Today I Learned
One of the blessings of working with computers—though it is not universally described as such—is that you get to learn new things constantly. For years, I’ve kept notes about things I learned. I wrote them scattered across text files, in Notational Velocity, and on my phone. Here’s a random file from my first software internship:
RUBY REMINDERS
Variables
---------
local
@instance
@@class
$globalThis is really basic stuff but you have to start somewhere!
When I worked at Slack, I created a #cli-pro-tips channel and started to write up the notes I had accumulated as a kind of mini-blog. I posted an entry every day for weeks. Other people added theirs too, which I loved. Now I wish I hadn’t locked all that writing up inside a company that I don’t work for anymore, but that’s just another lesson.
A bunch of people have been sharing things like this in a format called TIL, “Today I Learned.” I think Josh Branchaud’s collection is one of the oldest. I also really enjoy Simon Willison’s and Julia Evans’s TIL sites.
I really like this practice of learning in public. It shows that even experienced people are still picking up new things. Sometimes when we hear that someone else doesn’t know a thing, we react with a kind of feigned shock. But there’s so much stuff to learn! Of course everybody has missed some of it.
I remember once at a work dinner I mentioned how ctrl + r in your terminal shell lets you search through your history (this is a typical conversation, I’m a great guest, please invite me). Another person said “Wait—what?” And I took a lot of joy in explaining it because this person was one of the best engineers at the company—much more talented than I am—and I got to share something they didn’t know. xkcd has a great strip about this:
In that spirit of learning and sharing, I’m adding a TIL section to my site. I’m trying to revive some of those old lessons from my notes alongside new ones. I hope you’re surprised by some of the things I didn’t know yet and learn something new yourself.