J

Jack Kinsella

jackkinsella.ie · Personal blog · on HN since 2011

Jack Kinsella writes about learning to program with spaced repetition (the Janki Method), plus testing, editors, and running a small business.

What HN saysHN commenters repeatedly cite his Janki Method posts as a favorite writeup on using Anki and spaced repetition software to learn and retain programming knowledge.
45HN people shared it
17linked it in comments
40stories submitted
433story points
4 years agolast shared
2011people per year2026

Most-shared posts

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    Janki Method – Using SRS to Improve Programming (2011)
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    A Guide to Autodidactism
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    1 people · 2 points · first shared 2017 · discussion on HN
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What HN people wrote when they linked it

knight17 · 2019-03-30
Similar to this post, Jack Kinsella has written how he used Spaced Repetition Software to learn and keep programming knowledge in the following articles: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method-refined https://drive.google.com/file/d/1JCHkqVoX598Ob_111khrGoJ5cpeh_ahU/view… Derek Sivers also has written on memorising a programming language using SRS software: https://sivers.org/srs One important thing in the original article is about flow, or the feeling of being in the state of flow if you don't need to remove yourself from the task for looking up documentation. I think that is a worthy goal to aim for but I am amazed at the amount of cards he has created, nearly 10,000 over a period of three years. He has put in lot of effort and reaped the reward.
stockninja · 2014-05-09
a great article about using anki to improve as a programmer: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html
jacques_chester · 2013-07-20
I and I think everyone else heard of spaced repetition software from that Wired article in ... 2007, was it? Here's my favourite writeup so far: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html My main problem is having a fixed time to do the reviews. The second "problem" is that repetition just helps you to remember. Until you understand what you're memorising, it's useless. (This is the first thing you're told, but I'll tell you again). So the truly hard work -- wrestling with material until you get it -- is still there. You just get to cut down on how often you'll have to do it in future.
cotsog · 2013-03-25
Also worth reading wrt to using SRS software to learn to code: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html
kissgyorgy · 2014-05-09
A lot of people point out other software. The whole point is the algorithm [1] which how Anki schedules your cards. It is based on Supermemo's [2], and improved a lot over the years, so I think it's the most optimal from all of the SRS software's out there. Also I think Anki has a very simple UI, not sure how people can find it complicated. You just add cards, and by review you press a button, that's all. Cards are just HTML, but you can edit them with the built in WYSIWYG editor. Anki is great for learning programming languages! See the Janki method [3] and another blog post [4] how to use it effectively. I found the last one especially helpful, and started learning Programming languages based on that. It works great. You can also learn linux commands, whatever. People also asked for sharing cards. It is very important to make your own cards progressively and learn from those, because you know what you need to emphasize for the info to stick. Just use small information on every card, use your own terms, and it will be much easier to learn, compared to some random deck you downloaded. [1]: http://ankisrs.net/docs/manual.html#what-spaced-repetition-algorithm-d… [2]: http://www.supermemo.com/english/ol/sm2.htm [3]: http://sivers.org/srs [4]: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html
scns · 2020-12-17
This might help with your learning: https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method
jackkinsella · 2020-11-27
The value of SRS goes way beyond memorization. When applied seriously to a field like programming, it enables you to think about the program-design space in a more abstract manner and quickly call to mind and evaluate possibilities. Look up "chunking" as it relates to performance (e.g. in chess). I've written (and, more recently, made a video) about my 10 years of experience using SRS (via the free tool, Anki) to boost my IT skills. https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method
semicolonandson · 2020-10-24
I went rather deep into ankification of computer science - 5500 cards deep. I've written up my experiences as a series of articles here for anyone interested https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method
ksaj · 2019-06-12
A while back someone posted about the Janki system. I already use a similar system, rather like the additional insight offered here, and will be giving some of these ideas a try. It sounds relevant to your quest: https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method-refined
