A Response to ‘Learning Before Learning’

I recently came across a guest post on the CompSci.ca blog that discussed the merits of learning, or exposing yourself to material before it is studied in your school’s computer science curriculum: or, working ahead. This issue isn’t as hotly debated as you would think, but there are very strong arguments to be made on both sides.

Working ahead in a competitive CS curriculum can be harmful. You, without the guidance of an instructor, run the risk of learning things wrong. It is possible to get the wrong idea about things and how they should be used; things such as subtle optimizations, and improvements may be overlooked by a student ’studying’ ahead. In my experience, trying to nail down important coding ideas is troublesome without some guidance. I can’t say that I speak for everyone, but for me, getting involved in a class with a knowledgeable instructor improved my coding ability far greater than I could have on my own – comparing notes is important. I walked into the classroom thinking I knew what I was doing, but I walked out with the knowing of what I was doing wrong.

I’d have to say that the merits of working ahead depend solely on the student involved. If we have a student that has been coding solo for a while, we can safely assume that working ahead would probably be beneficial to this student. However, a student with little no no experience should probably choose to stick to the pace of the class - at least when starting out. The article above mentioned that students should learn at their own pace, and I wholeheartedly agree with that sentiment. So it’s important for a responsible student to figure out where they stand in terms of what you know and don’t know, and then make an informed decision on what would most benefit their education.

I didn’t have the opportunity to ’skip class’ in high school in order to focus on working ahead like some do in college. This practice is a bit dodgy at best. As stated in an earlier paragraph, missing out on an important tidbit of any sort is debilitating. a responsible programmer should be on the lookout for any bit of advice that would allow him/her to improve upon some aspect of his/her code. Heck, I know I am.

To put it shortly, or at least somewhat shortly, working ahead is fine as long as you are comfortable doing so. Learning at your own pace is a fantastic, but you shouldn’t completely forget about the lesson that is going on right now. Use your free time to work ahead, not your class time.

Outside of the classroom is a different story entirely – but I suppose I could save that for another article.

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You’re currently reading “A Response to ‘Learning Before Learning’,” an entry on The Angry Walrus

Published:: Jul 26 2008 / 9:04 pm

Category:: Programming, Response, School

Wow, I happy my post sparked the opinions of people. I’m glad you shared your point on this. I think you hit part of what I was saying right on the mark. If you’re so confident in your skills that you skip valuable lessons, you could be costing yourself. I myself have been to a class, and actually learned something, when I thought it was going to be another rehash on what I knew.

It was buried in concepts I already knew, but while giving the teacher 1/4 of my attention (and my homework, or a video game, the rest), I caught a good lesson that not only helped me do the assignment, but that will always be beneficial to me.

You’re taking these classes for a reason. They’re a good resource, and by all means one should use them. But as I said, I don’t think that not being as comfortable with the material should stop you from doing some extra learning, as long as suppemental and not replacement. Learning exotic concepts (or languages!) can help you grasp those small details of the common problems that usually get taken for granted.

“…you shouldn’t completely forget about the lesson that is going on right now. Use your free time to work ahead, not your class time.”

This is a great tip. My past two years of school I’ve known most of the class concepts, but that didn’t mean it didn’t teach me anything. Learning something from another perspective only helps your overall understanding.

I have, however, done my assignments during class. This I wouldn’t recomend unless you’re pretty comfortable with the lesson being taught, because you’re instructor expects you to express/practice a certain concept, and you’ll want to be sure you fully understand it. Usually lecture time was accompanied by an example. I would highly recommend following along with these examples, and trying to predict the next step, if possible. However, sometimes it is just simply not effective to do so, say if it would be better to take the notes, or give the instructor your full attention to fully understand it.

From all the comments and view points I’ve read on the subject, I think everyone agrees on a main point – classroom experience is an invaluable asset and should not be taken for granted, whether or not one chooses to broaden his or her learning farther than the class scope.

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Matt reply on July 27th, 2008 9:33 pm:

Hey thanks for the comment.

What really got me interested in keeping with the class was my instructor. I got a lot of insight to the topics being discussed from my teacher. The guy has been teaching the AP stuff for something like twenty years, and his tips were always helpful.

One thing that did disappoint me a little about taking the AP class in high school was that it seemed like we spent most of the time learning things specific to the AP test. Fortunately, after we worked through class assignments we had plenty of free time in class to go after things outside of the AP curriculum.

We ended up getting the core education, but also some more advanced topics by working at our own speeds – which comes back to full circle to students being able to work at their own paces.

I think working at your own pace is excellent, but it was nice to have the guidance available if it was needed.

The Angry Walrus You aren't as shallow as you think you are.

A Response to ‘Learning Before Learning’

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