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Re: Question on Getting back in the swing of things & Time Management

darren kirby

6/16/2007 3:12:00 PM

quoth the Samantha:
> Hello all,
>
> It's been a substantial length of time since I've posted here, let alone
> did anything in the realms of learning Ruby. While I was out of work, I
> was spending a serious amount of time diving into Ruby and Rails. For the
> past couple of months, I've not touched Ruby more than a few hours total.
>
> My question is this: Is it possible to get anywhere when you only have
> about an hour per evening, and a couple of hours on the weekends, to devote
> to learning and advancing in the language? If so, what would you focus on?
> I'm pretty sure I remember much of what I learned over the last 6+ months,
> but I'm hoping that a "Slow but Steady" approach can work.
>

Sure it is possible. I am no professional programmer, in fact, I don't even
use a computer in my line of work. However, I do have a pretty large interest
in computers and programming, so I treat it like a hobby. I do basically
exactly what you describe, ie: invest about an hour a day and more on
weekends.

My advice: spend your time a) reading code, and b) writing code. Simply the
best way to learn. Books and tutorials et al are great, but I find the best
way to learn is to be active and write code, not to passively read words on a
page. Also: take part in the Ruby quiz each week. I have found that to be a
fantastic resource.

> I'd love to hear your comments and feedback.
>
> Thanks,
> Samantha

-d
--
darren kirby :: Part of the problem since 1976 :: http://badco...
"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."
- Dennis Ritchie and Ken Thompson, June 1972
1 Answer

byronsalty

6/16/2007 4:46:00 PM

0

Samantha wrote:
> > My question is this: Is it possible to get anywhere when you only have
> > about an hour per evening, and a couple of hours on the weekends, to devote
> > to learning and advancing in the language? If so, what would you focus on?
> > I'm pretty sure I remember much of what I learned over the last 6+ months,
> > but I'm hoping that a "Slow but Steady" approach can work.

Darren wrote:
> My advice: spend your time a) reading code, and b) writing code. Simply the
> best way to learn. Books and tutorials et al are great, but I find the best
> way to learn is to be active and write code, not to passively read words on a
> page. Also: take part in the Ruby quiz each week. I have found that to be a
> fantastic resource.

Darren is right - as long as you know Ruby and Rails somewhat then you
don't need to start with books. Start working on something that is
interesting and if you have an hour a day you'll be fine. I only have
that much and I found if I can actually spend it coding then I can be
really productive. One suggestion is to work on projects that are
slightly out of the comfort zone of Rails. In working on a Rails
plugin and a Ruby based blog recently I've learned a lot more than
when I was coding in the strictly Rails framework. His suggestion of
working on RubyQuiz puzzles is also good.

One thing that I also do is maximize the productivity of coding time
by having problems at least mostly solved in my head when I start
working. I have little time on the computer but I have 2 hours a day
on the train so I spend that time thinking a problem out as completely
as I can so that when I sit down it's more or less typing and running
tests. I've found this to be an extremely productive way to work.

- Byron
-----
http://www.salt...