ingve · 2016-12-11
Some frequently mentioned blog posts: Memorizing a programming language using spaced repetition software: https://sivers.org/srs Janki Method: Using spaced repetition systems to learn and retain technical knowledge: https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method Janki Method Refined: https://www.oxbridgenotes.com/articles/janki_method_refined Tips For Mastering A Programming Language Using Spaced Repetition: https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2014/08/mastering-a-programming-langu…
graeme · 2015-08-15
>Maybe if you're more interested in keeping things simple than in making more money. Yup, that's exactly my own motivation. I've set mine up to run fairly automatically. Obviously it needs oversight and growth. It just doesn't need them right away. So if I want to take a couple weeks off, I can. And I don't have to hold that many details in my head/when working I can hold more longer run details in my head. I value that more than earning a very large amount of money. This is a good article laying out hte mindset behind this. The four freedoms are the main consideration: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2014/04/24/on-passive-income.html You can do quite a lot while keeping all four, but it has some obvious tradeoffs at higher levels of business.
pella · 2015-07-05
classics: Sivers: "Memorizing a programming language using spaced repetition software" ( 2013) https://sivers.org/srs ( HN: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5015183 ) --- Janki Method: Using spaced repetition systems to learn and retain technical knowledge. http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html https://www.oxbridgenotes.com/articles/janki_method_refined --- Gwern: SPACED REPETITION : http://www.gwern.net/Spaced%20repetition
ippisl · 2013-01-06
Here's a link to someone's flash card for learning web-dev(variety of subjects, 6000 cards) : http://www.oxbridgenotes.co.uk/other/web_development_flashcards Here's a link to a blog post by him describing the technique for programming: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html
Kagerjay · 2018-02-12
The approach the author used here is similar to using flashcard apps like anki, except not as well fleshed out. Normally, in a flashcard app, you would write down a question and an answer. So you can review the question, and see if you can answer it or not. He wrote this down all as a oneliner for each of his "learnings". Its nice to see a frequency graph to see how often you are learning, but it doesn't really serve a purpose besides showing how inconsistent you are learning new things. I would highly suggest anyone interested in the authors approach to learning to read these 2 articles about spaced-repetition-learning and flashcards, which goes into much more detail. https://www.jackkinsella.ie/articles/janki-method. https://www.supermemo.com/en/articles/20rules Not all things benefit equally from writing things down learned / flashcards. Some things can only be learned through practice, such as learning a sport you aren't familiar with such as football. But flashcards can be beneficial here to learn about the rules of football, the mechanics, terminology, etc. The hardest part is differentiating what pieces of information benefit from using flashcards and which don't, and consistently recognizing when new information is learned / making a flashcard for it
Walkman · 2015-07-15
Online courses are really great, but the Python tutorial is sufficient in itself. I did this: - Read edw519 free PDF book, jump out of the bed and start learning. [0] - Read the Python tutorial from A-Z and learned it. [1] - Read Learn Python the hard way book and practice. [2] - Solved some problems from Project Euler. [3] - Learnt Django. (Started with the tutorial) [4] - Built something with Django. - Solved some problems from CheckIO. [5] - Built something with PyQt. [6] - Built my own library, even if it's stupid. [7] - Released a couple of packages even if they are small. [8] The key thing is to learn AND BUILD something at the same time, and try to remember everything deeply. I used the Janki method [9] to learn statements, code snippets. This took me about a year, but after that, I did not need to apply for a job, however I did once and got that too. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=edw519 [1]: https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/index.html [2]: http://learnpythonthehardway.org/ [3]: https://projecteuler.net/ [4]: https://docs.djangoproject.com/ [5]: https://www.checkio.org/ [6]: https://github.com/kissgyorgy/Womanager [7]: https://github.com/pokerregion/poker [8]: https://pypi.python.org/pypi/poker https://pypi.python.org/pypi/enum34-custom https://pypi.python.org/pypi/pytest-raisesregexp [9]: http://www.jackkinsella.ie/2011/12/05/janki-method.html

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