Introduction
One of the questions that I have been asked the most often during my misadventures in the Internet sphere, the question that, today, would put me in a state of weariness, whereas before it was dear to me, is probably the one about resources to consult, as well as the method to adopt to excel in the field of programming and more generally in computer science.
This question has led to thousands of typed characters, dozens of hours spent, and eventually people who are as - if not more - lost than they were before inflicting upon themselves the burden of having dared to ask this cursed question. The blame is nevertheless not to be attributed to the questioner, who, in an investigative approach and in the hope of escaping the factory of the average Man, simply wanted an escape from a destiny that seemed blurry and terrible to them.
Indeed, I have for my part long been the collaborator of such a system, which has obviously resulted in no success. Thinking I was doing well and being useful, I have, on the contrary, fueled the cause of failures. These experiences have nevertheless taught me to better understand the situation, this situation in which the majority of young people find themselves today, namely a dichotomy that opposes a range of desires to an arsenal of laziness.
That is why, in order to express in detail our observations on the subject, and in the hope of perhaps helping anyone who has the courage to read our entire thought, we have decided to write this article. The reason for its existence comes first of all from a weariness of having to constantly reiterate the same arguments. This article thus aims to be an "ultimate" piece of writing that would compile all our observations, advice, and warnings for anyone seeking to excel in a field, and more particularly in that of computer science.
Today
It is first necessary to establish an assessment of the situation in which many young people, or almost all of them, are immersed. The thing is clear: once a certain level is reached in the school curriculum, students are forced to choose their destiny which will ultimately decide their future profession, or at least field of activity. Many are those who, while they did not have to worry about their future until then, realize that they know neither what to do with their present, nor even less with their future. While their major concern up to this point was only the next entertainment they were going to consume, they are suddenly forced to make choices about their future. With neither real passion, motivation, nor real objective in life, their own existence can almost be perceived as without interest.
The bubble in which they had locked themselves throughout their childhood, this comfortable bubble where expertise is their quality, then turns out to be the worst vice into which they have fallen. The realization of this situation is very common, hence the enormous interest in "self-improvement" videos found on the internet. Many have come to this bitter conclusion that their daily life is nothing but mediocrity and wasted time, consumption and depravation. This is followed by a sudden gain in motivation, the most motivated among them followed and applied to the letter each of the pieces of advice they encountered: sports, schedule, meditation, reading, and so on.
A few weeks or even days later, back to square one. Morale is then even more demolished than it was at the start, efforts seem vain and the situation seems to be without solution.
There are several errors that have been committed and that I have observed myself. The main one is to have convinced oneself that the solution to one's problems lies in a guide, or multitudes of instructions to apply, to gain success. In reality, the same people who complained about their lack of motivation, interests in anything, and clear direction, have just committed the biggest intellectual laziness possible. This intellectual laziness rests on the myth that success is deterministic and is obtained by vigorously following a set of principles. It has become so ingrained in their mentality that they have not even realized the absurdity into which they have sunk.
Our experiences have rather led us to conclude that success is not sought, it is discovered. What can be defined as "success" is not only specific to each person, but the path to get there is just as much. Imposing a schedule, a working method, or constraints on oneself is the sign of a wrong path, one that is more likely to lead to disappointment than anything else. The "key to success" has become a business in its own right, the situation is such that intellectual deliverance is cherished and coveted. Many are those who desire, few are those who act, even fewer are those who manage to deliver themselves from their fate.
The path to success first passes through a change of mentality, a realization of the importance and urgency of the situation, and a real conviction that everything is possible if one gives oneself the means to believe in it. With the right mentality, objectives will be achieved naturally, and nothing will seem like a task anymore. With the right mentality, the "means" by which to achieve success or the working method to adopt will no longer even be questions.
The following paragraphs seek to instill this mentality in the reader, and to pose them face to face with an ultimatum for which they will not have a second chance. The tone is deliberately raw, and - from our interactions - may have displeased some to whom we have given the experience.
Passivity
Until now in this article, no word has been defined to describe the people who find themselves in the situation mentioned previously. For the sake of ease, these will be named by the term "passive", while their disease will have the name of "passivity". Not all passives are equal and the world is obviously more complex than the binary that seems to emerge below, but for the sake of brevity and simplicity, we will stop at generalities. We will oppose here "passivity" to "activity".
The world is made up of passives and actives. Passives are the direct product of the modern world, where entertainment has become the heart of the daily life of many, serving mainly as a means of mental stupefaction. Fiction, video games, series, films, manga or anime, all serve directly or indirectly to produce beings devoid of any inspiration: preferring to indulge in what they know best (consuming), passives isolate themselves from their own lives by projecting themselves onto fictional characters who feed their fantasies and empty discussions of interest with their equally passive colleagues.
The existence of passives is characterized by a monotonous directive, empty of liveliness, and indistinguishable from the millions of other passives that populate this Earth. Passives are the first consumers and most faithful customers of entertainment. The typical day of a passive is summed up by seeking the next dish that will disconnect them from their own reality, while burying their problems and questions about their future. We don't know to whom the passive delegates the keys to their life, but what is certain is that they act as an observer (something they already know very well how to do in front of their screen) and no longer as an actor in it. The situation of passives is such that one would believe they are waiting for a messiah who would get them out of their situation.
Passives are regularly looking for an instruction manual that would guide them towards activity, but their disease always resurfaces. Whatever advice is given, they will fall back into their mediocrity. Passives make a big mistake: their passivity will never be broken through someone else, the only rampart against passivity being the passive themselves. Behind passivity hides a fear, the fear of detaching from one's miserable routine, the fear of change and the fear of having to leave one's comfortable nest. The passives of today are the deserters of tomorrow's front.
