I’m learning how to code.

I'll get a software developer job.

Learning how to code doesn’t have to cost you money.

The words I’m, I’ll and doesn’t are called contractions.

In this article, you'll learn all about contractions – what they are, when and where you'll most likely come across them, when and when not to use them. Finally you'll see some of the most common contractions used in the English language.

Let's get started!

What are contractions?

Contractions, also known as 'short forms', are shortened words.

Specifically, a contraction is when two words are shortened in form and are put together to form one new word.

For example, you and are can be combined to create a shorter word, you’re.

When two words are combined, certain letters will disappear. You can lose just one letter or more, depending on the contraction.

When you combine those two words and the letter(s) disappear, an apostrophe (’) will take their place.

The missing, original letters get replaced by the apostrophe to show the place where the missing letters should be. Those letters will not appear in the contraction (as they've been replaced by the apostrophe).

For example, take the word isn't. This contraction combines the words is and not. When those two get paired together, the letter o disappears. An apostrophe now takes its place to show where the missing letter was.

Another example is when you and will get combined to form you'll. Now two letters disappear,w and i, and the apostrophe fills that space of two missing letters.

When do you use contractions?

We use contractions every day in both speech and writing.

You'll hear them from your friends, family, and on TV. You'll see them in novels, non-fiction books, newspapers, instruction manuals, blog posts, learning material, and much more. There are a couple in this very paragraph, and I use them throughout this article.

They are informal and casual, since they give your writing a more friendly, light, accessible, and approachable tone.

Contractions can make the reader feel like you are talking directly to them and having a conversation. It helps make your writing appear uncomplicated for everyone to understand and make sense of.

Because contractions are shorter, it also means that they take up less space. Because of that, you'll often see them in advertisements where space is valuable.

In a nutshell, you can comfortably use contractions in more informal writing and on relaxed occasions.

When to avoid using contractions

It's best to avoid using contractions when you want to maintain a more serious and formal tone in your writing.

For example, skip using them in academic research papers, important business presentations, or in any situation where informal writing or speech would not make much sense.

Common contractions

Below are some of the most widely used and common contractions you'll encounter when speaking and writing in English.

Common Contractions ending in -ll

Contractions ending in -ll include the word will. The w and i letters get dropped.

Common Contractions ending in -re

Contractions ending in -re include the word are. The letter a gets dropped.

Common Contractions ending in -s

Contractions ending in -s include either the word is or has.

For example:

• He is going = He’s going
• It has gone = It’s gone.

The letter i or the letters h and a, respectively, get dropped.

What about let's ? That is a bit different. let's comes from let + us.

Common Contractions ending in -ve

Contractions ending in -ve include the word have. The letters h and a get dropped.

Common Contractions ending in -d

Contractions ending in -d include either the word had or would.

Some examples with the word had:

• I'd better go now = I had better go now
• I wish I'd never left = I wish I had never left.

Some examples with the word would:

• I'd rather not go there = I would rather not go there
• I'd like something to drink please = I would like something to drink please.

Common Contractions ending in -m

Contractions ending in -m,include the word am.

The letter a gets dropped.

Negative contractions

Negative contractions are those that end in -nt.

You achieve this by adding the word not to a verb, making it negative.

In this case,the letter o gets dropped.

A word that is a little different and an exception to what has been shown so far is won’t – it comes from will + not = won’t.

will does not turn into willn’t. In fact the word "will" does not appear in the contraction at all. Just think of it as an irregular contraction (like how we have irregular verbs).

Common mistakes with contractions

A couple of contractions commonly cause confusion and people often use them in the wrong way - you'll even see native English speakers make these mistakes.

These contractions sound exactly the same with other words, so these mistakes commonly occur in writing.

You’re and Your

You’re is a contraction, a combination of the words you and are.

For example, You’re learning how to code or You’re doing great!.

Your is a possesive pronoun, it is used to indicate that something is owned by/belongs to someone.

For example, Your cat is so cuddly! or Your cooking always tastes so good.

Your doing great makes no sense since it doesn't indicate that something belongs to someone. You’re doing great does, since it indicates action and verbs are used for that.

If you get confused and don't know which to use, read it out to yourself as you are and see if it sounds right.

Your are cat is so cuddly! doesn't make sense or sound right, for example.

It’s and Its

It’s is a contraction – a combinations of it and is or has.

For example, It’s raining outside or It’s been great for me so far, I’m really enjoying it here.

Its is a possesive pronoun. Its shows possession.

For example, Don’t judge a book by its cover or The cat is in its sleeping basket.

Similarly to the example from the previous section, if you're confused use the verbs is or has in your sentence and check to see if it makes sense to add the apostrophe/make it a contraction: Don’t judge a book by it is cover doesn't make sense, so you use the possessive "its" with no apostrophe.

It is raining outside makes sense, so you now know that you can use an apostrophe.

They’re, Their, and There

All three of these words sound the same.

They’re is a contraction. They and are were combined.

For example,They’re going away for the holiday season or They’re buying a house together.

Does the sentence sound right when you use they are? Then use they’re.

Their shows possesion.

For example,Their dog bit me last night or I don’t like their attitude.

Finally, There indicates a place, a location.

For example,I wish I was there instead or I’m never going there again.

Conclusion

And there you have it!

This article gave an overview of contractions and how to use them in both spoken and written English.

You saw some of the most common ones used and some frequent mistakes made when using them.

Thanks for reading!

A research paper is often the culmination of a wide range of deep and authentic practices surrounding a topic. When writing a research paper, the author thinks critically about the problem, performs rigorous research, evaluates their processes and sources, organizes their thoughts, and then writes. These genuinely-executed practices make for a good research paper.

If you’re struggling to build a habit of reading papers (like I am) on a regular basis, I’ve tried to break down the whole process. I've talked to researchers in the field, read a bunch of papers and blogs from distinguished researchers, and jotted down some techniques that you can follow.

Let’s start off by understanding what a research paper is and what it is NOT!

What is a Research Paper?

A research paper is a dense and detailed manuscript that compiles a thorough understanding of a problem or topic. It offers a proposed solution and further research along with the conditions under which it was deduced and carried out, the efficacy of the solution and the research performed, and potential loopholes in the study.

A research paper is written not only to provide an exceptional learning opportunity but also to pave the way for further advancements in the field. These papers help other scholars germinate the thought seed that can either lead to a new world of ideas or an innovative method of solving a longstanding problem.

What Research Papers are NOT

There is a common notion that a research paper is a well-informed summary of a problem or topic written by means of other sources.

But you shouldn't mistake it for a book or an opinionated account of an individual’s interpretation of a particular topic.

Why Should You Read Research Papers?

What I find fascinating about reading a good research paper is that you can draw on a profound study of a topic and engage with the community on a new perspective to understand what can be achieved in and around that topic.

I work at the intersection of instructional design and data science. Learning is part of my day-to-day responsibilities. If the source of my education is flawed or inefficient, I’d fail at my job in the long term. This applies to many other jobs in Science with a special focus on research.

There are three important reasons to read a research paper:

1. Knowledge — Understanding the problem from the eyes of someone who has probably spent years solving it and has taken care of all the edge cases that you might not think of at the beginning.

2. Exploration — Whether you have a pinpointed agenda or not, there is a very high chance that you will stumble upon an edge case or a shortcoming that is worth following up. With persistent efforts over a considerable amount of time, you can learn to use that knowledge to make a living.

3. Research and review — One of the main reasons for writing a research paper is to further the development in the field. Researchers read papers to review them for conferences or to do a literature survey of a new field. For example, Yann LeCun’s paper on integrating domain constraints into backpropagation set the foundation of modern computer vision back in 1989. After decades of research and development work, we have come so far that we're now perfecting problems like object detection and optimizing autonomous vehicles.

