82 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
82 lines
3.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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created_at: '2013-01-07T18:14:01.000Z'
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title: The Path to Mastery (2000)
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url: http://www.perlmonks.org/?node_id=26380
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author: btilly
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points: 56
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story_text: ''
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comment_text:
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num_comments: 5
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story_id:
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story_title:
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story_url:
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parent_id:
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created_at_i: 1357582441
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_tags:
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- story
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- author_btilly
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- story_5022281
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objectID: '5022281'
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year: 2000
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---
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This is not a story about Perl. Or Perl programming. Or even computers.
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Rather it is a story about the road to mastering any logical subject.
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As my bio says, I once studied math. One subject in math is analysis.
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This is the true story of a student that my first analysis professor
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once had.
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This student was a physics student. He did not really want to take
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analysis. But he decided that if he was taking it, then he might as well
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truly learn it.
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When he sat down to do his first homework he realized that he did not
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understand what it meant to prove something. So he went to the professor
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and asked what a proof was. The professor answered, "A proof is an
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airtight demonstration that a thing must be so." The student asked what
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could be assumed. The professor answered, "You may start with the axioms
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and the theorems we have proven from the axioms." The student asked if
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you had to accept the theorems, the professor said, "You need not accept
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anything that you have not been fully convinced of."
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The student's first homework set was 20 pages long. The other students
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needed 5. The student was concerned and asked the professor, "My
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homework is so much longer than theirs is. Am I doing something wrong?"
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The professor said, "You may take as long to do it as you need to. Did
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you keep in mind what I said about axioms and theorems?" The student
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answered, "I did, but I didn't feel that I understood the theorems so I
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worked from the axioms only." The professor answered, "That is good but
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learn to build on what you already know." The student promised to try.
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The student's first homework was perfect. As the course progressed the
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student continued to try. Homework by homework he maintained excellent
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work, and step by step learned to organize his thoughts so that he could
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build on previous results in class and in his own work. And step by step
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the length of his homework fell.
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By the end of the course the other's still needed 5 pages for their
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homework. But this student did not. He no longer needed 20. He no longer
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needed 10. Instead his perfect assignments fit comfortably on a page
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with room to spare.
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The professor congratulated him on his progress and asked him about the
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cause. The student said, "Well I know the subject so well that I know
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exactly how to do each problem, and I do that and no more."
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Here then is the moral for Perl programmers. When you see the code of
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master Perl programmers you may be amazed at how few strokes of the
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keyboard they require to solve a problem completely. Many in error think
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that they should therefore constantly try to cram as much into as little
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room as possible.
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This is a misguided path.
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Instead strive to understand fully and completely the tool at hand.
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Explore exactly how it works and what it can do. In addition constantly
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learn how to build on what you and others have done before. Aim for
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clarity and comprehension, and mastery shall surely follow.
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This is a true path.
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