Interesting. I've had FreeMind installed on one of my systems for probably a year and never really got around to using it.
With regards to using it to improve programming performance, I think you say near the end of the article that this will not make someone a star overnight. And I agree. In fact, I'll say that this will not make you a 10x programmer, period. Not without the algorithmic foundation and experience that a 10x programmer (whatever that is) has to have.
I am not criticizing your article at all. I think you could be onto something here. I just want to point out that there's far more that goes into being a good programmer than being able to navigate documentation quickly. I think you allude to that in your article when you talk about the mind map exposing you to peripheral entries every time you use it.
I suppose a map could be used to log and accumulate knowledge on other areas equally important to programming. Algorithms and patterns is what comes to mind.
There was a recent HN discussion on data representation as an important element of writing good programs. I find this is a critical difference between a good (and experienced) programmer and a newbie or intermediate programmer. The experienced programmer is at a point where he/she almost intuitively understands which representations might offer an advantage. This sort of thing only comes with experience --writing a lot of code and learning from your mistakes. I'd be interested in your thoughts in how you might approach encoding such knowledge into a mind map.
I watch a lot of documentaries and presentations. Sometimes I wish I could capture the important points in some fashion in order to develop a database of knowledge, if you will, for future reference. In the past I've tried doing a text file for each documentary. You could keep them all nicely sorted and search the files for keywords. It really hasn't worked that well. I wonder if mind maps is what I've been looking for?
Finally, I wonder if mind maps is the best way to document and manage ideas? I can see that one might be able to find relationships and synergies by exploring a map. This is a case where I have consistently used text files to log ideas and related links, text, etc. I now have hundreds of these files. It's at the point where the directories that contain them are impossible to view and get a sense of what is there. This meaning that you can't see 300+ file names and easily understand and/or explore the concepts within them and relating them. Do you (or anyone reading this, of course) have any experience managing such information using mind maps?
About managing ideas and hundreds of text files: I've been doing something similar with a personal wiki (with WikidPad) for a few years. Prior to that I used text files but, like you mention, it was unmanageable.
My wiki has about 1,500 pages (a few MBs of text) and it's still very manageable. I use it for just about all notetaking purposes (you mention taking note about documentaries, it's one use case of mine; but the biggest is by far replacing bookmarks with free form text -- see link below).
The biggest advantage I see over text files is the graph structure you create by linking entries. I'll have a bunch of links at the top of each entry, and I'll add links whenever I feel it'll help me next time I try to find some piece of information.
About managing programming-related info: I have a bunch of code snippets in there too, along with more reference-like notes on concepts.
I've thought about using mind maps in the past, but I find it too limiting (I'd have to have a mind map + text notes in another system, and anyway I prefer something more text-y). But of course it's way better for visualization of the overall structure.
It's been a while, but a few years back I blogged about all this personal wikis idea (and wrote a post or two on using them for programming-related stuff), so if it may be useful:
http://www.fsavard.com/flow/tag/wiki/
If anyone's interested, I wrote a (very small) vim plugin so that I can use an environment I'm already accustomed to.
(It just automatically turns WikiWords into links)
Didn't know about WikidPad. I downloaded it and will be playing with it. Of course, MediaWiki and XAMPP (or a server) is an interesting possibility for other reasons.
If you want your wiki to be public, or accessible from multiple computers, MediaWiki (along with dozens of other web-based wikis) is a good alternative, sure.
I like WikidPad because it's _fast_ in Edit mode (on-the-fly text formatting, like code highlighting), and it turns out to be a killer feature for me: without this speed I probably wouldn't be using it as much. With almost all other wikis I know, you need to switch back and forth between edit mode and preview mode, or they have a WYSIWYG editor mode (and I avoid that as much as possible -- just a programmer's obsession... I like to deal with the source).
I haven't used TiddlyWiki much, but I loved the concept when I first heard of it (self-modifying single file). It sure is a good way to get started fast.
I have used mindmapping a lot lately. I usually create one overview mindmap for the overall structure of more complicated topics and submindmaps for interesting subbranches.
I'm still looking for the ideal process of capturing what I know about a certain topic. Programming is very different from other topics from my experience because you usually want to include syntax or some short examples and so forth.
I think it may be better to use a wiki or something for programming but would love to hear how other people structure their stuff.