Not only that, with the help of the internet, you can extrapolate all of these reasons or benefits onto multiple business models. It can be an innovative state-of-the-art product, an efficient service model, a content creator, or a dream job where you are solving problems that matter to you.

Goals for Reading a Research Paper — What Should You Read About?

The first thing to do is to figure out your motivation for reading the paper. There are two main scenarios that might lead you to read a paper:

1. Scenario 1 — You have a well-defined agenda/goal and you are deeply invested in a particular field. For example, you’re an NLP practitioner and you want to learn how GPT-4 has given us a breakthrough in NLP. This is always a nice scenario to be in as it offers clarity.

2. Scenario 2 — You want to keep abreast of the developments in a host of areas, say how a new deep learning architecture has helped us solve a 50-year old biological problem of understanding protein structures. This is often the case for beginners or for people who consume their daily dose of news from research papers (yes, they exist!).

If you’re an inquisitive beginner with no starting point in mind, start with scenario 2. Shortlist a few topics you want to read about until you find an area that you find intriguing. This will eventually lead you to scenario 1.

ML Reproducibility Challenge

In addition to these generic goals, if you need an end goal for your habit-building exercise of reading research papers, you should check out the ML reproducibility challenge.

[https://openreview.net/group?id=ML_Reproducibility_Challenge/2020](https://openreview.net/group?id=ML_Reproducibility_Challenge/2020" rel="nofollow noopener)

You’ll find top-class papers from world-class conferences that are worth diving deep into and reproducing the results.

They conduct this challenge twice a year and they have one coming up in Spring 2021. You should study the past three versions of the challenge, and I’ll write a detailed post on what to expect, how to prepare, and so on.

Now you must be wondering – how can you find the right paper to read?

How to Find the Right Paper to Read

In order to get some ideas around this, I reached out to my friend, Anurag Ghosh who is a researcher at Microsoft. Anurag has been working at the crossover of computer vision, machine learning, and systems engineering.

https://anuragxel.github.io/

Here are a few of his tips for getting started:

• Always pick an area you're interested in.

• Read a few good books or detailed blog posts on that topic and start diving deep by reading the papers referenced in those resources.

• Look for seminal papers around that topic. These are papers that report a major breakthrough in the field and offer a new method perspective with a huge potential for subsequent research in that field. Check out papers from the morning paper or CVF - test of time award/Helmholtz prize (if you're interested in computer vision).

• Check out books like Computer Vision: Algorithms and Applications by Richard Szeliski and look for the papers referenced there.

• Have and build a sense of community. Find people who share similar interests, and join groups/subreddits/discord channels where such activities are promoted.

In addition to these invaluable tips, there are a number of web applications that I’ve shortlisted that help me narrow my search for the right papers to read:

• r/MachineLearning — there are many researchers, practitioners, and engineers who share their work along with the papers they've found useful in achieving those results.

[https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/](https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/" rel="nofollow noopener)

• Arxiv Sanity Preserver — built by Andrej Karpathy to accelerate research. It is a repository of 142,846 papers from computer science, machine learning, systems, AI, Stats, CV, and so on. It also offers a bunch of filters, powerful search functionality, and a discussion forum to make for a super useful research platform.

• Google Research — the research teams at Google are working on problems that have an impact on our everyday lives. They share their publications for individuals and teams to learn from, contribute to, and expedite research. They also have a Google AI blog that you can check out.

How to Read a Research Paper

After you have stocked your to-read list, then comes the process of reading these papers. Remember that NOT every paper is useful to read and we need a mechanism that can help us quickly screen papers that are worth reading.

To tackle this challenge, you can use this Three-Pass Approach by S. Keshav. This approach proposes that you read the paper in three passes instead of starting from the beginning and diving in deep until the end.

The three pass approach

1. The first pass — is a quick scan to capture a high-level view of the paper. Read the title, abstract, and introduction carefully followed by the headings of the sections and subsections and lastly the conclusion. It should take you no more than 5–10 mins to figure out if you want to move to the second pass.

2. The second pass — is a more focused read without checking for the technical proofs. You take down all the crucial notes, underline the key points in the margins. Carefully study the figures, diagrams, and illustrations. Review the graphs, mark relevant unread references for further reading. This helps you understand the background of the paper.

3. The third pass — reaching this pass denotes that you’ve found a paper that you want to deeply understand or review. The key to the third pass is to reproduce the results of the paper. Check it for all the assumptions and jot down all the variations in your re-implementation and the original results. Make a note of all the ideas for future analysis. It should take 5–6 hours for beginners and 1–2 hours for experienced readers.

Tools and Software to Keep Track of Your Pipeline of Papers

If you’re sincere about reading research papers, your list of papers will soon grow into an overwhelming stack that is hard to keep track of. Fortunately, we have software that can help us set up a mechanism to manage our research.

Here are a bunch of them that you can use:

• Mendeley [not free] — you can add papers directly to your library from your browser, import documents, generate references and citations, collaborate with fellow researchers, and access your library from anywhere. This is mostly used by experienced researchers.

https://www.mendeley.com/?interaction_required=true

• Zotero [free & open source] — Along the same lines as Mendeley but free of cost. You can make use of all the features but with limited storage space.

https://www.zotero.org/

• Notion — this is great if you are just starting out and want to use something lightweight with the option to organize your papers, jot down notes, and manage everything in one workspace. It might not stand anywhere in comparison with the above tools but I personally feel comfortable using Notion and I have created this board to keep track of my progress for now that you can duplicate:

⚠️ Symptoms of Reading a Research Paper

Reading a research paper can turn out to be frustrating, challenging, and time-consuming especially when you’re a beginner. You might face the following common symptoms:

• You might start feeling dumb for not understanding a thing a paper says.

• Finding yourself pushing too hard to understand the math behind those proofs.

• Beating your head against the wall to wrap it around the number of acronyms used in the paper. Just kidding, you’ll have to look up those acronyms every now and then.

• Being stuck on one paragraph for more than an hour.

Here’s a complete list of emotions that you might undergo as explained by Adam Ruben in this article.

Key Takeaways

We should be all set to dive right in. Here’s a quick summary of what we have covered here:

• A research paper is an in-depth study that offers an detailed explanation of a topic or problem along with the research process, proofs, explained results, and ideas for future work.

• Read research papers to develop a deep understanding of a topic/problem. Then you can either review papers as part of being a researcher, explore the domain and the kind of problems to build a solution or startup around it, or you can simply read them to keep abreast of the developments in your domain of interest.

• If you’re a beginner, start with exploration to soon find your path to goal-oriented research.

• In order to find good papers to read, you can use websites like arxiv-sanity, google research, and subreddits like r/MachineLearning.

• Reading approach — Use the 3-pass method to find a paper.

• Keep track of your research, notes, developments by using tools like Zotero/Notion.

• This can get overwhelming in no time. Make sure you start off easy and increment your load progressively.

Remember: Art is not a single method or step done over a weekend but a process of accomplishing remarkable results over time.

You can also watch the video on this topic on my YouTube channel:

Feel free to respond to this blog or comment on the video if you have some tips, questions, or thoughts!

If this tutorial was helpful, you should check out my data science and machine learning courses on Wiplane Academy. They are comprehensive yet compact and helps you build a solid foundation of work to showcase.

