[HN Gopher] Ask HN: How to remember technical topics which you d...
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Ask HN: How to remember technical topics which you don't use/refer
everyday?
There are a ton of topics I learn/read on a daily basis. Some are
out of my personal interest, some out of need (when interviewing).
I notice that after a while, without enough usage, these topics
simply evaporate from my memory. I know the simple answer is to
keep practicing. I'm interested in knowing how different people do
this. Looking for any tips, hacks, etc.
Author : aecs99
Score : 63 points
Date : 2022-06-11 18:57 UTC (4 hours ago)
| punnerud wrote:
| The goal should be to know what you don't know, because you can't
| ask questions about the things you don't know that you don't
| know.
|
| So forgetting is ok, as long as you remember that there was
| something extra the next time you meet the same problem.
| igetspam wrote:
| This. It reads like the answer to dunning Kruger.
| tester756 wrote:
| jezz
|
| I've never been sure which one is which - byte or bit
|
| until I had to use them directly
| badinsie wrote:
| my brain determines what is relevant or irrelevant all on its
| own. the irrelevant stuff for sure gets thrown on the floor.
| digitalsanctum wrote:
| Prefer "learning" rather than "remembering." I prefer learning by
| doing and teaching others which coincide with the best ways to
| learn something and be held accountable. I don't remember where I
| first learned about learning but this pyramid gives a quick
| breakdown of which methods work best for retention [1].
|
| [1] The Learning Pyramid:
| https://stephenslighthouse.com/2010/02/26/the-learning-pyram...
| 0xb0565e487 wrote:
| Memorization is most often useless. Focus on understanding
| instead.
|
| You need to only retain information that can help you derive
| useful conclusions, and your mind is most likely smarter than you
| at that.
| efortis wrote:
| In other words, do your best to understand why (as opposed to
| memorize).
|
| For example, you'll refresh older topics when making analogies,
| or stringing the evolution of something.
| kayodelycaon wrote:
| I leverage technology to replace memory. Details don't matter if
| I know a thing exists and I'm good at finding things. Finding
| things is a far more useful skill to develop than memorization.
|
| It is highly unlikely I'll end up in a situation without cell
| signal, I carry an iPhone, Kindle Paperwhite, and a cellular iPad
| Mini (256gb) literally everywhere. (Handbags are awesome.)
|
| On the off chance, I'm away from the internet and my kindle
| doesn't have a useful book, I have all of Wikipedia and
| Wikitonary downloaded in Kiwix on my iPad Mini, downloaded PDFs
| in Dropbox, and a bunch of books in the D&D Beyond app, and
| videos in Youtube, because why not.
|
| Any thing I need to remember is in Apple Notes or Scrivener. (All
| my research for stories is in a project file.)
| martin-adams wrote:
| I use the Zettelkasten method for tech notes. Even made a video
| on it a while back if you're interested.
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbvEJvTwllk
| ilaksh wrote:
| I know this will sound negative but I think the appropriate
| answer is that you are very misguided.
|
| One thing to realize is that rapid technology deployment and
| improvements mean we must adapt our approach to learning and
| problem solving if we want to be effective.
|
| With the internet and exponential increase in software
| development tools, the amount of information is massive. And of
| course, we now have Google and Stackoverflow etc. which are
| extremely effective ways to solve problems or very quickly
| refresh your memory on the exact details that are relevant.
|
| If you operate as if those things haven't changed, then you will
| not be effective.
| simonw wrote:
| Make notes, in private and in public.
|
| I have a private "notes" repo on GitHub where I keep notes in the
| issues (the repo itself is empty). Any time I'm trying out a new
| piece of software I open an issue there, then add notes on the
| issue comments as I figure things out.
|
| I use GitHub issues because they have excellent backups and they
| show up on GitHub search - plus there's a really good API which I
| use to periodically export and backup my notes elsewhere.
|
| If something fits the TIL format, I'll turn my notes into a TIL
| and publish them on https://til.simonwillison.net - that site
| uses the markdown format as GitHub issues, so publishing a TIL
| that started out as an issue comment only takes me a few minutes.
| tedyoung wrote:
| I think your question "how do I remember stuff I don't use often"
| is not a useful question to answer. Why do you need to remember
| things you don't use often? You don't.
|
| Memory is not binary: you will have easier or harder access to
| things in your long-term memory. Those that you access more
| often, get easier. Those that you build up more complex
| structures around (understanding concepts underlying those
| concepts) make it easier to retrieve.
