Summary:
This pattern arises when a programmer is aloof by deeper concepts of a topic, even based on one that he may know, such as a programming language. One of the best ways to solve this issue is digging deep by reading books constantly. Books can offer a huge amount of information about one or more topics, and should be prioritized over blogs as a main source of knowledge.
Branching from the “Unleashed Your Enthusiasm” pattern, this pattern is one of the most important I’ve come across. Even if you are enthusiastic about learning, or are proficient in a skill and or a programming language, the ability to sit down and read to grow your knowledge is what I believe to be the most important skill and behavior. Even someone that is not enthusiastic, or does not know a language, or does not know a tool, if he can make himself sit down and read to learn more about a topic, he has far greater potential than he who doesn’t read.
As such, I strongly agree with this pattern. It also is a strong reminder for me to start reading more, and I tend to not read books to learn more. While I strongly agree with this pattern, I also want to add a note that does not run contradictory to it. Sometimes not reading and getting familiar with something is also beneficial. Reading is extremely important, but getting an intuitive understanding of a tool, like driving a car, is also an important task that should be done concurrently to reading constantly.
As I’ve mentioned before, I am competent with the C++ programming language, and I’m able to use it confidently without having to constantly look things up online or in a book. However, this pattern has me thinking about what I should start reading. One of the things I understand the least of in C++ are Move Semantics. Move Semantics involve utilizing rvalues and rvalue references to avoid creating unnecessary copies of an instance. An rvalue tends to be an immutable value that tends to be on the right of an assignment operator, such as an equal sign (hence rvalue). How this works aloofs me, and I believe this can be a good starting point for me to begin my habit of reading books since I understand the context of its existence.
From the blog CS@Worcester – Chris's CS Blog by Chris and used with permission of the author. All other rights reserved by the author.