math this year. And maybe I would want to do something non web based but interesting.


Back to On Lisp (printed out) this year.


Ruby!


Ok, and then what are you going to learn on January 3rd?


I want to learn Ruby too! Especially with Rails. I just want to get rid of PHP. Maybe it's not going to happen this year completely, but at least i will try. I find it's a fantastic framework. I worked with CakePHP and CodeIgniter before, but any PHP framework is just far behind the ruby syntax.


Erk, exactly (swap CodeIgnitor for ZF) the same position I'm in.


I decided to learn about deciding to learn about something.


Math.


Statistics and Eskrima.


French.


I'm going to learn more philosophy and maybe some physics.


I always thought that physics is the mother of all philosophy (at least the of "natural" kind)... then again, I am a physicist. :D


No, no, it's the other way around :)

Physics is "natural philosophy", one branch of philosophy. There is also philosophy of knowledge, existence, morals, political philosophy, etc.


Juggle and ride a unicycle at the same time, and be more creative when trying to sneak a tow up hills in traffic on my bike.




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