|
| The more you learn and connect information, and generate it (by
| writing summaries, applying that information, etc.), the stronger
| that network of information becomes, which means that when you
| "forget" it (find it hard to retrieve), a quick skim about that
| topic will bring the whole network of information back to your
| conscious awareness.
|
| If you want to build better knowledge networks in your brain, you
| have to (re-)generate that knowledge in different forms. Pick a
| "node" of that knowledge that's a little fuzzy and learn more
| about it to clarify it. Draw diagrams of how that knowledge fits
| together.
|
| Ultimately, constant retrieval of information, with restructuring
| and clarifying, will make it easier to get back when you need it.
| charlie0 wrote:
| One good thing I can think of is algorithms for interviews.
| Interviewing can be a grueling process and there's a lot of
| things to remember. In most jobs, algorithms are really only
| used during the interview process and not in the actual job.
| Most people switch jobs every 1-3 years. Speaking from
| experience, I tend to forget about most of the stuff I learned
| in about 6 months, so it's a real hassle to have to re-train on
| this stuff a 1+yr later for the next round of interviews. It
| would be nice to learn algos once and never have to re-learn
| them again.
| itqwertz wrote:
| Just be honest when talking about these things. No one knows
| everything, so people will appreciate the humility as well as the
| eagerness to adopt new tech.
|
| Keep refreshing HN to keep up to date, but realize any engineer
| worth his salt can figure out new tech in a week or two. No need
| to be an expert.
|
| Sometimes, the fate and knowledge of an engineer can be decided
| by PM ticket assignment. Side projects are good to keep you
| sharp, but don't stress. Once you move to management or team
| lead, you'll realize that a competent engineer will always
| deliver results.
| giaour wrote:
| Take notes, even if you know you can remember the details without
| doing so. You can always search or refer back to your notes when
| you need to return to a topic, and I find that just opening the
| appropriate notebook jogs my memory
| lostlogin wrote:
| Notes.app is absolutely invaluable to me now, and has well over
| a thousands entries. It has photos, links and many are shared.
| I wish I could remember it all.
|
| I've been planning to migrate to bear.app for a long time, but
| have never made the leap.
| q3k wrote:
| I don't. If I'm not actively using something then it just gets
| evicted from cache.
|
| I generally remember the difficult/weird parts that made initial
| learning slow, everything else I just re-learn as needed from the
| same sources that I used initially.
| FunnyBadger wrote:
| For it I simply need to find them interesting. That causes me to
| spend time researching or studying them. And that means I have
| them at my finger-tips for conversation or application.
|
| This may include downloading papers or buying textbooks or
| equipment to hack (when appropriate).
| igetspam wrote:
| Don't. Let them fade. Reread the docs when you need them. The
| amount of brain space you'd need to keep rarely used topics fresh
| is unimaginable. Relearning to ride a bike is easier than
| learning the first time (unless you've had a stroke). You'll pick
| it up again. Learn for the sake of learning and let go. All you
| need to maintain is the references and meta data.
| undefinedzero wrote:
| I've given up staying up-to-date on everything and limited myself
| to things I can apply or are direct alternatives to technologies
| I use. Things like Meta's approach to caching on Facebook and
| stuff are interesting but only really relevant for less than a
| dozen people and I reckon a waste of time for most others. If I
| skip that I can mull longer on the topics relevant for me.
| kamroot wrote:
| I have had the same problem and I worked on it with a workflow of
| reading something today, making a note of it in a notebook
| (handwritten works best for me) and revising it the day after.
| The hand writing part makes me bio-mechanically engage with the
| material and finally reviewing my notes the next day forces
| spaced repetition. A nice side-effect is that after a few months
| when I am just flipping through my notebook I remember something
| that I had forgotten.
|
| I use this for technical webpages that I read, business concepts
| (e.g. I am reading about `Yule's Law of Complementarity` or new
| technical concepts (e.g. NestJS).
|
| This works for me and I stumbled upon this workflow for myself
| after trying out a lot of other things that did not work for me.
| drakonka wrote:
| Sorry for the non-answer answer I'm about to give, but I don't
| really think you should have to keep these things in memory. At
| some point it becomes a waste of memory space (at least that's
| how I experience it).
|
| There ARE some topics I want to remember, and those I try to put
| in writing. Both because it helps them stick in my mind for
| longer and because then I have a reference to go back to if I
| need a refresher. I use my own blog quite a bit to remember ways
| to do things that I may have figured out earlier and then
| forgotten.
|
| But in terms of keeping things completely in memory: I have grown
| to think that, for a healthy mind, the things worth remembering
| are the things we remember. It's _good_ to remember things you're
| regularly using. If you're not regularly using them, you may as
| well forget the details and refresh your memory later if needed.
