An argument for logorthimic skill rankings
Posted by ExtensionBreath1262@reddit | learnprogramming | View on Reddit | 7 comments
I wrote a first draft of an article for my blog, but I want to add more programming-specific points. In the article, I talk about my friend Jeff, who couldn’t wrap his head around belt ranks in BJJ being logarithmic. It’s kind of a meme in BJJ — his coach tried to explain it, then I tried to explain it in more practical terms. The idea was that he’s so far from blue belt level that it’s not really a legitimate question, but still, it’s probably something like 9–18 months away.
I don’t want to rewrite the whole article, but I think programming is similar in that the more you learn, the more powerful what you already knew becomes. The result is that what you learn this week is so much more “important” than what you learned three months ago that it almost makes your earlier lessons feel irrelevant.
One last point I wasn’t able to fit into the article is that I think it’s really smart that BJJ kind of anchored “black belt level” to something achievable for everyone. In my framework, the rankings are logarithmic in terms of skill, but black belt starts right before talent, resources, and pro-level dedication start to matter that much — which I think is really smart for a sport.
AnswerInHuman@reddit
I think what you’re saying it’s true for most disciplines. If you haven’t, look into the Power Law of Learning and Meta-learning. They’re a more direct relationship to explain what you’re taking about than programming per se.
ExtensionBreath1262@reddit (OP)
I think what I want to get at is more the approach BJJ takes to long learning curves, and retention, once students "get" that is a long learning curve. Because you right that a lot of people have written about power laws in learning. But this is a cool natural example of people dealing with it.
AnswerInHuman@reddit
I’m not very much into martial arts but I’ll take your word for it. lol
I experience kind of what you describe in both programming and music since it’s stuff I’ve been doing since I was a kid. So I get where you’re coming from.
ExtensionBreath1262@reddit (OP)
I wish I could add something about music too, but I know nothing about playing music. It feel like it would fit. Fun, frustrating, really deep, and a life long thing.
AnswerInHuman@reddit
I did play sports like basketball and tennis at some point when I was a kid too. So the way I look at music is pretty much like any sport. There’s the physical aspect that involves a specific movement to achieve something like playing a note, scale or phrase and endurance to carry it out and the mental aspect involving focus/concentration and cumulative knowledge.
There’s also two mental states involved: practice and performance, sort of like practice drills vs competition, referring to focused work vs letting go and trusting your body and your training.
I could compare learning music theory, scales and exercises to learning letters, pronunciation, and conversation from any language (like English) and what I think would be the drills and katas (or whatever you call it in BJJ). And then a musical performance to a conversation and a competition. And obviously the more vocabulary, endurance, focus and fluidity you have is kind of what will determine your performance at a given time.
dkopgerpgdolfg@reddit
I don't know much about BJJ, but your description sounds like the opposite of logarithmic.
You're contradicting yourself, imo. Are the old things more powerful or irrelevant?
Ok. As programming isn't about achieving ranks and preventing hurt egos, but about getting things done, it doesn't matter.
ExtensionBreath1262@reddit (OP)
Thanks for your feedback. When I say the ranking are a log scale it because the progress is exponential. And the contradiction is the point the point I was trying to make. That it feels less impotent if you pull the tidbit out, and look at it, but you can't, and shouldn't do that. It will make you feel like you're not making progress, and have been wasting your time.
And what I was saying about black belts is if you dedicate you life to it. It's not world champion level, but it's well policed within the sport. Which is impressive, and other organizations don't do as good of a job at it.