RE: Problems retaining what I study

When documenting your code, be sure to also document your doubts about how you did it. I find that most of the bugs that are found in my code are things I wasn't very confident about at the time! It sure is easier to find the bug when there are pointers to the likely bugs :)

Sarah Satterthwaite

-----Original Message-----

From: JApplewhite_at_austinisd.org [mailto:JApplewhite_at_austinisd.org] Sent: Friday, August 19, 2005 9:32 AM
To: oracle-l_at_freelists.org
Subject: Re: Problems retaining what I study

Ram,

Welcome to the wonderful world of technology. There's always too much to remember. That's why docs and search engines are so useful. My tips:
1. You won't remember what you haven't actually used. Doing reinforces learning far better than just studying.
2. Document your code, scripts, etc. In a couple of months you won't remember why you did what you did. My PL/SQL, shell, etc. scripts are at least 50% comments and my old brain sure needs the reminders. 3. Be prepared to actively forget stuff you've learned. As technologies change, you've got to forget the old, inapplicable, rules so they don't interfere with the new ones. I figure about 80% of the technical details I ever learned are now obsolete. Oh well, it was fun at the time.

Above all, it's not the quantity, it's the quality - knowledge, time, whatever. That is, except for money. ;-)

Jack C. Applewhite - Database Administrator Austin (Texas) Independent School District 512.414.9715 (wk) / 512.935.5929 (pager)

   The devil made me do it the first time,    The second time I done it on my own.

• Billy Joe Shaver, "Black Rose"

                      Ram K

                      <lambu999_at_gmail.co        To:
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                      Sent by:                  Subject:  Problems retaining
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                      08/19/2005 03:20

                      AM

                      Please respond to

                      lambu999

 

Recently this happened to me. I studied a good Oracle book by an author some months ago. It was a tough read for me, took several weeks to study, understand some important parts of the book.

I had emailed several queries to the author. He had responded to me with his answers after 3 months. To my surprise, I found out that I had forgotten my own questions to the extent that I could not even understand them on the first pass in the response email. They looked too technical for me. I spent quite a bit of time just on the replies and my questions and then I was able to understand most of the questions.

How do people who read lots of technical stuff remember and retain what they read?

How many hours of reading do other DBAs put in per week and do others have problems retaining what they read?

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Thanks,
Ram.

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http://www.freelists.org/webpage/oracle-l Received on Fri Aug 19 2005 - 09:31:14 CDT