General

Automate the Boring Stuff With Python by Al Sweigart

• http://automatetheboringstuff.com/
• ISBN-13: 978-1593275990

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs by Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman, and Julie Sussman

• https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
• ISBN-13: 978-0262510875

Clean Code: A Handbook of Agile Software Crafstmanship by Robert C. Martin

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0132350884

CODE: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software by Charles Petzold

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0735611313

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability by Steve Krug

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0321965516

Programming Pearls (2nd Edition) by Jon Bentley

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0201657883

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs

• https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/
• ISBN-13: 978-0262510875

The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master by Andrew Hunt and David Thomas

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0201616224

The Self-Taught Programmer: The Definitive Guide to Programming Professionally by Cory Althoff

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1520288178

You Don’t Know JS (book series) by Kyle Simpson

• https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS
• ISBN-13: 9781491924464

Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual - John Sonmez

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 9781617292392

Algorithms

Introduction to Algorithms, 3rd Edition (MIT Press) by Thomas H. Cormen and Charles E. Leiserson

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0262033848

Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions by Gayle Laakmann McDowell

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0984782802

C-lang

The C Programming Language by Brian W. Kernighan and Dennis M. Ritchie

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0131103628

A Book on C: Programming in C

• Amazon
• ISBN-13: 978-0201183993

Coding Interview

Cracking the Coding Interview: 150 Programming Questions and Solutions

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0984782802

Programming Interviews Exposed: Secrets to Landing Your Next Job, 2nd Edition

• Wiley
• ISBN: 978-0-470-12167-2

Java

Head First Java by Kathy Sierra and Bert Bates

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0596009205

Effective Java by Joshua Bloch

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0134685991

JavaScript

You Don’t Know JS (book series)

• https://github.com/getify/You-Dont-Know-JS
• ISBN-13: 9781491924464

Eloquent JavaScript: A Modern Introduction to Programming by Marijn Haverbeke

• Read it online here
• Amazon Smile -ISBN-13: 978-1593275846

JavaScript: The Good Parts

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0596517748

JavaScript and JQuery: Interactive Front-End Web Development

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1118531648

Python

Automate the Boring Stuff With Python

• http://automatetheboringstuff.com/
• ISBN-13: 978-1593275990

Core Python Applications Programming (3rd Edition) by Wesley J Chun

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0132678209

Soft Skills

Soft Skills: The software developer’s life manual

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 9781617292392

Other

*Hacking: Ultimate Hacking Guide: Hacking For Beginners And Tor Browser

• https://www.amazon.in/dp/B075CX7T6G/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdbt1-7ESBbZ43CCBM
• (ISBN 1976112524).

Code: The Hidden Language of Computer Hardware and Software (Developer Best Practices)

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0735611313

Data Structures And Algorithms Made Easy

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-8193245279

Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1491939369

Python Crash Course: A Hands-On, Project-Based Introduction to Programming

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1593276034

Computer Science Distilled: Learn the art of solving computaitonal problems by Wladston Ferreira Filho

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0-9773160-2-5

Algorithms Unlocked by Thomas H. Cormen

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0262518802

Violent Python: A Cookbook for Hackers, Forensic Analysts, Penetration Testers and Security Engineers

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1597499576

The Shellcoder’s Handbook: Discovering and Exploiting Security Holes

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0470080238

Head First C: A Brain-Friendly Guide

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1449399917

Practical Object-Oriented Design in Ruby

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0321721334

Thinking in C++ by Bruce Eckel

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0139177095

Operating System Concepts

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1118063330

Computer Networking: A Top-Down Approach (7th Edition) by Kurose and Ross

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0133594140

Competitive Programming 3: The New Lower Bound of Programming Contests

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-5800083125

Dynamic Programming for Coding Interviews: A Bottom-Up approach to problem solving

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1946556691

GATE 2019 Computer Science and Information Technology

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-1946581785

The Art of Computer Programming by Donald E. Knuth

• https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html
• ISBN-13: 978-0321751041

Facts and Fallacies of Software Engineering

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0321117427

The Mythical Man-Month: Essays on Software Engineering

• Amazon Smile
• ISBN-13: 978-0201835953

This list was compiled from multiple suggestion threads on Reddit and Stackoverflow.

Please feel free to add more that you have found useful!

Other programming book recommendations:

• The best books for data structures and algorithms in JavaScript
• What's on one dev's software engineering bookshelf
• Books that every engineering manager should read
• Books that junior devs should read
• Must-read books to learn Java programming

It’s a rare occasion that companies provide leadership training before you become a manager. A few days or weeks after what was probably one of the happiest days in your recent memory, the day you were offered a position outside of the individual contributor track, you find yourself with a million questions. You feel that you were tricked into signing something without reading the fine print.

That feeling you’re experiencing isn’t new, it’s just that you’ve all but forgotten it. It’s not knowing what you’re supposed to do. It’s being clueless. Because if you think years of writing software trained you to become a manager, research states the contrary. But it’s not the end of the world. Even though your company most likely doesn’t understand the need for formal management training, there is a plethora of information available to you that will make your job easier, and maybe even enjoyable.

When I became a manager I did what I typically do when faced with a challenge I know almost nothing about: I started reading. I’ve read a lot of books, some were good, a few of them were amazing. All of them shaped the way I do my job, and so I thought I would share them for other aspiring or active managers out there.

I’ve curated this list based on several factors:

• The books should cover a broad set of engineering management and leadership topics. It’s easy to find overlapping books. It is much harder to find a diversity of information when you’re very new to leadership.
• They should be written in different eras. The software industry is constantly evolving. It doesn’t make sense to only read about what was happening in the 1980s or 90s.
• Reading order matters a lot. Some books are more specialized than others. The information provided can be thought of as layers that stack on top of each other. If you’re inexperienced, you may start in the middle or the end, and that will basically ruin other books for you.
• Finally, I put a hard limit of 7, just because I think this list is enough to build a foundation layer on top of which you can continue reading and maybe even doing your own research further on.

But enough introduction, let’s see the list :)

Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams, by Tom DeMarco & Tim Lister

This should be mandatory reading for everyone. Period. No, not just everyone in software, everyone working in a private company should read this book. It’s amazing to me how pretty much all of the problems that people deal with it on a daily basis have already been solved. In the 1980s. If you read just one book from this list, let it be this one.

High Output Management, by Andrew S. Grove

Soon after you make the switch from the individual contributor track to the leadership track you will ask yourself a basic question.

How do I measure my own success?

You used to be able to answer that easily. Now that you’re writing code less and less, and dealing with team dynamics and people problems, how will you or your boss measure your progress and success? This book provides a now universally accepted answer: you are measured through the success of the people reporting to you. That is to say, if your team is successful, then you’re successful. I’m over-simplifying of course but that was my biggest take away from this book.

There are more insightful bits of information such as a walk-through of a production pipeline, how to run meetings, or how to conduct one on ones. This is a classic book that everyone should read even if they’re not interested in leadership roles. It’s that good.

I will say though that this book was written a long time ago. The impression I got was that leaders from that age were more authoritative than what you see in companies these days. This is not a critique, it’s a fair warning. You may read a few chapters and conclude that there’s no way anyone could get away with doing that in a company. There’s a certain nuance to the leadership style described in this book and it is important to understand it.

Influence: Science and Practice, by Robert B. Cialdini

An engineering manager’s job is to ensure their team has everything it needs to succeed. This means managing the interaction between multiple groups of people towards an agreeable outcome.

If you’ve ever tried to convince a friend to move from WhatsApp to Telegram and failed, you’ve made an attempt at exerting influence. You’ll need to do that basically every day, and in my experience, this is a very hard skill to learn. It takes a lot of practice, and there’s really no sandbox mode in which you can fail and it’ll be OK. You will try to talk to someone at some point into doing something, and you will fail, and you or your team will suffer for it.

