About String.trim function

Q & A - getting started with Tinderbox
37

I’m glad that you are making progress. At this point, I have hundreds of fifes.

I’ve found that focusing don’t the outcome (immediate and long-term) is the best place to start.

It is fine to look at an example of some code. But, what I’ve found, is that if this example has little to no relevance to what I’m working on, i.e., it is more theoretical in nature to my personal context, I have a hard time retaining the method and have to repeat my learning over and over again. Whereas, if my problem is immediate and I devise a solution that addresses it and then practice that a few times, my retention rate and capability go up by multiples.

Also, as @mwra will attest, it is much easier to help teach and address someone’s specific request, “how do I do or accomplish X, Y, Z” rather than “teach me Tinderbox.”

For me, in order of priority, here is a list of TBX capabilities that one needs to learn to begin to feel mastery with Tinderbox (each step is independent and interdependent, so you will keep recycling through the list as you ratchet up your expertise; also see, Task: Analyzing Essay Structure - #6 by satikusala):

  1. Understand your objectives and outcome first (the “how” will come later)
  2. Approach with a “beginners mind,” prepare yourself to do things differently, (re)learn to think; find your comfortable place in the community, be prepared to read aTbRef, seak out mentors.
  3. Learn Attributes (and "metacognition)
  4. LearnPrototypes (esp. concept of inheritance0
  5. LearnAction Code (aka text transformation and movement)
  6. LearnTemplates (structure, includes handling media, relationship to action code)
  7. Adopt (a daily) Incremental formalization mindset and practice (esp. not getting caught up in structure and appearance, adopting automation for rigorously, large file optimization, atomic notes/idea–what I call resources–vs. intended output)
  8. Learn new languages
    • HTML
    • CSS
    • RegEx
    • Javascript
    • Unicode
  9. Seak out companion apps (e.g., DevonThink, Bookends, Zotero, Pandoc)
  10. Become familiar with generalized computing (this helps you access the command line and open source)
  11. Give back and teach.
1 Like