Ask HN: If you had a month of free time, what would you learn?

7 points by momop 14 years ago | 11 comments

I am taking a month off to do something new (C++ programmer here). What would you recommend I learn ? iOS, Ruby, node.js or anything else (don't know any of these)

nxn 14 years ago |

It really depends on what you'd like to try doing; for example, if you'd like to try web development then being decent in javascript/css/html is important. If there's a field you want to check out, a library/framework aimed at that space might be worth familiarizing yourself with. Or, if you just want to learn something new without any purpose, then might as well try something as far from what you know already know as possible -- I guess in this case Haskell, OCaml, some Lisp, or even F# would be interesting areas.

EDIT: Or step outside the tech field into something unrelated, and see if there are any areas that might benefit from some tool you could create. Though I guess a month might be too little time for this.

momop 14 years ago | |

Web development is definitely in my interest area (because the closest I came was 15 years back in HTML!). Thanks for the response.

zeeed 14 years ago |

I am taking a month off to do something new. What would you recommend I learn? Hammer, screwdriver, tablesaw or anything else?

The point is: what do you want to achieve? If in doubt, spend the month figuring that out.

momop 14 years ago | |

lol! funny, but you drive home the point. I guess I am confused because I have many ideas (for example, iphone apps that keeps popping in my head, or a web educational app etc). Hindsight, I did the post in a hurry.

zeeed 14 years ago | | |

I'm serious though. It's the best way to spend time, too.

unimpressive 14 years ago |

I would probably learn nothing because I'm an easily distracted Internet addict. But if I could force myself to do something:

I'd learn more about distributed networks and *nix shell. Mainly because I have project ideas that require knowing both very well.

This is a really context-specific question. I don't think theres any general thing that everyones out to learn. Learning is (at least for me) a really goals oriented endeavor.

tzaman 14 years ago |

Since this is a startup community i'd say two things:

- Set yourself a goal (a small project) and try to code it in whatever suits you best, do a brief comparison and start learning by doing. Tool/language doesn't really matter, everyone will pour water on their own wheel anyway

- Get out, meet friends, excercise, take it easy :)

momop 14 years ago | |

Thanks tzaman. Your second point makes me feel good already :)

tzaman 14 years ago | | |

My pleasure. I think personal well-being is important if you want to be productive in any field.

joelmaat 14 years ago |

Machine learning, neural networks, bayesian systems, CORDIC, Python, etc..

chromatic 14 years ago |

If I had a month of free time, I'd learn Spanish.