| Of course the major caveat being that this is within reasonable
| limits and not a symptom of an illness or actual serious memory
| loss.
|
| It is a balance, and losing my memory in general is one of my
| worst fears. I guess it is a matter of deciding if these topics
| are beginning to evaporate sooner than you're comfortable with.
| Do they disappear after a day? A week? A year? If I start
| forgetting knowledge too quickly for my standards, that's when
| I'll get worried. It's just a matter of deciding what "too
| quickly" is for us.
| shrimp_emoji wrote:
| Outside of pathology, the mechanism of forgetting seems pretty
| important: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperthymesia
|
| > _Hyperthymesia, or highly superior autobiographical memory
| (HSAM), is a condition that leads people to be able to remember
| an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid
| detail._
|
| > _Hyperthymestic abilities can have a detrimental effect. The
| constant, irrepressible stream of memories has caused
| significant disruption to Price 's life. She described her
| recollection as "non-stop, uncontrollable and totally
| exhausting" and as "a burden".[1] Price is prone to getting
| lost in remembering. This can make it difficult to attend to
| the present or future, as she is permanently living in the
| past. Others who have hyperthymesia do not display any of these
| traits, however. _
| tedyoung wrote:
| Bjork's research is all about forgetting under the Theory of
| Disuse (along with desirable difficulties, which is what
| helps us remember). See
| https://bjorklab.psych.ucla.edu/research/ for more.
| k__ wrote:
| I search on Google and find my own articles I wrote about those
| topics in the past.
|
| Strange, but funny feeling.
| znpy wrote:
| I have a personal private knowledge base, built using mediawiki.
|
| It's easy to add content to and supports code highlighting,
| images, files and all the nice things you'd see on wikipedia. And
| has a beautiful skin (template) with gorgeous typography that's a
| joy to read.
|
| I also use it for tech notes, among the other stuff.
| maliker wrote:
| I write cheatsheets. Just the bare minimum stuff needed to get
| things done. When I refer back to them it's a lot faster than
| looking things up again in (e.g.) stackoverflow. My pandas
| cheatsheet gets probably too much use (damn that API).
| ubj wrote:
| Learn the basics of how human memory works, and techniques for
| making knowledge stick in long-term memory. Here's a few
| resources that teach this at an approachable level:
|
| [1] A Mind for Numbers (book):
| https://barbaraoakley.com/books/a-mind-for-numbers/
|
| [2] Learning How To Learn (Coursera course):
| https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn
|
| [3] Make It Stick (book): https://www.retrievalpractice.org/make-
| it-stick
|
| [4] Augmenting Long-Term Memory (blog post):
| http://augmentingcognition.com/ltm.html
|
| [5] SuperMemo Guru (website):
| https://supermemo.guru/wiki/SuperMemo_Guru
|
| [6] Nelson Dellis (YouTube):
| https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnINhoHWuVjUDXp7dav5e3A
|
| I second the use of Anki--it's a great tool. Other (non-free)
| options include SuperMemo and IDoRecall.
| drakonka wrote:
| Thank you especially for linking the Augmenting Long-Term
| Memory post. I'm just on the part going through the author's
| usage of Anki and it has already inspired me to download the
| client and try it myself as well. I don't think I'll put nearly
| as many things in it as the author says he does, but it sounds
| like it can be an incredible tool for whatever we find worth
| remembering.
|
| Update: After reading the API section of this post, I found
| this very last part interesting in the context of OP's
| question[0]. I thought it may be worth highlighting to the OP
| that even a heavy user of a memory system recognizes that
| knowledge we don't regularly use may not be worth remembering.
|
| [0]"A more challenging partial failure mode is Ankifying what
| turn into orphan APIs. That is, I'll use a new API for a
| project, and Ankify some material from the API. Then the
| project finishes, and I don't immediately have another project
| using the same API. I then find my mind won't engage so well
| with the cards - there's a half-conscious thought of "why am I
| learning this useless stuff?" I just no longer find the cards
| as interesting as when I was actively using the API.
|
| This is a difficult situation. I use the rule of thumb that if
| it seems likely I'm not going to use the API again, I delete
| the cards when they come up. But if it seems likely I'll use
| the API in the next year or so, I keep them in the deck. It's
| not a perfect solution, since I really do slightly disconnect
| from the cards. But it's the best compromise I've found."
| ubj wrote:
| Great points. I agree that one of the challenges is
| identifying what knowledge is worth investing the time to
| bake into long-term memory.
|
| Paying attention to what knowledge I (or top performers) use
| most often in practical projects / everyday work has helped.