This book is the definitive guide on how to approach the problem scientifically. A lot of managers seem to think they don’t need to learn how to influence others, particularly their direct reports, as rank is the ultimate influencer. Thinking that will keep you from ever becoming a great leader, in my opinion. Yes, you will probably overrule someone at some point and it will feel terrific while you do it. But if that person ends up hating you for it, you’ve just lost their trust and you will see the consequences of that later on.

Rapid Development: Taming Wild Software Schedules, by Steve McConnell

This is another classic textbook that I wish everyone in software would read. If you’re currently in a company who’s agile and are struggling with unproductive meetings, poor quality code, team members that can’t get along with each other, or stakeholders who push you to leave the office late at night, you will find at least one solution within this book. It’s also a good leadership book as it describes, in what is probably my favorite chapter, a list of things you definitely should not do if you want to have a great team. I still refer to that chapter from time to time, it’s just really good and insightful.

Managing Humans, by Michael Lopp

I loved this book for its humor and insights into some of the biggest tech companies’ cultures. It doesn’t feel like a textbook compared to the others on this list, but that’s what makes it a great fit.

You need to understand that leaders are still human, they’re going to screw up, and the end result may be tragic or hilarious. Or both. That’s a very important lesson to learn, one that took me the longest time, to be honest.

It’s very easy to get caught up in theory while trying to learn how to be a leader. But reality often is so insane that no book can offer you the solution you need. You will end up in situations where you will do everything by the book, and people will still be unhappy. And that’s OK. The stories from Managing Humans will help you understand that.

The Manager’s Path, by Camille Fournier

What makes this book awesome is that it offers a clear and simple description of your responsibilities and goals at every step in the leadership ladder. Most companies don’t even have that information for their own leadership track.

It starts by describing what an entry-level leader should focus on, such as mentoring junior developers. It moves on to engineering managers, senior managers, and even covers what a VP of software should do. I personally have always wondered what a day in a VP’s shoes looks like, and if you have as well, this book is for you.

Beyond just taming your curiosity of what the upper echelons look like, I love this book because it is so realistic. There’s no utopian view of teams and processes here. It’s all ground in the experience of the author. That makes the information within highly applicable in your work environment.

The one minute manager, by Kenneth H. Blanchard

I initially didn’t want to read this after I found it, but I’m glad I changed my mind about it. It’s basically a short story about a manager who is very good at his job, particularly in one area.

I won’t spoil it for you. The information you get out of this story isn’t particularly innovative. There are other books that dive into its topic in more detail. But there’s something really satisfying about it that I can’t really explain. It’s like a GitHub gist that solves a problem in under 100 lines of code.

You can be dismissive of it — there’s no way it could be that simple, right? Or you can read through it carefully and appreciate its simplicity, knowing that it’s not a generalized solution, but still good enough that it’s worth having in your toolbox. It is entirely possible you’ll read this book and think I’m exaggerating, but hey, it’s my list ;)

Radical Candor, by Kim Scott

I can count to 7 just fine, but I really wanted to offer this book as sort of a special addition to my list. I wouldn’t say it’s mandatory reading. Once you’ve gone through all the books above, you should pick this up for a very striking alternative view.

Basically, Radical Candor is a framework on how to relate to people. It’s not really related to software development. You can apply this anywhere, with your friends, with your family, it’s frankly very abstract in that regard.

The author, Kim Scott, has worked both at Google and Apple. She recalls some of her experiences while working there. I found those chapters to be extremely enjoyable, but do take them with a grain of salt. Some of the more recent reports in the media directly contradict some stories from this book. This is why I’m hesitant to recommend it to everyone.

The framework itself makes sense but it’s so hard to actually put in practice. I know that’s not the author’s fault. I wish the world would work in the way she describes, but I don’t think it ever will. Nonetheless striving to achieve even 50% of Radical Candor will make you a better leader. If you have the stomach for 100% then I’d like to meet you in person.

Is that it?

This list is a solid foundation for newbie managers or people who are thinking of becoming team leads or managers. There is so much more to learn. I would’ve appreciated a simple and short list like this myself when I made the step towards leadership. Hopefully you do as well.

One of my goals this year is to read less. Not that I don’t think reading is important, actually quite the opposite.

I want to read less because I consume too much content and don’t ever actually take action on any of it.

Let me give you a few examples, maybe you can relate.

I’m subscribed to multiple newsletters on varying topics like web development, design, entrepreneurship, etc.

I eagerly consume the content from all these newsletters, and then get overwhelmed because I feel like I have to take action and try all these different things, even though I’m already in the middle of 12 different things that need my attention.

I go through a similar process with books. I get excited about a new book on starting a business or web development or personal improvement. I rapidly and enthusiastically consume the book, every once in a while I even finish it, then I attempt to take half-assed action on it for a day or two until I read something else and decide I need to take action on that thing now.

Never half ass two things, whole ass one thing — Ron Swanson

I have a content consumption addiction, and I’m willing to bet you do to.

So my goal this year is to read less, but read the things that matter, read them intentionally, and actually take action on the things they teach me, and I want to make the case for why you might want to do the same.

Why Consume Less Content?

I realize the irony of writing a piece of content telling you to consume less content, but if reading this means that you will read less of my stuff in exchange for furthering your career, I’m okay with that.

I also want to clarify here that I’m not telling everyone reading this that they should stop reading.

I’m speaking to a specific group of people that suffer from shiny object syndrome like I do and have trouble sticking to projects because of it.

If you are that person, I think there’s a strong case to be made to read less, and consume less content in general. This might be reading, but it might also be podcasts, courses, and videos.

Or if you’re a pro at being distracted easily like me, all of the above.

I have ambitious goals to start my own business and live a life of independence using my web development skills.

Unfortunately I have zero self control and am pretty bad at focusing.

Part of being a web developer means we have to be pretty tuned in to the internet and many, if not most of us are addicted to learning and consuming content.

On the surface, this seems like a good thing, but it needs to be tempered.

We want to learn as much as we can and obsessively consume content, at our own peril if we don’t learn how to control it.

One thing I’ve realized over the past few years of working like crazy but actually accomplishing very few of my goals is that without the ability to focus, we won’t get very far, if anywhere.

As I’ve reflected on why I get so distracted so easily and so often, I realized that a major contributor to it was content consumption.

I realized something really sad the other day. I’ve been a web developer for about 5 years now, have consumed countless courses and tutorials, and yet my online presence and portfolio is shamefully bare.

The reason is, again, a lack of focus and overconsumption of content.

I see a cool course come out, or a tutorial that utilizes some fancy new tech, and all of a sudden I’ve spent 5 hours trying to get some new random app working, while never actually completing anything meaningful.

Okay great, we’ve figured out that the problem is overconsumption of content and lack of focus on one project at a time, now what do we do about it?

I think the solution can be broken down into two rules, at least to start with.

Rule 1 — Don’t Consume Any Unrelated Content

This means articles, books, podcasts, videos, courses, etc. Unless it is directly related to your current project, it’s off limits.

A drastic step? Maybe. But a necessary one, at least right now.

I’m subscribed to all kinds of design and development-related newsletters, and inevitably one or seven of them will link to a tutorial or tech that has recently come out that I can’t resist trying.

I’m willing to bet that just this one step will make a big difference.

I also have a bit of an addiction to business and productivity books. I read so many of them that I never actually take the time to act on what I’m reading.

And then there’s podcasts.

At least for now, until I learn how to control myself better, I’ll be avoiding consuming any of this content unless I am doing research for a current article or development project.

Rule 2— One project at a time

I’m committing to not starting a new side project until I’ve finished the one that I’m working on right now.

For example, right now I am very interested in serverless apps built using Vue, so I’m building a calorie and macronutrient tracker using Nuxt, GraphQL, and Netlify.

I’m going to finish this project before starting on any others.

This one project at a time rule could apply to courses and tutorials as well.

