From: byronsalty <byronsalty@...>
Date: 2007-06-17T01:50:12+09:00
Subject: Re: Question on Getting back in the swing of things & Time Management

Samantha wrote:
> > My question is this:  Is it possible to get anywhere when you only have
> > about an hour per evening, and a couple of hours on the weekends, to devote
> > to learning and advancing in the language?  If so, what would you focus on?
> > I'm pretty sure I remember much of what I learned over the last 6+ months,
> > but I'm hoping that a "Slow but Steady" approach can work.

Darren wrote:
> My advice: spend your time a) reading code, and b) writing code. Simply the
> best way to learn. Books and tutorials et al are great, but I find the best
> way to learn is to be active and write code, not to passively read words on a
> page. Also: take part in the Ruby quiz each week. I have found that to be a
> fantastic resource.

Darren is right - as long as you know Ruby and Rails somewhat then you
don't need to start with books. Start working on something that is
interesting and if you have an hour a day you'll be fine. I only have
that much and I found if I can actually spend it coding then I can be
really productive. One suggestion is to work on projects that are
slightly out of the comfort zone of Rails. In working on a Rails
plugin and a Ruby based blog recently I've learned a lot more than
when I was coding in the strictly Rails framework. His suggestion of
working on RubyQuiz puzzles is also good.

One thing that I also do is maximize the productivity of coding time
by having problems at least mostly solved in my head when I start
working. I have little time on the computer but I have 2 hours a day
on the train so I spend that time thinking a problem out as completely
as I can so that when I sit down it's more or less typing and running
tests. I've found this to be an extremely productive way to work.

- Byron
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