Learning: Enjoying the Acquisition of Knowledge

Learning is something that all of us probably do all of the time, both consciously (by reading newspapers/books/adverts/BBC website) and subconsciously(from surroundings etc.). However, when you want/or need to learn about something new, or to develop your knowledge on certain aspects what is the best way to go about it.

Personally I do very little reading for pleasure. Although that is not entirely true I look at reading more as the acquisition of more knowledge than the passive fictional sense of being taken through a story. When I started web development (around 7 years ago) I was looking mainly at sites as a way to show information to people, instead of giving people interaction, however, that has certainly changed over the years.

The question of how best to learn, be it either to learn the most appropriate knowledge, the fastest or the most comprehensive, is a question I have recently been contemplating whilst attempting to pass my knowledge, little as it may be, onto others. How can I best communicate my knowledge to others and what other resources are best for them to supplement their knowledge?

From working within PHP and Drupal I have certainly seen the amazing impact that the community, powered by the internet (and Google searching) can have. However, what are the best methods? Personally I would recommend getting a good grounding in the practicalities of web development (what web sites do and how they try to do them) and the syntax of languages (PHP syntax, HTML syntax etc.). You can then build upon this with extra knowledge from a community and regular searching of the internet.

Certainly you can never look at any kind of learning as complete, but as a work in progress, as you can never hope to know everything about a certain subject, no matter how devout a student you are. You can, however, try to know both a good understanding of the subject, and also think of ways in which you can find the answer.

So overall, learning is a difficult subject to overcome, and you can never learn all of anything. But by getting a good grounding and utilising you ability to problem solve you can find both the answer to most questions and problems and keep enjoying the “acquisition of knowledge”.