The crux of the rule is this:

I can’t start another project/course/tutorial until I have the finished product from this one up on GitHub.

The main goal with implementing these two rules is to stop getting distracted so I can actually product meaningful things.

My hunch is that following the first rule will make following the second much easier, since usually when I jump to a new project it’s because I read something about some other tech I want to be using.

The Practical Side

However, I’ve gone from saying I have horrible discipline and self-control to making a blanket statement that I’m simply just going to start sticking to these rules.

Real life is rarely so simple.

Inevitably, we make commitments like this and find ourselves falling back into old habits almost immediately.

We unsubscribe from newsletters only to find ourselves subscribed again a week later.

We say we will finish the book we are on only to hear about another one that we are just sure will be the most important thing we need to do, so we put it down and start the other one.

We start a project and then get sidetracked because this other tech stack is what we should really be focusing on right now.

Rinse and Repat. Ad Infinitum.

So, how can we make sure we actually stick to these rules and start building a meaningful development portfolio?

I believe the answer lies in changing our habits.

For example, I have an RSS reader installed in Chrome, and multiple newsletters subscribed to in my email.

Usually, the first thing I do in the morning is catch up on my reading.

6 hours later I realize that a good chunk of the day is gone.

Almost every time, the days I have no new content to read are the days I get the most done.

So I’ve removed my RSS reader and unsubscribed from all of those newsletters.

The next step is to replace that bad habit in the morning with a good habit.

In Atomic Habits, James Clear talks about the idea of habit stacking.

It’s the idea that you start off with one small habit each morning, and then finishing that habit cues a new one, and so on and so on.

My current habit stack for my work day looks like this:

• Get to desk
• Unpack bag and take off coat
• Fill up water bottle
• Make cup of coffee
• Open Skype
• Check Help Desk tickets
• Focused work
• Check email at 10:00 AM
• Workout (Mon, Wed, Fri)
• Meditate
• Make protein shake
• Eat lunch
• Focused work
• Check email again at 12:30 PM
• Focused work
• Check email and assign tomorrow’s tasks at 2:30 PM
• Current learning project/article at 3:00 PM
• Pack up bag
• Leave work at 4:00 PM

You should tweak this habit stack to your own personal needs and schedule, but the idea is that as soon a I get to work, I complete a few small tasks, which triggers starting another task.

I’m starting a new routine of writing one new article and releasing it every Friday. My learning projects and articles will be related, so whatever my current project is is what that week’s article will be about.

Right now my learning project is getting my content consumption under control, so that’s what I’m writing about.

Next, I’ll be working on creating and integrating good habits into my workflow, so I’ll be writing about how developers can use habit formation to improve their skills and career next.

Read Less. Do More.

The root cause of my lack of robust portfolio was my content consumption, so I’ve decided to read less, but read more purposefully. And, most importantly, take action on what I am reading.

Right now that’s Atomic Habits.

1. Only articles, tutorials, podcasts, courses, and books directly related to what I’m currently working on.
2. No starting a side project until I’ve finished one.

I’m willing to bet there are a lot of other developers out there that struggle with shiny object syndrome. If you do, take a look at your content consumption habits and see if reading less would help you get more accomplished.

Hey I’m Ken. I design and code web applications. I also write guides, essays, rants, and manifestos for developers and designers on Medium. If you want to keep up with my writing and get notified when I write something new, you can sign up right here or subscribe via RSS. You’ll get one email every once in a while when when I write something new, that’s it. You can also send me email at ken@kenrogers.co if you have a question, comment, piece of hate mail, or just want to say hello. Thanks for reading ?

I’ve been an Android developer for the last three years, and in that time many books have helped me in my journey from a novice to an expert. When I started, there seemed to be no helpful articles that could direct me towards the best resources for Android development.

Most articles were vague and often seemed to be written by people who had little or no hands-on experience. So, I thought I would write this article and clear the path for everyone once and for all.

Given below are my top 10 picks for books on Android Development — you can find links to all of them on my blog. The list includes books for every level from beginner to advanced. So, read along.

Head First Android Development

This was the first book I read on Android development. It is perfect for Android developers who are beginners or are at an intermediate level. This book won’t get you to an advanced level and won’t touch on any topics like RxJava, ButterKnife or Data Binding, but it will get your fundamentals on-point.

It covers everything from how to set up your IDE to creating a functioning Android app. It has a unique way of explaining concepts with thought bubbles and real-life scenarios. It also contains interesting exercises such as ‘fill up magnets’ and ‘matchings’ to make things more interesting.

If you are new to Android development and want to read up on it, then it’s the perfect book to start with — trust me on this.

LEVEL: Beginner

Android App Development for Dummies

Like my first suggestion, this is a legacy book. By now, the Dummies series probably has books on every topic ?. This book is really good for absolute beginners, managing to explain concepts clearly with simple language and fewer technical words.

It will guide you on:

• How to install all the tools you need
• Designing a good user interface
• Deciding between charging for your app (and at what price) or offering it for free
• Handling user input
• Design differences between phone and tablet applications
• Ways to avoid common pitfalls
• Inspirational sample apps.

If you are unsure of where to start, you can definitely go with this one.

LEVEL: Beginner

Java: A Beginner’s Guide, Sixth Edition

In order to learn Android development or become better at Android development, you need to get your Java fundamentals right and this book is the perfect place to start.

This book is updated for Java 8, so it includes topics such as lambda expressions and default interface methods.

This is very basic and good for beginners wanting to get started with Java for Android development.

LEVEL: Beginner

Hello, Android: Introducing Google’s Mobile Development Platform

This book is also for beginners, but it has a level of abstraction. It doesn’t explain all concepts in depth and only gives you the code. If that’s your thing, you can go with it.

LEVEL: Beginner to intermediate

Busy Coder’s Guide to Android Development

To be honest, I haven’t read this book myself. The books I’ve provided above were more than enough to keep me engrossed ? but, I’ve heard from many that this book is good for developers at all levels.

It covers everything there is in Android development and should not disappoint new or intermediate Android developers.

If you’re a professional developer, I suggest that you instead try the Professional Android 4th Edition (detailed below).

LEVEL: Beginner to intermediate

Android Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide

The Big Nerd Ranch Guide series is a familiar book series in programming. They have books on mobile and web development and some other technologies. But, let’s talk about the one for Android.

The Big Nerd Ranch Guide is an introductory book for people who know Java and want to learn about Android development.

It consists of many examples to assist the theory. You’ll be developing apps such as catalog crime scenes, photo browsers, jogging route trackers and more.

Although it’s often recommended for beginners, I think it gets a little too technical and you would need to cite some other resources alongside this book. But for someone who is at an intermediate level and wants to brush up on their skills, this is the perfect book. I can’t recommend it enough.

LEVEL: Intermediate

Android Cookbook

This is not a book for beginners. This is a handbook for professional Android developers who are looking for a quick guide on some topics they are having a hard time with. The explanations are concise and shallow. Do not expect to be spoon-fed if you opt-in for this book.

With that being said, it’s perfect for professionals. Just a quick guide and not too much spoon feeding. Advanced topics also are briefly touched on with solutions left as an exercise.

As an example: working on a location-aware app involves much more sophistication than simply requesting a location update. Yet, the location chapters only cover the basic stuff that helps novices to get their feet wet, not to write a real-world app.

LEVEL: Professionals and experts

Professional Android 4th edition

As the name suggests, this book is for experienced campaigners.

It covers best practices, Android app lifecycles and UI design techniques such as building a robust app for different screen sizes, including tablets.

It includes many real-world example applications to provide you with a hands-on experience of professional Android development. But beware, this book is really in-depth and requires some programming experience to get a grasp on its concepts.

