Concrete examples added to "Learning from Abstractions."

Added concrete examples to "Learning from Abstractions" (from Hatena2014-08-03 How engineers learn)

• Chapter 3 of gihyo's version of "How Engineers Learn": Chapter 3: How to Understand Deeply - Compare, Learn from History, Learn by Making | gihyo.jp

• in which we learned about the need for abstraction and how to do it.

• One of them, "learning from abstractions," seems to be difficult to understand due to a lack of examples, so I will try to explain it more clearly by adding concrete examples here.

• Learning from abstractions" was a way to read "texts intended to help the reader abstract," and thereby promote abstraction within oneself. So what exactly are "texts intended to help the reader abstract"?

• For example, statements such as "X has three elements A, B, and C" fall under this category.

  • Specifically, "There are wide field of vision axis, deep understanding axis, and application axis in the way of learning.
  • There are many different elements to the specific study, many different methods, and each individual case is different.
  • By busting up and showing some of the differences, it helps the reader to abstract them in their mind.
  • 

• People who read such a text are divided into two groups by their reactions. For readers on one side, there will be a reciprocal reaction between this text and the reader's experience.

• For example:

  • From my own experience, X can indeed be classified into those three categories. I had not been able to verbalize it until now. I see. I'll call it by those names from now on."
  • 'In all my experience, I was aware of A and B, but not of C. It was a blind spot. I see. From now on, I will be careful not to overlook C."
  • In my experience, C doesn't matter much."
  • From my own experience, I think it's important to remember that there's this other important thing, D."
  • 

• In both cases, changes are taking place in the direction of helping people organize their experiences, find structure, and create models through abstraction.

  • Specific examples:
    • In the book review blog written by a reader, "WEB+DB PRESS vol. 80's feature article "The Engineer's How to Learn" in WEB+DB PRESS vol. 80, I was curious to read the review, so I bought the corresponding book and read it - Programmer's March, Chapter 2".

    • I was somewhat aware that I was neglecting parts 2 and 3, but by giving them clear names and positions, such as "abstraction" phase, it became easier to determine, "What phase of learning am I doing now, and what axis of knowledge am I currently lacking? It became easier for me to make decisions such as, "What phase do I learn now, and which axis of knowledge do I currently lack?

    • The description of the project is as follows.
      • #Reproduction with labeling

• On the other hand, there are readers who do not come up with "their own experiences" when they read these abstract texts.

  • For example:
    • What makes you say that?"
    • 'It's kind of abstract and confusing...'
    • I don't know, but it sounds important, so I'll make a note of it."

• The author has made abstractions from his own experience to create an abstract model, which he then writes about in his text.

  • However, if the reader does not have an experience that fits that model, the reader will not get a "feeling of fit".
  • In this situation, even if you write something down in a notebook, you will forget it immediately and will not be able to make effective use of it.
  • This is not the fault of the reader. It is due to a major mismatch between the author's and the reader's experience.
  • 

• The author tries to get as many readers to understand as possible, so he "gets down to it" with lots of concrete examples.

  • However, it is not possible to know in advance the experience that all readers have and give examples that all will understand.
  • Mismatches cannot be eliminated.
  • 

• After all, it is "luck" whether one can read books and other materials and learn the abstract models described therein.

  • Sometimes, "I don't know what I wrote down, but I wrote it down," is fortunately connected to other knowledge and put to good use, and sometimes, unluckily, it is forgotten without being recalled.
  • Luck cannot be improved by effort.
  • That is why it is important not only to spend time "learning from abstractions" but also to try other methods such as "Learn by making.

This page is auto-translated from /nishio/「抽象から学ぶ」に具体例を追加 using DeepL. If you looks something interesting but the auto-translated English is not good enough to understand it, feel free to let me know at @nishio_en. I'm very happy to spread my thought to non-Japanese readers.