this post was submitted on 04 Jun 2024

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Stare at it. (mander.xyz)

submitted 2 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

True!! I love that part!!

then I have to somehow explain what seemed obvious to me for that split second where magic struck...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Look IDK about math, but I know about programming: "stare at it" is bad advice. Give it a minute or two, then get up and go for a walk or go to bed. Let your subconscious stare at it instead; it's actually better at this stuff than you are.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

If I'm ever staring at math, I'm absolutely not processing visual information while doing so. It's more that like, I'm staring off into space and thinking and "math on a whiteboard" just happens to be the last thing I was looking at and my face is still pointed that way

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Programmers do that a lot? I always just start trying stuff in the command line until it works. It's in research though, so maybe different from what is typical developer stuff?

[–] mindbleach 5 points 2 months ago (2 children)

"Fuck it, let's try [blank]" is absolutely a valid debugging mechanism. Whether you get the same problems or fascinating new problems - you learned something about what's wrong.

Now go take a walk and let your brain figure out what it means.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

Yes! I got a new error!

[–] Sabre363 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

The most valid learning/troubleshooting technique I've found is to push every button until something new happens. Seems to piss everyone else off tho

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I hope you aren't a pilot, or at least not my pilot.

[–] Sabre363 2 points 2 months ago

I'm sure I can figure out what most of them do before we hit the gr . . . . .

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 months ago

Sounds like Feynman’s algorithm.

Write down the problem
Think about it really hard
Write down the solution

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 months ago

After 15 minutes I switch tasks and come back to it at a later date. Do the dishes or something

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 months ago

Proof by ponder

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