For example, it includes JobScheduler, architectural components, an introduction to Kotlin, navigation patterns, and design patterns.

If you want to take your Android development game to the next level, do check out this book.

LEVEL: Advanced

Kotlin Programming by Example: Build real-world Android and web applications the Kotlin way

You’ll explore various features of Kotlin by building three applications of varying complexity. The first will be a classic Tetris game and an elaboration on OOP concepts.

The second is a messenger app with increased complexity. The final app is a place reviewer: a web application that will make use of the Google Maps API and Place Picker.

Note: It not only includes Android app examples but examples for building a web app as well.

That being said, I believe no single book can be enough to gain mastery of a language completely. The example in this book is enough to get a good hold on the language of Kotlin.

LEVEL: Anyone wanting to learn Kotlin

Kotlin for Android Developers: Learn Kotlin while developing an Android App

This is an e-book by Antonio Leiva. If you are an Android developer you’ve probably read his Medium articles.

This book does a good job of introducing the Kotlin programming language as it takes you through the course of developing an Android app. If you’re an Android developer and you want to start developing with Kotlin, this book is not a bad place to start (especially since it’s only one of very few Android/Kotlin tutorials available at the time of this writing).

However, this book seemed like it was rushed to be published because it felt quite unorganized throughout. It seems like the author didn’t care to explain a lot of what is being shown in the book in order to make it easier for himself.

LEVEL: Anyone wanting to learn Kotlin for Android

This article was originally posted here.

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You can follow me on LinkedIn, Quora, Twitter and Instagram where I answer questions related to Mobile Development, especially Android and Flutter.

As a curious person, I constantly find myself reading and learning about new things. So I picked up this book A Mind for Numbers by Barbara Oakley to enhance and elevate my learning process. This blog post is my take on the ten most important things I think that learners should implement.

1. Just start, break the initial barrier.

Every task has a certain Activation Energy (AE). Say you want to practice playing the guitar. You have to get up, dust the old guitar, tune it, pick the plectrum up, and start strumming. All these make up the AE of the task of playing a guitar.

The higher the AE of something, the less likely are you to start doing the task. Take steps to reduce the AE of a new habit you want to start. Place the tuned guitar in your living room so you have it handy.

Want to start exercising every morning? Have your shoes and weights ready the previous night. Wanna read more? Keep a book at your desk. Reach for the book when you feel like checking your phone. Once you reduce the AE of new habits you want to form, it is easier to get started.

Getting started is all that counts, as most people don’t start ; )

2. Practice chunking

Ever been writing an exam and you kinda know the answer? You know the bits and pieces of what forms the answer, but you cannot put it all together?

This is an example of learning without chunking effectively. A memory chunk is a solid connection in your mind that relates various bits and pieces of information. A chunk is a series of thoughts that follows you directly as you starting thinking about the fundamental concepts.

How to chunk

Focus on the concept you want to form a chunk of, think about it, and make sure you eliminate all distractions while doing this. Next up, write down the basic ideas of what the concept is all about. Usually it boils down to having a strong understanding of the simplest concepts. Build up from these fundamentals to, finally, create a chunk!

3. Learn, Practice, Recall — Repeat

Just forming chunks is not sufficient. You have to maintain them. The more you look after the chunks, the longer they last.

Especially when it comes to subjects like mathematics and the sciences, you cannot leave it at the first read. In order to absorb the material well, you need to review the material and practice the problems on your own. Of course, all this might be boring, but it’s worth the trouble.

While you are reviewing the material, don’t passively read it. Make sure you recall. The act of retrieval via recall enhances deep understanding of the subject. A good place to start recalling what you learnt might be anywhere except where you studied it. This helps you strengthen the grasp of the material as you recall it from a different perspective. Learning in the library and recalling at home would be an example use case of this technique.

4. Take it easy

You almost have it. The clock says 2 am. Three cups of coffee down. You’ve devoted the past 4 hours on solving this very problem. This one breakthrough has the potential to get you an “A” on the assignment, resolve a major roadblock in your research, or make you millions. So you stick to it, waiting for the “aha!” moment.

It is morning now. 7 am. There was no breakthrough, you didn’t sleep at night. Now you’re groggy and spend the rest of today cursing yourself for how terrible you are at what you do. Major mistake!

Whenever you face a problem, this is a roadblock in whatever you are trying to solve. Pause. Take a break. Sleep. Clean your room. Do anything except work on the problem. This takes your brain into its “diffuse mode” — this mode works on the things you have been focusing on in the background. Come back to the problem later.

_[Source](http://www.instructables.com/id/Learning-How-to-Learn/" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Have you ever been working on something you couldn’t figure out, then slept and “dreamt about it”? This is your diffuse mode at work. So take it easy, take a nap, and you’ll have some direction on what you’re trying to solve. And you never know, it might as well get you an “A” on the assignment, resolve a major research roadblock, or make you a million dollars!

5. Understand your procrastination and kill it

Whom would you call a procrastinator? A procrastinator is a person who has a habit of getting distracted by things and temporary pleasures (beep! bloop!, ding-ding!). These do not contribute to the task that must be done at this very moment.

Did you catch the magic word there? Habit. Procrastination is a bad habit. Just like any other bad habit, the habit of procrastination can be changed for the better.

Habits consist of 4 key factors:

1. cue
2. routine
3. reward
4. belief

The cue can be your phone buzzing with notifications. Your routine is to reach out to the phone and check it. The reward is the temporary dopamine spike that you get after seeing four new likes on your Instagram post. The belief is that the distracting habit makes you happy, and so you can never change this habit. Habits have power over you because of your belief in them. If you change your belief, you can change your habits!

The number one thing you can do to not procrastinate is to eliminate distractions. Don’t keep your phone near you when you work. Block all entertainment websites during your scheduled work time.

Another key to reduce procrastination is the Cue-Routine transition behaviour. Actively notice what you do in response to certain distracting cues. BING! Wanna check that phone desperately? Don’t. Resist the urge to reach out to it. Be mentally strong enough to focus intently on the work at hand. Your future self will thank you.

6. Set an ending time for tasks

You wake up. Check your to-do list, and make a mental note of what you have to do for the day. You start working on time (great!) but, at the end of the day, some items are left undone. Off to postponing tasks to tomorrow.

Parkinson’s second law:

Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.

Presuming that you have a realistic to-do list, this is what is preventing you from completing the tasks on your list. Once you start getting something done, your brain starts thinking that it deserves something. A reward, one episode, one look at the meme your friend tagged you in. And you are back into the procrastination spiral.

One way to tackle this is to set an ending time to tasks. You know, you do most of your work right before the deadline. Setting a micro deadline for daily tasks holds your brain accountable to the tick of the clock. Most people set a starting time for tasks and drop into procrastination loops. Setting an end time would help you do stuff on time.

7. Use visual and spatial memories

This one is about memorization and recall. The #1 thing you need to do to correctly memorize concepts is understand them. To successfully understand something, visualizing it is key. Feel it.

Want to memorize the physical equation for work? W = F*d. Don’t think of it as it is, in terms of the letters F and d. Visualize instead. Picture yourself pushing a cart, what are you doing? You are applying force to the cart and the cart is moving ahead by some distance. The work you do is proportional to the Force you apply (F) and the distance you move the cart for (displacement, d). F*d. Done.

As a kid, you might have been asked to do “actions” while you were reciting poetry. I found that weird. Weirdness aside, there’s a reason for that. Certain places and actions help us remember things. We associate events with actions and places. You can use actions or things to remember equations as well!

