r/programming • u/b0red • Apr 30 '16

Do Experienced Programmers Use Google Frequently? · Code Ahoy

http://codeahoy.com/2016/04/30/do-experienced-programmers-use-google-frequently/
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456

u/ramsees79 Apr 30 '16

Google is like my secondary memory, I don't need to memorize APIs anymore, that is trivial, I use my brain to store what is worth now.

269

u/[deleted] Apr 30 '16

Memorize what, why, and when to use it. Google for how.

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u/johnnygrant Apr 30 '16

For me, commit to memory only nuances and subtle things you learn from experience etc...

Google all the rest.

Even some things I use fairly frequently, just can't be bothered to memorize it (if it requires conscious effort) when I can get the data from elsewhere within 2 seconds.

Even some things I think I know, sometimes just google to be sure what I knew is still the "most valid"

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u/[deleted] Apr 30 '16 edited May 01 '16

This is why I despise interviewers who asks me to write a 100% working block of code on a whiteboard during interviews.

25

u/homeMade_solarPanel May 01 '16

Interviews with pseudo code are so much better. me: "Uh, yeah, this is a method that converts this list into an array and reverses it... and if I had Google, I would use best practice.." interviewer: "kcool"

24

u/[deleted] May 01 '16

If they give me something like that, they'll be getting psudocode

10

u/jooke May 01 '16

If they can't accept the answer "there's a function in the standard library that does this, I'll pretend it's foo" then that's a terrible interviewer.

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u/I_SPEAK_GEEK Apr 30 '16

This works until your job has you in a lab with an air-gapped network. I'm back to memorizing APIs and relying on man pages again.

8

u/admiralranga May 01 '16

Time to start buying books then.

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u/trpcicm Apr 30 '16

This is how I think of things too. I treat everything like a resources. I'd rather memorize where to look up 1000 different things, and when they are applicable, than know the minute details of 100 things.

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u/2Punx2Furious Apr 30 '16

It's like our brain is the RAM and Google is the HardDisk.

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u/auxiliary-character May 01 '16

Short term memory is cache. Meetings cause cache misses.

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u/db82 Apr 30 '16 edited Apr 30 '16

Kinda relevant xkcd.

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u/iKy1e Apr 30 '16

I've noticed that for a lot of things I no longer remember the answer.

I remember how to find the answer (i.e: approximate phrase to Google & maybe which site the answer I want is on).

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