Tech-related learning questions

I'm tentatively creating this post to be a place for anyone looking to ask for learning resources or guidance. I know I can't be the only lain that is frustrated with how little I know. There doesn't appear to be any threads like this currently and I see a lot of lainons asking for learning advice or resources for specific things that probably don't need a whole thread. /programming/ has a similar thread for beginner questions so I figured /tech/ needed one too, even if the inherent nature of /tech/ means that there are a lot of different areas of knowledge. If I'm honest, this thread is going to be pretty self-serving for me too as I have been on a hiatus from learning very much, and all my old techfriends have way surpassed me in knowledge. I'd like to be able to keep up with their conversations so I'm going to be doing a lot of self-learning over the next few months, where possible. Hopefully we can exchange some quality resources here.

>>15459 To clarify, this isn't the same as >>12035 which seems to be mostly tech support questions. this is more for sharing learning resources and getting a good grasp of where you should spend your time

I would recommend getting an old pc and setting of a pfsense router. Even if you don't need it, it will teach you a lot of basic networking concepts.

I recently decided to take my tech more seriously. Decided to start with *nix, which I hard used for years but never really mastered. This provided a comprehensive yet accessible overview that filled in a lot of the gaps in my knowledge. Can't recommend it enough.

>>15571 I don't have a PDF copy of link otherwise I'd have provided, but I'm sure one could be found relatively easily.

The amount of things one has to learn today is so frustrating. You are happy with your HTML and CSS and when you look around you see millions of other languages and frameworks that have come up, NodeJS, Ruby, R, Go, Angular, so you ask yourself: Where did this come from? Is it worth learning this? I'm late? Is there anything else that I do not know exists? Not only in Web language, but for everything on today's computers: A new program, a new standard library, a new paradigm, new documentation, a new Linux, a new Window Manager. It need not necessarily be new, but it may be new to me. I like to use C and SLD2 in my little projects, I get crazy only when I think of the hundreds of (best) alternatives and the time to choose one and learn everything again. This anxiety makes me sick, in a way.

>>15576 pick something you want to learn and learn it. It gets *a lot* easier to learn new computer ideas once you know one language really well. In the end they're all mostly saying the same things, you just have to figure out what's being said and learn how to translate. its kind of like learning multiple spoken languages. Once you learn a second language, it's easier to learn a third one because you know what to look for(conjugations or whatever).

>>15571 >>15572

>>15571 next up install gentoo. start in vm's, best learning experience ever.

>>15577 This. C was my first and it was hard but after that Java{script}, python and c++ became more like dialects than languages.

Should I read the wizard's tome, or is it merely a meme?

>>15692 It's a great book if you've got the grit to struggle through it (assuming you're a beginner). Most beginners don't have the grit however, and that's why universities replaced it with HtPD. I think if I could start over again personally I'd pick the Schemer series over SICP or HtPD, just because the pedagogy is better and you cover most of the same content.

>>15693 This is poorly fraised, by most of the same content I don't mean dramatically more than 50%. I also don't mean I wouldn't read SICP if I could do it over again. I guess what I was trying to say is that I think the Schemer series or another introductory series should be a prerequisite to SICP.

>>15693 >HtPD >Schemer series I'm not familiar with these. Did some cursory searching but didn't find any leads. Could you give a bit more context?

>>15713 I believe he referred to "How to Design Progams" (which you can find online) and "The Little/Reasoned/Seasoned Schemer" series.

>>15714 That's correct. I've been considering trying my hand at make a /tech/ CS curriculum (for others and myself as I'm only part way through). Would there be any interest in this?

Where would be the best place to start overall?

>>15771 Well, that really depends on what you are interested in? Maybe try installing Linux. If that's not of interest to you please elaborate.

>>15771 I think regardless of if you mean computing in general or programming I'd suggest "The Little Schemer". A combination of spectacular pedagogy, and one of the simplest languages removes many of the obstacles which tend to hurt new programmers. Also see the following posts: >It's not beneficial to learn about software for its own sake; however, software you use you should know. To this extent you should read the documentation, for cli applications get started by typing "man man" in terminal. When you're trying to solve a problem which your software fails to solve or fails to solve well make sure to access the options available before picking one. This will make your computing experience productive. >To add to that, I highly recommend [Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation]. I wish I'd had this book a few years ago. Moves very slowly, but teaches a broad (and deep) overview of CS topics, along with a very useful programming language. It's not possible to teach Common Lisp as quickly as Scheme but it is quicker to learn to use Common Lisp to make interesting applications, it would make a excellent second language in my opinion. While I've not looked at it personally there is also "The Little LISPer" which my understanding is more or less the same thing as "The Little Schemer" but in a small sub-set of Common Lisp, if that is the case it could likely be a sound replacement. Regardless of what your first couple books are your third or fourth should be to read the standard of your programming language, in this case 'RnRS' and/or 'Hyperspec'.

>>15774 I’ve really just begun to take an interest in technology and so I am looking for the most basic place to begin. It can just be confusing looking aimlessly online, so I thought someone here maybe able to give me some advice.

>>15787 If you don't want to go the programming route straight out of the gate, which I really can't suggest enough. A alternative stepping stone would be to just use programs on the command line and read documentation starting with 'man man' and following the first quote of >>15775 more or less (start trying to use CLI to replace things like your file browser). It's not programming but it might put you in the proper mindset. You can do this easily on any unix including Mac OSX, & Linux, or less easily on Windows using Cygwin. Like I said though I really encourage you to not doubt yourself, you're capable of more than you know, and programming is the only way understand computers.

>>15788 >>15775 Thanks for the advice.

Would any of you be willing to recommend some learning materials on networking? I feel pretty stupid using the internet while I do not understand it well.

>this is more for sharing learning resources and getting a good grasp of where you should spend your time That being said I've been looking for an opportunity to ask this. I've recently gotten interested in tinkering with android devices using adb/odin/heimdall and whatever else there is. I'm trying to download a copy of this book - "Embedded Systems Firmware Demystified" @ http://www.embeddedlinux.org.cn/EmbSysFirmDemy/ Does anyone know how to wget that webpage so it can be read offline just like it is there?

>>15844

anyone have any good resources on learning powershell?

>>16099 See https://github.com/janikvonrotz/awesome-powershell Awesome powershell list https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell/tree/master/docs/learning-powershell Official documentation at repo https://github.com/kesapp/PowerShell-Learning A collection of PDFs of cheatsheets and a language reference. And the attached book Learn Windows Powershell in a Month of Lunches.

>>16102 'in a month of lunches'? And why not '... instead of getting proper sleep', or '... while you could've been having a life'. But then it's just powershell, right, hence the lunches. Sorry for venting.

Does anyone have "Absolute FreeBSD, 3rd Edition: The Complete Guide to FreeBSD" and "Absolute OpenBSD: Unix for the Practical Paranoid"

>>16115 I found both (and the same editions) in the photos you posted on lib gen.

>>16116 I was coping and pasting the wrong ISBN for a different book not available. That's embarrassing.

>>15715 As a computer plebeian, I for one would really appreciate a resource like that. >4chan/g is basically "tl;dr read sicp"