Mindmaps works really well for non-fiction books and lectures. I use them as review and overview tools and love it.
FWIW, I prefer doing it on paper because I feel like I'm a ton less creative when using computer tools.
Oh and if someone knows of any online courses a la "learn to draw icons for mindmaps" I'd love to hear about it. My drawing skills are mediocre to say the least and it's something I'd love to work on.
It's not online, but I've been told "The Back of the Napkin: : Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures" is a good book for that kind of thing.
I've been using something similar called XMind for a few years. It's a lot more visually appealing to me, and the customizable relationships are a big plus. The first month I had it, a huge backlog of ideas were freed as I made dozens of maps covering all kinds of ideas I had been having difficulty articulating up to that point. It helped me plot out goals and track my progress through school, helping me to graduate early and wind up doing something I love.
For me, the most useful aspect is how I can express a thought in a very thorough manner, and form several related thoughts I've had into a unified structure.
It's great to hear success stories using these methods. Do you think you could post example mindmaps (with personal information removed) that showcased how you used them to achieve those goals?
Finally, I wonder if mind maps is the best way to document and manage ideas? I can see that one might be able to find relationships and synergies by exploring a map. This is a case where I have consistently used text files to log ideas and related links, text, etc. I now have hundreds of these files. It's at the point where the directories that contain them are impossible to view and get a sense of what is there. This meaning that you can't see 300+ file names and easily understand and/or explore the concepts within them and relating them. Do you (or anyone reading this, of course) have any experience managing such information using mind maps?
I used to log ideas and interesting texts, too, but I don't have hundred of them despite working two months on them. I have about 25 sections. This is because of my focus on rewriting them over and over again in the intention of developing them into essays or projects. They are at: http://kibabase.com/articles/notes-and-thoughts
Thanks for sharing this. I can relate with the idea of rewriting over and over again. I dislike how blogs make the idea of editing content once it's posted feel "dirty" since posts are supposed to be temporal. I'm working on something that solves this problem for me: http://converspace.github.com/ConverspaceSpec/
I feel similar about the omnipresent blog format: why should everything be final once posted, and everything have to be temporally organized? Old-fashioned "websites" felt better when you don't update often, and you post about more timeless topics.
But for the reader there's a definite advantage: you know exactly what has changed, and whether a site is updated regularly. I have a small blog, and on some entries I maintain changelogs manually. I suppose the best would be for Wordpress and the like to offer the ability to link to cleanly-formatted diffs (ala revisions in google docs).
With regards to using it to improve programming performance, I think you say near the end of the article that this will not make someone a star overnight. And I agree. In fact, I'll say that this will not make you a 10x programmer, period. Not without the algorithmic foundation and experience that a 10x programmer (whatever that is) has to have.
I am not criticizing your article at all. I think you could be onto something here. I just want to point out that there's far more that goes into being a good programmer than being able to navigate documentation quickly. I think you allude to that in your article when you talk about the mind map exposing you to peripheral entries every time you use it.
I suppose a map could be used to log and accumulate knowledge on other areas equally important to programming. Algorithms and patterns is what comes to mind.
There was a recent HN discussion on data representation as an important element of writing good programs. I find this is a critical difference between a good (and experienced) programmer and a newbie or intermediate programmer. The experienced programmer is at a point where he/she almost intuitively understands which representations might offer an advantage. This sort of thing only comes with experience --writing a lot of code and learning from your mistakes. I'd be interested in your thoughts in how you might approach encoding such knowledge into a mind map.
I watch a lot of documentaries and presentations. Sometimes I wish I could capture the important points in some fashion in order to develop a database of knowledge, if you will, for future reference. In the past I've tried doing a text file for each documentary. You could keep them all nicely sorted and search the files for keywords. It really hasn't worked that well. I wonder if mind maps is what I've been looking for?
Finally, I wonder if mind maps is the best way to document and manage ideas? I can see that one might be able to find relationships and synergies by exploring a map. This is a case where I have consistently used text files to log ideas and related links, text, etc. I now have hundreds of these files. It's at the point where the directories that contain them are impossible to view and get a sense of what is there. This meaning that you can't see 300+ file names and easily understand and/or explore the concepts within them and relating them. Do you (or anyone reading this, of course) have any experience managing such information using mind maps?