This apprenticeship pattern describes as how we as programmers are comfortable with the language that we are best at and then how we try to apply our knowledge to learning something else. In the end it is hard to learn something new that way. What we realize by doing this is that it is difficult to then try and learn something new, and then we may end up becoming stagnant in our growth. The white belt method tells us to forget everything we thought we knew previously and come into learning something new with the mindset of a beginner. Although we lose productivity in the beginning, it will end up being a big step in mastering something new.
One of the most interesting things I enjoyed while reading about this pattern was an example of how to reimplement a Java pattern into another language like Io and then into something like J. we can notice how the code can change drastically from one to another and yet at the end of the day they all do the same thing. This example is eye opening to showing how similar and different every language is and that we can’t just take the same knowledge we have in something and apply it to something else. We have no make sure we go in with a fresh mind and try and follow the new language’s nuances and set of rules and forget everything we think we should know instead of trying to apply it to something new.
This pattern is very insightful and applies to what I’m currently working on in class. We are attempting to learn how to code in React Native and I feel as though my growth in learning and the progress that I want to achieve is not what I want to. It might be because I’m trying to apply my skills in java to a front-end language and that does not mesh well whatsoever. I’m an impatient person when it comes to learning something new, but this pattern is a great way for me to keep in the back of my mind because progression shouldn’t come in an instant, it comes with slow and steady progress and constant repetition.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Life as a CS Student by Dylan Nguyen and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.