How do you keep track of your progress while reading about a new technology or language?

Question

I just started reading an book on Linux kernel in my free time. Its my first book on this topic so to me everything seems important so I got overloaded by the information very soon. I have tried to quit many times but really cant as I love this subject. My question for all the experts here is how you tackle this while reading new topic/technology?

How to you keep track of your current progress? I have tried to search SO but cant find something. If you have links similar question please post.

Thanks in Advance

Answer 1

@Hermant, I know that this sounds simple, but I either keep notes of important items I want to remember, or I keep index cards. The index cards are easy to take around and I find them easy to memorize small bits of information.

Answer 2

Either do exercises that a good book will normally include, or (if it doesn't have any) invent a few of your own. Most of them should be programming problems making use of the language (or whatever) you're studying. If you honestly don't understand how it works, that'll tend to make the deficiencies apparent fairly quickly.

Answer 3

Personally, I've found that reading a technology texts benefits me only if I do some work in parallel, applying new knowledge. Otherwise, it all leaves my head the minute I close the book. It's just how human brain works: unnecessary information gets removed to save the space.

So, I would recommend finding a way to apply your knowledge. Are there any relevant tasks at your job? Or maybe you wanted to start your own project?

Answer 4

I often make two passes: Read through the book once quickly, absorbing the high level concepts and how things tie together. Then, with a project in hand, refer back to key passages in the book, using the text as a reference. This reinforces key bits of knowledge.

Answer 5

If your interest is specifically to keep up with developments in the world of the Linux kernel then you should subscribe (preferably as a paying subscriber) to LWN and read the kernel pages every week. They give a good summary of the major topics being discussed and high quality articles on the various proposed changes and new sub-systems. It's certainly the best value for money content I pay for on the internet.

Sure developers will subscribe to the fire hose that is lkml but unless your actually actively developing and interacting you will quickly get burnt out by information overload.

More generally I find keeping a good library of RSS feeds is a good way to track development in most communities without having to live and breath mailing lists/forums. For the Linux kernel it's worth subscribing to Kernel Planet for the semi-occasional updates/discussion from various kernel hackers. The Kernel Podcast also provides a more in depth summary of activity around the kernel has been patchy on updates.