Re: T.I.T.S. Or, Try It To See.

[nimdokk]

I'm reminded of an ancient Chinese proverb (at least I think it's an ancienct Chinese proverb but I'm really not sure):

Tell me, I forget;
Show me, I remember;
Involve me, I understand.

I think the "try it and see" approach falls more under the "involve me" idea. Currently I am training a new team member who has no Unix experience and no Perl experience at all. Trying to get him up to speed as quickly as possible. Often I'll watch him stumble over a command and ask me if it's right. I'll look and even if it's wrong, I'll simply ask him to try it and see what happens (if he was going to do something that would cause a major problem, I'd correct the command). Then if the command works, great, if not, see if he can figure out why it did not work. It's working, I think he's getting more to where he can trust himself without having to rely on outside help in getting through things.

Knowing how to do something is fine, but understanding why something worked (or didn't work) is better because when something goes wrong, it makes it easier to back up and figure out why so you can make it work again.

[zerogeek]

I like the 'proverb'. I wonder if it is possible to be a programmer without being an "involve me" kind of person?

There was a time when I was trying to learn shell (bash) programming and thought that I was understanding everything that I read -- it seemed almost too simple. It wasn't until trying it out and learning to troubleshoot really made the lessons stick in my mind (and realize that I wasn't really 'getting it').

Same thing as I now try to learn Perl. I have only peeked at Appendix "a" one time before forcing myself to figure it out. Now at half way through the book, I am feeling very comfortable.

Just thought I'd share.

[radiantmatrix]

It's Confucious, and it goes (well, the English translation anyway): "I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand."

Unfortunately, it only applies entirely accurately to visual/kinesthetic learners. Still, a good rule of thumb, since the majority of people tend toward the seeing-doing style of learning.

[nimdokk]

Thanks, I only remember see it once on a poster someplace and it simply said "Ancient Chinese Proverb" (or something to that effect :)