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> cognitive friction is the engine of learning. I agree 100% too. This is why in order to understand new codebase or to ramp up to new projects, I use AI to ge

by ksd482 23d ago

> cognitive friction is the engine of learning. I agree 100% too. This is why in order to understand new codebase or to ramp up to new projects, I use AI to generate a textbook style reading material for me along with "verify yourself" types of exercises along the way. Then I print them on a paper and read it using a pencil/pen and take notes. Because of my math training, I am in the habit of slowing down to read textbook style texts which helps.

larsfaye 23d ago
Exactly the type of usage I would hope to see advocated for in the future. As I wrote, when leveraged with Socratic methods and a sort of "interactive documentation", they can really boost one's understanding. Of course, this is predicated on the individual having enough information to know the right questions to ask.
GPerson 23d ago
I also do this. It would be better I think to generate exact references to primary and canonical sources to avoid learning LLMisms, or to feed it these and have it ensure its material is anchored to those good references.
khriss 23d ago
> I use AI to generate a textbook style reading material for me along with "verify yourself" types of exercises along the way This is fascinating. Any chance you have your workflow or prompts documented and would be willing to share them?
- ksd482 23d ago
  Great idea! Let me pull some stuff from my past chats, and put it in a github gist or something.
  - ksd482 22d ago
    So I went back to my chats and there wasn't much there to put in a workflow or something. But here are the things that stood out: > Introduce me to these concepts layer by layer with a textbook style introductions. > Use color coded boxes etc. just like in textbook to highlight important details. > Along the way, give me exercises to do myself that would test my understanding so far. > Put everything in a local HTML file that I can open in my browser. > The entire textbook should be printable so format accordingly. That's about it. The HTML part is important. Earlier I used to document in markdown format, but I found claude/chatgpt does a far better job with formatting and colors in HTML instead. Plus, you can open the HTML file in a browser and refresh when it makes changes. Another thing: the HTML is built gradually. I keep asking AI some follow up questions and I instruct it to keep the HTML up todate.
    - khriss 22d ago
      Thanks!

by ksd482 23d ago

larsfaye 23d ago

Exactly the type of usage I would hope to see advocated for in the future. As I wrote, when leveraged with Socratic methods and a sort of "interactive documentation", they can really boost one's understanding. Of course, this is predicated on the individual having enough information to know the right questions to ask.

GPerson 23d ago

I also do this. It would be better I think to generate exact references to primary and canonical sources to avoid learning LLMisms, or to feed it these and have it ensure its material is anchored to those good references.

khriss 23d ago

> I use AI to generate a textbook style reading material for me along with "verify yourself" types of exercises along the way This is fascinating. Any chance you have your workflow or prompts documented and would be willing to share them?

ksd482 23d ago
Great idea! Let me pull some stuff from my past chats, and put it in a github gist or something.
- ksd482 22d ago
  So I went back to my chats and there wasn't much there to put in a workflow or something. But here are the things that stood out: > Introduce me to these concepts layer by layer with a textbook style introductions. > Use color coded boxes etc. just like in textbook to highlight important details. > Along the way, give me exercises to do myself that would test my understanding so far. > Put everything in a local HTML file that I can open in my browser. > The entire textbook should be printable so format accordingly. That's about it. The HTML part is important. Earlier I used to document in markdown format, but I found claude/chatgpt does a far better job with formatting and colors in HTML instead. Plus, you can open the HTML file in a browser and refresh when it makes changes. Another thing: the HTML is built gradually. I keep asking AI some follow up questions and I instruct it to keep the HTML up todate.
  - khriss 22d ago
    Thanks!