Day 11

Re-factoring myself

I did not organise myself today and it was evident.

Jumping from problem to problem, getting sidetracked by new methods, so much so that the first method I learned, was forgotten an hour later.

In order to personalise learning to what is best for me, I need to consolidate what I learn by practicing again and again and writing about it in my “Scala Arbeitsbuch”; writing it down and practicing allows your brain to interpret the new information and through applying it you reach a higher level of understanding. Reflecting and writing about it now, reminds me of what I learnt on day 2 about levels of comprehension/competency in the The Dreyfus Model of skill acquisition. In order to reach proficiency, one must be able to apply a holistic and intuitive use of an acquired skill.

In the words of Vanilla Ice - “Alright Stop! Collaborate and Listen”

TDD (I should listen to thee)

Today I spent time messing around with IntelliJ and testing the complier with lines of code. The TDD session today made me realise I need to test in very small steps, especially at my stage of learning as sometimes I’m not even sure of the expected outcome of the function I’m using.

The first step at this stage should be; “can it compile?”. Do I have an object that can be processed and return an output.

Then build up with what I do know. And if I want to try something new, break it down, understand the type or function by making it as simple as it can be.