Do you guys agree with me on this?

[Katokato]

The best way to learn computing is to face computer problems, and/or solve, and ponder upon them, and/or asking for help about computer problems. That is how i got into computing, i was faced into software and computing problems, and i got interested on why these problems occured and started getting into computing (i r very curious).

 

[niemiro]

Agree very strongly. Although I have never tried this, I can't see me learning much from "Vista for Dummies"!

Richard

 

[Katokato]

Agree very strongly. Although I have never tried this, I can't see me learning much from "Vista for Dummies"!

Richard

Vista for dummies will only get you so far..... too hard to explain everything and make th edummy person understand.

 

[archie123]

Agree very strongly. Although I have never tried this, I can't see me learning much from "Vista for Dummies"!

Richard

XP for dummies taught me everything i know.............

seriously though i paid 1000 quid for my first PC YEARS ago , i thought as id paid so much for it i might aswell learn how to use it properly , then i discovered medal of honour , the original game , after getting into gaming i started building my own rigs and overclocking , ive had every problem you could imagine both hardware and software so solving those problems , sometimes on my own , mostly witht the use of forums i became the font of useless knowlage i am now

 

[Chase]

I have found that I learn the most using a combination of trying to solve problems, such as those submitted on this forum, and reading just about everything I can. I read all kinds of threads on this forum.. as well as a myriad of websites and magazines.

 

[osholt]

Agree to the highest degree. Learning to use a computer is like learning a foreign language; you can read about it all you want but to become truly fluent you have to be surrounded by people who know how to speak the language and learn from them.

That's also my excuse for being atroshous at French.

Oli

 

[richc46]

I agree and in addition the best way to learn is to teach.

 

[niemiro]

I agree and in addition the best way to learn is to teach.

Good point.

 

[Smurfyy]

Heyy,
My dad is a network server engineer so i suppose i have learnt alot about computers from him, he sometimes takes me to work with him when im off from school.
But yeah, i think its my dads fault that i have windows on my case lol

Daniel =)

 

[LanceIot]

I agree and in addition the best way to learn is to teach.

Hi Richard, how can you teach if you haven't learnt? Catch 22.

 

[niemiro]

I agree and in addition the best way to learn is to teach.

Hi Richard, how can you teach if you haven't learnt? Catch 22.

• Agree to solve problem in a knowledgeable way
• Work out answer as quick as you can
• Send answer

 

[richc46]

It is not a catch 22. There is no one that knows everything. You teach what you know. When asked about an area that you do not know, you will learn about that for the next time.

 

[smarteyeball]

There is no one that knows everything.

oh, I don't know about that. Aren't children born knowing everything these days? At least that's how some portray themselves


As for me, prior to the internet - the majority of things I learnt were self taught by simply diving in and breaking things, then working out how I broke it, and then working out how not to do it again

Post-internet, my knowledge has increased exponentially - however this is still mostly 'needs based' learning after fiddling with something. But I do look before I leap a bit more now

The beauty of computing is that you can learn something new every day.

 

[LanceIot]

It is not a catch 22. There is no one that knows everything. You teach what you know. When asked about an area that you do not know, you will learn about that for the next time.

That is my point. You teach what you know. Therefore saying the best way to learn is to teach is a contradiction in terms.

 

[osholt]

It is not a catch 22. There is no one that knows everything. You teach what you know. When asked about an area that you do not know, you will learn about that for the next time.

That is my point. You teach what you know. Therefore saying the best way to learn is to teach is a contradiction in terms.

Look, it isn't a contradiction lets go all the way back to Windows 95 and say that Bill Gates new how to fix every single problem on Windows 95.
He taught other people how to use Windows 95 who could solve maybe 80% of all problems and in turn they taught people who learnt how to fix a percentage of problems and they taught people and then those people taught more people etc. etc.

So as long as the one person (or a few people) created Windows and know how to fix it (ie Microsoft) there is no paradox because we all learn from the creators.

Its like a tree with Microsoft at the base which branches out to some users and then to the people those people taught etc. It is NOT an infinite loop because in theory Microsoft should never learn anything new about Windows.

I hope this makes sense to anyone other than me.

Oli

 

[niemiro]

It is not a catch 22. There is no one that knows everything. You teach what you know. When asked about an area that you do not know, you will learn about that for the next time.

That is my point. You teach what you know. Therefore saying the best way to learn is to teach is a contradiction in terms.

We all teach other users about fixing their own problems. When we look through the Unanswered Questions list, we are teaching what we do know. We then look back later on, and see what someone better has said, and how the problem was fixed. We are teachers, and we have learned.

Also, if we teach something, and someone else shows another way, maybe through the registry, we again are teachers who have learned.

 

[Joan Archer]

Well I know in my case it was clicking on everything to see what it did, that was in Windows 98, I came late to computers.

I started off in the Windows 98 newsgroup and became acquainted with Jim Eshelman who ran the AumHa technical site and when he started his forum I joined a couple of days after, April 2002.

I used to buy as many computer magazines that I could afford each month and read as much as I could, I stopped buying them several years ago.

For some reason even though my kids used computers in school and were smarter than me it was me that they came to when they wanted to have their computer fixed or maintenance done on it, hubby still does. I have several friends that I met online, some of them MVP's, and I speak to them on the phone regularly so if I want to know anything in particular I can pick their brains, although usually it's just a good natter we have. :D

Like most of us here I'm still learning and my newsgroup list has grown and my forum membership also has increased plus the subscriptions I have to various technical newsletters.

I'll carry on like this as long as I can learning and helping along the way

 

[SheRidzHDz]

Hi everyone, I have to kind of agree. I mean I'm older than dirt, when I was in high school, there wasn't a computer in the school. When pc's first came out I went to a book store and bought, "The Idiots Book to Personal Computers", I read it and taught myself the basics. If I read about a subject, I have to read and read and read, to comprehend it; it's easier for me if I'm shown how to do it, So I agree that an individual should try and solve the problem themselves, but some things are just to complicated to read about without having some kind of physical direction. I took typing in HS but type writer keys don't have all the other keys on it so we were never taught what they were for or short cuts or any software pgms. Now I'm in college and starting my third term and can't get to the links to do my assignmts in, "Word Processing" and "MS Office". I've got Office downloaded but, when I click on an assgnmt. link I get an error that tells me the setup converter <?> has encountered an error and that I needed to check some kind of log files? Can anyone tell me what I need to do. I ran "MS fix it" and that didn't do the job. I pretty sure it has something to do with powerpoint. Any and all help would be appreciated.

 

[niemiro]

This is where I am different. Being only 14 now, when I was young, my Dad just taught me everything he knew. Now I learn by myself, but I never needed a book to teach me the basics (except for C# and C++ when I was 11!), my schools have always had lots of computers, and the first OS I ever used was XP!

Richard

 

[Smurfyy]

This is where I am different. Being only 14 now, when I was young, my Dad just taught me everything he knew. Now I learn by myself, but I never needed a book to teach me the basics (except for C# and C++ when I was 11!), my schools have always had lots of computers, and the first OS I ever used was XP!

Richard

Heyy,
seriously, your 14? wow, you know so much! lol im 15 on april 25th and my dads a network/server engineer he works for RM and i dont know anything, only the hardware side of computers and servers. And maybe a bit of software.

Daniel=)