_Associating events, feelings with places; Photo by [Unsplash](https://unsplash.com/photos/m5oFzzrcKwc?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="_blank" title="">Anita Jankovic on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

We have evolved as a visual and spatial species. We had to hunt and kill for a living. We needed spatial skills to understand how you should shoot the arrow, throw the spear. We had to visually remember how the poisonous plant looked. This is how we evolved, so take advantage of your primal traits.

8. Use metaphors and stories

Metaphors give you a tracing paper for the pattern you want to draw. Sure, you can draw the pattern yourself, but having the tracing paper is useful. Boom, I just used a metaphor to explain why you should use metaphors. Hit some claps for that.

Metaphors will help you understand and recall more easily. You take something obvious from your memory, and see how it is related to the new concept you are trying to learn. You are tracing over the preexisting neural pathways to create a stronger, more relatable view of the new concept.

Monkeys and Benzene, notice the tails for double bonds (from “A mind for numbers” by Barbara Oakley, Page 171)

Want to understand how current flows around in a circuit? Think of a water pump. The pressure is the voltage. The difference in pressure causes the water to move — the difference in voltage causes electrons to move. The pump itself is like the battery, it generates the pressure aka voltage. The flow of water is the current.

When you think of concepts in this manner, they are etched in your memory in a much better way than if you take them at face value.

9. Learn what you want

Learning should always be self-motivated, otherwise it isn’t real learning. If you live in a country like India, there is a high probability that whatever you are studying now in school or college was forced onto you. What schools fail to understand is that learning does not happen by sheer force and fear of failing. Learning should be learner-centered.

College is not the only way to learn (within reason)

If you are stuck in unimportant courses you do not like, don’t focus on them. Start learning what you want, since that is what actually matters — that is what you must care about. People learn when they are self-motivated, not when someone comes in front of them for four hours a week, and tells something to them. Mathematics, art, and science are not observer games. You have to do.

“I think the big mistake in schools is trying to teach children anything, and by using fear as the basic motivation. Fear of getting failing grades, fear of not staying with your class, etc. Interest can produce learning on a scale compared to fear as a nuclear explosion to a firecracker.” Stanley Kubrick

Self drive yourself — even cars do that. Learn what you want. You learn the best when you learn on your own.

10. Intersection of skills

Transfer learning (yes, machine learning pun intended) is the ability to take what you learn in one domain and apply it to a new skill. If you already know how to play a musical instrument, learning a new one would be easy for you.

Learn in an abstract manner. When you learn something in order to apply it to an application, you are restricted to that domain. Learn the abstract concept first. This is one of the reasons why I took a linear algebra course before I jumped to machine learning. Engineering and business-related studies naturally gravitate toward a more application specific approach. This tends to restrict you.

Learn to apply old skills to new skills and vice versa. Santiago Ramón y Cajal was a Spanish neuroscientist who had a hobby of painting. Once he was done observing cells in his lab, he would draw them! This helped him understand them better. Cajal is called the “Father of Neuroscience”. If he did it, you should too.

_“Glial cells of the cerebral cortex of a child,” a drawing from 1904; Source: [NY Times](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/18/arts/design/brain-neuroscience-santiago-ramon-y-cajal-grey-gallery.html" rel="noopener" target="blank" title=")

Once you transfer your learning, neural pathways associated with both concepts become stronger and improve your understanding of each.

BONUS!

If you’ve made it this far through the blog, I love you. Here’s another tip:

11. Sleep! (This is VERY important)

You have a test tomorrow morning at 9 am. You decide to stay up till 3 am to study for it. You cannot miss getting two points less than your overly competitive friend. So you make coffee, and you’re hustling all night for the test.

Fast forward two days, results are out. You scored no better than last time despite pulling an all-nighter. What went wrong, you ask?

The very fact that you stayed up all night is what went wrong. What you did was cram, you did not understand. There was no chunking, all your brain saw was words and numbers that did not make sense to it.

Lack of sleep affects memory and recall. Your brain is a muscle. If you run a marathon, your legs need rest. Your brain runs a marathon every single day. It needs a minimum of 7–8 hours of “rest”. Prepare for tests early on, do not save it for the night before.

If you are the kind of person who is passionate about the stuff you do, it is tempting to stay up late to complete the tasks you love. But you must sleep. Sleep helps your brain get into the diffuse mode and thus gets creative ideas about your ongoing projects cooking. A good sleep improves your focus, and helps you better understand what you learnt throughout the day.

REM sleep can help you improve your declarative memory — memory based on complex factual information. Thus, getting good sleep is especially useful for students who have to deal with facts and figures.

So sleep! It is not a waste of time. It affects you more than you think it does.

_[This is a cute baby sleeping](https://unsplash.com/photos/5yUPFjGFJoI" rel="noopener" target="blank" title="). Have a nice day!

Thanks for reading! I hope this helped you. Leave some of them claps if you liked it! Do you have your own tricks that you use? Leave them in the comments below :)

I write about Life, Work, Machine Learning, and almost anything I find interesting on Medium. Follow me if you’re into this.

Connect with me on Instagram and LinkedIn for a one-on-one chat.

Crush the next semester!

If you want to get better at programming, there are two things you need to do:

Write Code and Read Everything!

I have been writing software for a long time, and I’ve had the opportunity to learn about programming in many different settings. I have struggled through problems on my own, worked with teams, and I’ve even had the opportunity to learn in a University setting. Through all of my experiences I have found the best way to become a better programmer is to write code and read everything! The moment you stop doing either, you will slow down the progression of your skills.

Too many people get so excited to write code that they sometimes forget to put in their due diligence. Writing code is fun and I too have been guilty of ignoring the documentation. With old tools, or new, there will always be more to learn. You will save yourself a lot of time and energy if you make sure you have a good foundation before diving into a new tool.

To help you on your journey, I want to offer my favorite resources for reading about tech topics. Enjoy.

Official Documentation

When you already know the tool you want to work with, the best place to start is the official documentation. When working with something new, resist the urge to jump straight in — look through the docs first.

You will save yourself time and energy, while becoming a better developer. When you read you aren’t only learning that one topic. You are expanding your understanding of an entire area of software development and making it easier for you to learn the next topic.

At the bare minimum, go through a Getting Started tutorial and work though all the examples. Make sure you understand the simple parts of a new language or framework before moving on.

Many developers don’t love writing documentation, so if you find quality information it is because the writer thought it would help.

Online Articles

The next places you should look for up to date information about the technical topics are online publications. Since you are reading this article, I can assume you have already discovered Medium. Medium is my all time favorite source for articles and blogs.

Medium is full of information on a massive range of both technical and non-technical topics. If you have interest in a topic, there is a good chance you can find articles on that topic on Medium.

Another great thing about Medium is that the broad range of topics doesn’t take away from the quality or depth of the information. Other publications lose depth and quality of information in an attempt at a larger audience. The inclusive and easy-to-use nature of Medium makes it the perfect place to find quality information and publish your own content.

Be sure to check out my two favorite publications on Medium: freeCodeCamp and HackerNoon.

My next favorite source for online articles is Hacker News. Hacker News is a site managed by the startup incubator Y Combinator. Hacker news allows users to post links to technical content that can be up- and down-voted by the community, depending on the quality.

Hacker News is a lot like Reddit but less overwhelming. Hacker news has only one feed of community-curated information. This makes it easy to look through and read articles each morning.

Programming Books

My absolute favorite source for learning new things is programming books!

My favorite publishers for programming books are Manning Publishing and O’Reilly Publishing. Both companies produce huge numbers of book on tons of topics.

With these two publishers you can be sure to find the information you need — from the newest in neural network frameworks to help working with legacy systems.

I am going to give you a piece of advice I’ve learned the hard way. If you prefer reading physical copies of books, I recommend you learn to love your
e-reader. There are too many different books and too many updates in programming texts.

