Pragmatic Thinking and Learning

Refactor Your Wetware

by Andy Hunt

Software development happens in your head. Not in an editor, IDE, or design
tool. You’re well educated on how to work with software and hardware, but what about wetware—our own brains? Learning new skills and new technology is critical to your career, and it’s all in your head.

In this book by Andy Hunt, you’ll learn how our brains are wired, and how to take advantage of your brain’s architecture. You’ll learn new tricks and tips
to learn more, faster, and retain more of what you learn.

You need a pragmatic approach to thinking and learning. You need to Refactor Your Wetware.

Printed in full color.

Programmers have to learn constantly; not just the stereotypical new technologies, but also the problem domain of the application, the whims of the user community, the quirks of your teammates, the shifting sands of the industry, and the evolving characteristics of the project itself as it is built.

We’ll journey together through bits of cognitive and neuroscience, learning and behavioral theory. You’ll see some surprising aspects of how our brains work, and how you can take advantage of the system to improve your own learning and thinking skills.

In this book you’ll learn how to:

• Use the Dreyfus Model of Skill Acquisition to become more expert
• Leverage the architecture of the brain to strengthen different thinking modes
• Avoid common “known bugs” in your mind
• Learn more deliberately and more effectively
• Manage knowledge more efficiently

• Errata, typos, suggestions

Releases:

• P9.0 2015/01/22
• P7.0 2011/10/17
• P6.0 2011/04/12
• P5.0 2010/05/05

Full Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Journey From Novice to Expert: Use the Dreyfus Model on the road to expertise
• This is Your Brain: Linear-mode and Rich-mode cognitive processing
• Get in your Right Mind: Cultivating Rich-mode processes
• Debug Your Mind: Recognizing and avoiding cognitive biases
• Learn Deliberately: Practical techniques to learn more, faster, and more effectively
• Gain Experience: See how to maximize learning from your experience
• Manage Focus: Better manage attention, knowledge, and context
• Beyond Expertise: What to do tomorrow

(Click on the mind map image for a larger version)