Where is the line between what the developer should know as our father, and what is not shameful not to remember?

Question

IT education

The question came up after reading the article.

It is traditionally believed that a person who remembers almost everything is very smart. But it turned out that it is more useful for the brain to preserve a holistic picture than clear details. The researchers argue that forgetting increases memory flexibility by reducing the impact of outdated information on memory-based decision making.

In addition, they found that this brain function prevents overlearning, thereby contributing to the generalization of information. According to this view, the purpose of memory is not to transfer information over time, but to optimize the decision-making process. And forgetting is just as important as storing data.

Well, from personal experience. if some functions, methods, classes of the language / framework are not used for 5-4 weeks, then they begin to be forgotten and therefore docks are always at hand.

Where is the line between what the developer should know as our father, and what is not shameful not to remember?

Answer 1

Little things you remember if you work with them daily. Architecture - thanks to experience. Nuances - if you dealt with something personally or read books-articles.
Like our father, the developer must know how to find the necessary information.
To do this, you need to understand the principle of how something works, decently (not ideally) own the terminology in order to be able to correctly drive it into the search.

Answer 2

Works for all programming languages

Answer 3

There is no such limit. Top Google developers periodically google the most primitive things.

Answer 4

There are only two rules:
1. Don't start coding/programming until there is a developed project architecture.
2. Things to remember: iterating/iterating data functions, basic regular expression syntax for processing text data, variable types, "skeleton" of the hello world application code, and "skeleton" of building a simple object.
Everything else - you can look at the documentation or google.

Answer 5

One of my professors - the smartest person, a world-famous scientist - many, many years ago said: "Knowledge is what remains when everything learned is forgotten." Wise words.
In programming, where not something that is forgotten - but has time to become obsolete while you are learning it by heart - you need to remember basic things. On which specific implementations in specific frameworks are then superimposed. After you work with a heel of such frameworks, in three or four languages, you will understand that the main thing is not what tool (language) you express your thoughts, but what kind of thoughts they are. And they may not arise when you sit and try to push into the brain the features of writing a cycle operator in Python, and then you basically understand what a cycle is, what they are and how to work with them. Then it becomes absolutely all the same how the Python loop differs from the C ++ loop or the trigger organization call in MS SQL from those in Postgres (I haven’t programmed for a minute on the latter, but I have no doubt
It is necessary to "remember" even in a dream what constitutes the basis of computer science: the main structures used in programming, the basic concepts of the architecture of modern computers, data structures, algorithms, but rather methods for constructing and using them, design patterns, abstractions, programming methodology, storage prefixes and data retrieval, the main ideas of modern network technologies. Understand the database - it will become easier to understand (understand, but not remember!!!) everything else.
Many hayat higher education, believing that one can become a programmer on their own or on the courses "From beginner to pro in 7 days". It is possible to become. But at the same time you will fill the bumps yourself. At the university, at least they will show you the path and at every turn they will tell you what to pay attention to. And if you are lucky with the teacher, he will point out where is the idea for understanding, where you need to train your mind, and where is the syntax of another fashionable language that you will forget before you finish your studies. Who has enough mind - he uses this opportunity to the fullest.
Well, here https://qna.habr.com/answer?answer_id=1591325#answ... I also answered a little about a similar question. If interested, take a look.

Answer 6

You yourself gave the answer to your question, it is important to remember the big picture and not the details. And this task is "important" for your brain, not for you, so relax and go study)

Answer 7

"Knowledge of some principles easily replaces knowledge of many facts." Claude Adrian Helvetius.

It seems to me that you did not quite understand the quote that you cite in your post. You still rest on the knowledge of some specific actions, on cramming. And in the end, the question turned out to be "What needs to be memorized and what is not obligatory." But the meaning of this quote is completely different: it is important not to know, but to understand . If you understand the general principles, then you do not need to memorize a bunch of specific implementations. Yes, we memorize the multiplication table in childhood. But after the first ten it already loses its meaning. If you know how to multiply, if you understand the principle of multiplication, then you will get the result without any table, for any operands.
So here. It is important to understand the application architecture, programming principles. To understand what you write, and not to shy away "functions, methods, classes of the language / framework" stupidly according to the template. And then, as if by magic, the necessary methods will start popping up in your head. A specific implementation can be peeped in the manual / Google

Answer 8

I constantly have to learn new things, delve into someone else's code, master new techniques and principles, etc. Therefore, I constantly forget everything in order to free up memory for the new. The main thing is to understand the principles and be able to quickly find suitable solutions.
So, the emphasis should be placed not only on remembering / forgetting, but also on the ability to quickly find information or a source. And for this you need to be able to correctly formulate queries. I recommend downloading this skill, because. in our time, it is relevant for almost all spheres of life, not only development.