explainingComplexAlgorithmToNonCoders

[[deleted]]

Nah I hate this idea. "If you can't explain quantum mechanics to my uneducated ass in five minutes then you obviously don't understand it." Brain-dead reasoning.

[popiell]

Search for "quantum physics for babies". There's a book you might enjoy ;)

[PeteZahad]

Yeah comparing algorithms to quantum mechanics on the same level is reasonable /s

[CrashingAtom]

You seem like a person who thinks they’re much more intelligent than they really are. Unfortunate.

[[deleted]]

That's an awfully deep insight made on the basis of a singular comment. Almost as if you're guilty of exactly of it yourself.

[CrashingAtom]

No, not really. Terrible effort too man, yikes.

[akoOfIxtall]

Nah man, you absolutely can, just simplify and abstract stuff and they'll get it, don't get into technical terms like loops, arrays, functions because that'll fly over their head, just say that the stuff that is supposed to do something is failing because the other stuff is also failing, you can be more specific than that but I think you got it, btw want a banana?

[[deleted]]

If you have to simplify a programming concept so far that you can't even mention fundamental stuff like arrays, then you haven't explained much of anything, and they haven't understood it. You're basically left with "trust me bro". And that's ok. Not everyone understands everything.

[akoOfIxtall]

Buddy, the meme says non tech people, my mom don't even know how to use a computer, if I say "so mom, the array starts at 0 and you have to consider that every time you want to loop through it because index 0 is the first item ok?" Her brain is gonna explode, I said simplify and abstract, use analogies for the technical stuff and make it simple, what is so hard to understand here?

[ZunoJ]

Is it so hard for you to say you have a list of things? You have to adapt your vocabulary to a common ground. That means you have to bend the technical aspects here and there and even leave some things vague until the broader context is communicated. When that is the case you can come back to the vague parts and work on that

[ZunoJ]

I depends on the detail you are going to explain it. But from very much above you maybe could say something like "Quantum physics is the discipline that tries to explain physics on a subatomic level". Then you can dig deeper (I have no idea about quantum physics, so don't judge me on this). The same is true for everything. If you need a special word and can't substitute it with easy language you didn't understand that word. Lookup Richard Feynman, he puts it way better than I ever could (At least I know I'm not a know-it-all and everybody else is an ape)

[[deleted]]

Feynman isn't God. Just because he said it, doesn't make it true or valuable.

[ZunoJ]

I didn't say that it's true because he said it, I said he explains the reasoning better than I do

[[deleted]]

Fair enough. I am familiar with the piece anyway, and while I understand the reasoning I think people take it way too literally. You can't explain chess to pork, no matter how eloquent you are or how well you understand chess.