I was an avid supporter of physical books and I had a very impressive collection of physical books. This was all well and good until I moved! After moving boxes and boxes of heavy books, I learned to love reading off my iPad. So learn from my experience and get yourself a subscription to Safari Books Online.

Safari books online is a monthly subscription service that gives you access to more tech books than you can ever read. It’s now owned by O’Reilly Publishing, but they continue to offer books from Manning Publishing and many other publishers. Safari Books Online was one of the best investments I have ever made.

Research Papers

Now to one of the more intimidating sources of information. Reading research papers can seem daunting, but it is worth your time. The world is full of brilliant people. So why not take advantage of the work of the best and brightest?

You may tell yourself that research papers are too complicated or too difficult to read. Well, a simple Google search will show you you’re not alone.

Research papers can be intimidating at first but don’t get discouraged.

Take it slow and follow these tips:

1. Read the abstract
2. Look at the diagrams
3. Read the conclusion
4. Decide if the article is worth reading

When you run into something that you don’t understand, take a note or look it up mid-article. As you learn, reading research papers will get easier and easier. If you run across an important reference to another research paper, stop and look into the reference. Sometimes it will be good to read the other article first or at least get a sense of the topic.

The best place to start looking for good research papers is in the tool documentation. Lots of applications and frameworks started out as part of a research project at a university or company. For example, Apache Spark was born out of the AmpLab at the University of California, Berkeley. You can find more information about the research, development, and history of Apache Spark on the AmpLab site or in the official Apache Spark docs.

Some other great resources for finding the research papers are Google Scholar or arXiv. Both are sites that allow you to search for and read available research papers.

If you are looking for a service to do more of the heavy lifting, you may want to look into getting a subscription to DeepDyve.

DeepDyve is a subscription service that puts thousands of research journals at your fingertips. DeepDyve will even recommend research papers based on your reading history. This service is extremely useful when you start reading research papers.

Other People’s Code

Last but not least you should read other peoples code. Go to GitHub. Find relevant projects and look into how other people are programming.

Seeing code for a real project will give you a different point of view from books and research papers. Sometimes programming can get messy. Using a tool in a perfect world can be very different from how to use it in the real world. So getting the perspective from someone who has been on the front lines is always useful.

Before you go, I want to leave you with one last piece of advice. The more you learn the more stupid you will feel. You will realize how much more there is to know. Embrace this feeling and treat it as an accomplishment. Learn new things one step at a time. Accept that you will never know everything. Rely on others to help you. Learn as much as you can and become someone others can rely on.

Now off you go! Read and learn something new!

If you have other sources for information that help you learn, please let me know in the comments below. I am always looking for great new sources of information! Thanks for reading. I hope this information helps you become a better developer.

Rich Site Summary (RSS) was developed way back in 1999 as a way to quickly subscribe to blogs and newspapers, back before tools like Twitter feeds made it so easy to find and read articles.

Over the last 17 years, RSS has largely faded from popular usage, but developers never stopped working on it. Today, if you want to streamline your information diet, RSS offers tons of advanced tools that make consuming content a breeze.

You can either actively discover content or passively stumble upon it.

Lets say you decide you want to learn to code. You go to Google and search “learn to code for free.” You find Free Code Camp on the first page of the Google results, sign up, and start progressing through its coding challenges. This is called active discovery.

Now lets say you were just browsing Facebook and you see one of your friends talking about Free Code Camp. This is called passive discovery. You click on the link, bookmark it, then move on with your Facebook-ing, only to never get around to visiting the site again.

My bookmarks. Don’t end up like me.

These examples demonstrate why even if you stumble upon something relevant in social media, you can still end up wasting time. If you don’t have time then and there, you will most likely open a tab or bookmark it. You’ll never get back to, because if you’re busy now, you’re likely to be just as busy later. Contrast this with a google search, which you’ll only do at the exact moment that you need something.

Enter the RSS feed reader

You know how you get a notification when a friend tags on Facebook? Well, you can get the exact same sort of notification from an RSS feed reader when a friend publishes a new article on their blog. Here’s the RSS feed reader Chrome extension that I use on my desktop.

My frequently visited blogs

This will add a nice little icon on your chrome extensions bar, and every time you are on a blog where a feed exists, there will be a little “+” sign so you can “subscribe” to it.

Let’s say you are looking to form better habits, and you find a nice blog about habits like James Clear’s blog. Now, thanks to this Chrome extension, you can just click the + sign and it will add that blog to your feed.

From this point on, whenever James Clear writes an article, you will have a pending notification on that bar until you mark it as read or — better yet — go and read it.

Free Code Camp’s latest articles

Notice how I have subscribed to Free Code Camp’s Medium articles? That’s right — you can even subscribe to your favorite Medium publications, all in one place. This means you won’t have to open Medium and scroll through your its news feed just to find posts from your favorite publications.

Subscribing to blogs in this way saves you massive amounts of time, because you are targeting what you want to read. You can even see the titles, so you never have to open the website only to find out that you’re not interested its newest content.

Using folders and the Dribbble Trick

And that’s not all! You can even make folders, then combine your thematically similar blogs to better manage them. This often helps me when I am trying to focus one particular topic, and looking for inspiration.

Do you use Dribbble for inspiration? Me too! And I follow a lot of designers there. With RSS, you can create folders for Dribbble feeds for individuals designers, so you’ll be the first to know whenever your favorite designers post new content.

People I follow on Dribbble and their new Dribbble shots (the green notifications boxes)

You can do the same for Material UP inspiration.

The Chrome extension comes packed with lots of other useful features, like the ability to star certain blogs combine them, and even subscribe to podcasts.

And if you prefer emails to notifications, you can configure this extension to send you emails about particular blogs, and at designated times of your day when you’re likely free to read them.

You should stop passively surfing.

According to a CNN report, teens spend up to nine hours a day on social media, and check their news feeds up to 100 times a day.

Now, if I didn’t know any better, I would assume that adults are not like teens, and place a higher value on their time. They wouldn’t end spend their days constantly checking social media.

But the reality is, as adults, we end up spending a lot of our time checking our social media instead of actively searching for content that is immediately relevant to us.

When we say we are “surfing the web,” what we are really doing is stumbling upon links which have nice clickbait headlines, only to later realize that the content didn’t teach us anything new. Nor was it relevant to whatever task we were trying to accomplish at the time.

We often find ourselves scrolling through our Facebook news feeds, clicking links our friends have shared, worried that if we don’t do this we may “miss out” on something.

But in all reality, little of this content is essential. Productivity enthusiasts are quick to point out that this “fear of missing out” is misplaced, and that most such content won’t make any real difference in our lives.

The problem with email lists.

The biggest reason for the decline in popularity of the RSS feeds has been that websites have shifted to manually sending you email newsletters with links to their recent blog posts.

It’s nice to stumble upon a website and be able to stay up-to-date by simply giving them an email address. But if they are not the subtle type, and start bombarding me with emails every day, I am going to feel overloaded at first, then eventually unsubscribe.

As you can see, getting 10 promotional emails a day isn’t exactly the most fun way to consume blog content. I have my own designated time to read these posts, and if I don’t get to them because I’m working, I will most likely never get back to them.

With RSS, I have a list of all the blogs that I’ve subscribed to, along with how many new articles each has posted since I last checked them. And I can just leave them as unread for now, then approach them later in a more systematic way.

This way, instead of dealing with random emails that pop up in the middle of my workday, or in the middle of the night when I am trying to sleep, all the content I want to read goes to the same place, and I can get to it at my leisure.

Thanks for reading. I hope this article — and RSS feed readers — can help you be more productive. Again, here’s the free Chrome extension I use for RSS. If you enjoyed this article, make sure to press that green heart to show your support.