Sunday, July 18, 2010

How to Edit Like You Have a Ph.D. in Computer Science



Our brains are fabulous pieces of work. The brain loves filling in gaps. This ability can be helpful when we’re trying to solve problems and what not. However, what can be considered a gift in one context, can be considered a curse in another. Case in point: writing. How many times have you, thoughtfully, put together a writing masterpiece only to find that you’ve left critical words out of some sentence?? “One way to (missing words) algorithm, is through memoization.” And not only do our brains love to fill in gaps, they also love to delete what’s there too! “What causes causes Quicksort’s worst runtime?


So, how do you fix these kinds of issues? Read what you’ve written OUT LOUD. This is fine advice, and some search engine results will espouse the same thing. However, the reality is that by page 2 (okay maybe 3, :o), you will be reading in your head again without even knowing it. Well, if somebody else were to read it to you, that would be awesome wouldn’t it? Huh? What was that? You don’t know some loser who is sitting around all day waiting for you to ask him to read your document out loud to you? Then what can you do?

Dun, Dun, Duuuuuun! Text-to-Speech (TTS) to the Rescue!

On a Mac, do the following:
  1. System Preferences --> Speech
  2. Choose the System Voice You Want (there are male and female voices)
  3. Choose the Key Combination You Want to Activate TTS When You Highlight Text On Your Computer

Now your computer can be your flunkie! After you write a document and you want to proof it, try having your computer read it out loud to you. I guarantee you’ll save yourself all kinds of embarrassment.

FYI: I eradicated 3 different errors in this post alone using this strategy. The proof is in the pudding.

Windows Users: I don’t know if Windows has a similar TTS built into the OS (leave a comment indicating how for Windows if there is a way to activate TTS). If there’s no way for Windows to do it, then there’s plenty of vendors that make TTS software for Windows. Note that Web-based alternatives may be undesirable if the information to be proofed is sensitive.

Monday, July 12, 2010

How To Feel & Be Impressively Educated

The Problem
Ever forgot something that you knew really well? Like back in school when you were taking courses, you totally dominated the class, but if, right now, you were asked anything but the simplest questions on the subject you’d experience the “tip-of-the-tongue” phenomenon, or worse, the “WTF!” phenomenon. Ever been in a course where the professor assumed you remembered EVERYTHING from some previous course? Didn’t turn out well did it? I used to hate when professors did that. I’d think, “just do a little review, I’ll catch on...damn, now I gotta go brush up on this!” If this stuff is in my major, I shouldn’t have to go back and “brush up on this.” I should know it like I know 2 plus 2 is 4! So what’s the remedy?

The Solution
Review the subject material regularly. Review the subject material regularly. Review the subject material regularly. In case you missed it the first, second, or third time: Review the subject material regularly. Oh, I can already hear the whiners, “Oh, it’s going to take too much time to review a course’s material. We did learn it over an entire semester!” While it is true that you may have learned a course’s material over an entire semester, it’s untrue that your review of that material will take time commensurate with the time it took you to initially learn the material. When you’re really ready to rock a final exam, can’t you review an entire course worth of material in far less than a day? Why is this possible? Well a big part of the answer is that as the material becomes more and more ingrained in you, you get faster and faster at reviewing the material because your brain is able to chunk so much of the material. The material no longer resembles a vast palace, but a miniature castle that can fit in the palm of your hand. How long would it take you to review material from an Algebra course? Thought so.

The Mechanics of Reviewing
There’s no one right way to review. Do what works for you. If you’re like most people, you’ve probably thrown away many of the materials from your different relevant courses. No worry. Simply build up your knowledge base from scratch. But this time, make it question driven. Start with something that you sort of remember but should totally remember as a person with a degree (or will soon have a degree) in field X. As you find out the answer to this question, more questions will start to come to you. I’m a big fan of the questions driven model to reviewing. Why? Because via this method, you actually start to *really* feel educated. There’s something deeply satisfying about answering your OWN questions.

I like taking my notes in a modified Cornell Note-taking fashion. This way, I can cover up the answers that are on the right side of the page, and quiz myself with questions that are on the left side of the page. My version of the Cornell Note-taking system has no summary section at the bottom of each page.

In the Final Analysis
It only makes sense to put effort toward remembering material you so assiduously toiled to obtain. You paid the price to acquire the material through time, effort, frustration, and money. To forget the material is to flush it all down the toilet. And if you were just going to flush it all down the toilet, why’d the hell did you learn it in the first place?!? Yes, I’ll concede that at times you’re forced to learn things that have no applicability to you and your life (at least in your opinion). But what about that stuff that you “know” IS relevant to you and your life? Do you know that stuff cold? Then shoot, I say give yourself that gift.