| I also try to identify fundamentals; i.e. chunks of knowledge
| that experts in a field have identified as critical to
| understanding that field.
| saagarjha wrote:
| By keeping pointers to the content rather than the actual content
| ;)
| ibobev wrote:
| Take notes about the most important parts of what you learnt.
| That way when you have to recall a topic you don't have to reread
| the whole book or tutorial but just your notes.
| sotu wrote:
| I use flashcards with active recall style learning. There's
| actually a great app I use called "Active Recall" that sets you
| up with this - you have to work a bit to get the cards you want
| but after you can refer back to them easily and it helps with
| memorization
|
| https://activerecall.com is their site
| sbfeibish wrote:
| I have a Notes folder containing 'subject' text files.
| Notes/crypto.txt Notes/docker.txt Notes/equity.txt ... anything
| and everything one day I'll divide them into subfolders
| Notes/geopolitics/zeihan.txt Notes/programming/languages/rust.txt
|
| if a text file isn't good enough, or there needs to be an image
| embedded, I use other file types
|
| And a Documents folder containing 'subject' article files.
| Documents/Programming/Languages/Rust ...
| Alekhine wrote:
| I do the exact same thing. Its been very effective. Looking at
| something I wrote myself refreshes my memory a lot more than
| any other kind of resource.
|
| I personally use markdown files in the event I want to publish
| one of my notes. It also let's me inline images and see them if
| my editor supports previewing.
| lostlogin wrote:
| I've been meaning to try bear.app for this reason. Have never
| got past notes.app though.
| joeman1000 wrote:
| I just don't. I have to learn 4 subjects a semester, 12 weeks per
| subject, roughly 5 sub-topics per week. 240 almost useless chunks
| of info that I have to get examined on every 6 months. I would
| top myself if I kept it all in memory. I do my best to learn the
| concepts, then write my brief understanding in a note system
| (org-roam). I don't have to remember any of the shit after I'm
| done with it.
| salawat wrote:
| I print them out on paper, then add them to my library. Brain
| just does the rest.
| epgui wrote:
| When you learn something more in depth, you are less likely to
| forget it.
|
| When you learn other things adjacent to the topic at hand, but
| related in some way, you're less likely to forget things as you
| build more and more of a frame of reference around it.
|
| But either way, the key to remembering things for a very long
| time is spaced repetition. First you need to test your recall
| after a short period, then after a longer period, etc.
|
| Memorization skills isn't something you're inherently good or bad
| at, or are born with: it's a skill you can absolutely learn!
| leke wrote:
| I use this https://zim-wiki.org/
|
| Take notes. Use the Search feature when you need to dig
| information out.
| muskmusk wrote:
| Anki
| dmitriid wrote:
| If you don't use it, you forget it. As simple as that. You will
| even forget your own native language if you don't use it long
| enough.
|
| There's no other option for remembering things other than using
| them.
| dasil003 wrote:
| Spend 80% of your time building / practicing, and 20% reading /
| researching.
|
| This doesn't apply to everyone--if your goal is just the pursuit
| of knowledge then you can disregard this advice. For me though,
| the satisfaction and the cementing of knowledge comes from its
| application. Especially as I get older and realize the ephemeral
| and fleeting nature of body and mind, it just reinforces the need
| to be in the moment and cultivate focus on doing rather than
| optimizing against (or fighting!) my human limitations.
| Slaughterhouse6 wrote:
| I take notes in a journal for this type of stuff since the odds
| are good I will lose the link to whatever it was or the old site
| will be gone the next time I look for it.
| DigitallyFidget wrote:
| Teach it.
|
| I don't know why nobody else has suggested this.
|
| If you want to learn, really learn something. Self educate, then
| teach it to someone else. You'll have to really educate yourself
| on the subject, but once you do.. Blog post, Twitter, Youtube,
| Linked-In, or whatever platform you want to use. You'll get
| corrections if you're wrong about something, and hopefully a load
| of questions that will make you dig further into the topic. The
| process of teaching it will reinforce it into your memory as you
| present it in the way you understand, and the feedback you get
| will also strengthen your understanding even further. You'll
| become much less likely to forget it over time.
|
| But what if you're like me, and you don't have a social media
| presence or following to get any kind of feedback? Surely you
| have friends with similar interests, or know one of those people
| who likes soaking up knowledge like a sponge. You could use HN
| here to post something, or post to Reddit's "Today I Learned".
|
| Inevitably, teaching something is the best way to learn more
| about that thing, and learning more about it is what will make it
| stick better.
| pcbro141 wrote:
| Anki spaced repetition software
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