To Learn

Two approaches to learning:

Theory-first. Practical-first.

A theory-first learner absorbs abstract concepts and builds mental models. It’s visualization at play, later leveraged in problem-solving. This approach teaches you patterns that you can recognize later.

A practical-first learner builds and breaks. It’s an intuition-building exercise. This type of learning teaches you the quirks of the architecture, the state of things, and their consequences. You derive your own patterns.

In a practical-first approach, things don’t make sense for the most part—that’s just the nature of it. It doesn’t have to, yet it works.

A feedback loop can be maintained: learning theory, applying, breaking applications, and then refining theoretical understanding.