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I've been wondering this for a while now, but how are senior programmers able to (or at least seem to) remember all the code for all the different languages with all the different syntax?

Let me explain: From my experience there's usually two types of thinkers, there's the memorizers, and the logical thinkers. Its usually the difference between people good at history and people good at math. So considering that most programmers would need to be able to think logically (to problem solve obviously), how do they remember all this different code? I always forget the small details which I have to look back at earlier code to see how it was done (Especially annoying for written exams where we have to remember all the code and how to use it)

Comments
  • 7
    You don't need to memorize the details of various languages and frameworks, documentation exists for a reason. (When you work with something 40+ hours / week lots of stuff will get stuck in your memory anyway so you may not need to look at the documentation as often).
  • 4
    I just thought I'd mention that being good at history isn't about memorizing dates and events (even though that's what schools would like you to think). It understanding the complex cause and effect of events.

    Why did WW2 happen? In part because of the shots fired in Sarajevo, but why were those shots fired?

    I don't think that's memorizing alone, it's also understanding.
  • 0
    You will start remembering stuff the more you use it....I also had to look up stuff in the beginning ten times until I used it often enough to memorize....e.g I want to something I look up how it's done and do it that way...the next time I want to do the same I forgot how it's done and I look it up again, but after that I usually remember it and if not I look it up few times more until I memorize it.
  • 1
    @kaqqao

    It was definitely ww1. Franz Ferdinand of Austria met his end there.
  • 1
    I still use a lot the docs and the IDE auto complete. I've always had a very useless memory heap 😂.
  • 1
    You vould argue that WW2 is the continuation of WW1 due to an unfair peace settlement that made countries such as Germany fustrated and poor. Which did come from the originatio of WW1,shooting of sarajevo ;)

    As for the actual post, i believe the view is a bit too binary regarding intellects. See im an empath,i learn with feelings ;)
  • 0
    I don't... at least not on purpose. Most of the time I just look at the existing code to refresh myself on the syntax stuff. If I really need to know something, I will Google it.

    The underlying logic though is pretty much the same in all languages (or at least those that use the same paradigm). Bit different if going from OOP to FP...

    Scala: tail recursion good
    C#: recursion == StackOverflow
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