Passives are perfect employees: their passivity makes them exemplary subjects. Passives are perfect customers: their passivity makes them the most faithful consumers. Passives exist only to fuel the gear in which they have found themselves. No one remembers the life of a passive. No one envies the life of a passive. No one sees inspiration in the life of a passive. Passivity should be the terror of every person. On the contrary, passivity seems to have been democratized, even almost praised. We congratulate ourselves on having read our hundredth manga, we congratulate ourselves on having reached ten thousand hours of gameplay, or on finishing our third series of the day.
At the age of senility, the passive will recall their life, a life in which they will have accomplished nothing, except what billions of other human beings have already accomplished before their birth. "At least, I have been a good person" they will say to themselves, infected by their passivity which will have accompanied them to their deathbed.
"The lazy are those who have the most worry, grief and sadness; they have neither happiness nor joy, unlike people who are very active and hardworking, in everything they do."
- Ibn al Qayyim
Activity
Actives are those who - animated by their passion and their obsession, in an almost divine design - gorge themselves with knowledge, defy the hazards and any circumstances that could hinder their quest. Whatever their situation, they will always find a way to excel: money, time or social class are not brakes for them.
Among the actives are those who have entered history through their innovations, research and contributions to the good of society. Among the actives are all those who, in an unquenchable and unstoppable thirst to always want to learn more, break the ordinary and manage to dominate their respective field. Their existence will have been marked by multiple adventures, victories and defeats, all as remarkable as each other and all having had a more or less important impact on their surroundings.
Actives are those who build the world of tomorrow through their work and their courage. Actives are those whose names will be remembered, those whose works will have contributed to the good and to technical or intellectual progression. They are a source of inspiration, of models and of admiration. Their singularity differentiates them from their passive antonym.
Many make the mistake of considering activity as an acquired trait at birth. On the contrary, activity can be a trait that can develop early or late in a person's life. Activity is not intimately linked to a person's intelligence, although the latter can be a vector for it. Through activity, Man exploits his facultative capacities and his potential in its entirety. Through activity, Man constantly pushes his limits and his only barrier then becomes the time he has left to live: his ascent is exponential and his desire to break the chains of ignorance is unequaled.
It remains for the reader to undertake one of the two paths that have been laid out for him, and to assume the full consequences.
The illiterates of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and relearn.
- Alvin Toffler
Liberation
Faced with this dilemma, it is clear that the choice of activity is the ideal of all - except perhaps the few dissidents in full denial. It now remains to know how to free oneself from the yoke of passivity, in order to switch to the path of activity.
Among the most frequent errors that I have been able to observe, and which all come from a naivety and a misunderstanding of the situation, there is the fact of radically ceasing everything that can be considered unproductive, useless or an "obstacle to concentration". This is how we can see people challenging themselves to completely stop social networks, to disconnect entirely from the internet or even to pursue other radical methods such as the adoption of "dumbphones" in a perspective of digital detox.
The reality is that such directives are futile and doomed to failure. Without real conviction, with social networks or not, nothing will change. Activity is not acquired by magic, it cannot be forced either. It is something that a person turns to after having fully grasped its workings. Its manifestation transcends the entertainments that could divert the passive in their quest for knowledge. Naturally, the addictions which the passive was confronted with will disappear to give way to an unstoppable monster hungry for knowledge. Entertainment will then all seem bland, to the point that activity itself will be the substitute. It is important to note that switching to activity does not mean stopping all distraction. The point to grasp is that activity transforms pastimes from recurring events to sporadic events.
There is no recipe for activity. The way to get out of passivity is your own. You are the architect of your life, do not expect a ready-made solution from others. Aspire to become someone better, and fight to make this dream a reality. Whether it is through self-hatred, hatred of others or through your immense ego, use any means as a vector and carrier of your life project. This allows us to make the transition to the initial subject that led us to write this article: "How to learn and excel in computer science?".
Computer science is a very particular field. Unlike other fields, computer science is not mastered by having consulted and memorized the maximum number of books on the subject. What distinguishes a good programmer from a bad one is not the number of books or articles read, but rather his experience and the variety of his works. One of the most widespread myths - and whose falsity has always seemed obvious to me - is that of affirming that the school system is a producer of good programmers. Thereby, many people rely solely on school to learn the field, while thinking they are doing the right thing. School is not only the worst factory of programmers, but it is also the best producer of human clones whose abilities and skills are not only ridiculously low, but also indistinguishable from their school-graduated colleagues. It is not uncommon to have one or two people in a class who master the field more than their own teachers, and whose lead is counted in equivalent school years. Such people are those who, during their free time, indulge in projects that bring them not only education, but also entertainment, even income for the most entrepreneurial among them.
The static and backward nature of the educational system is not compatible with the mobility and dynamism of computer science. Education will always have a lag, a lag that can only be compensated by mobilizing means that only private schools can afford. This defect of the system is in reality an advantage that anyone can exploit: it is today very easy to outperform the majority of school graduates. Thus, computer science is distinguished by its ability to form self-taught elites, something inconceivable elsewhere.
In an increasingly connected world where knowledge resources are almost infinite, the key to excellence is within reach. This is acquired by constantly developing projects that are a source of motivation, by constantly pushing one's limits, and by not considering abandonment as one's first option. Knowledge in computer science is built progressively, through trial and error, in an infinite spiral whose only limit is you. Begin your adventure with an idea, stop wasting your time building a knowledge base beforehand. The latter will naturally form through all the questions and issues you will encounter in the realization of your project.
Subjugation
This world is designed to accommodate the passive Man. The passive man, as has been aforesaid, lives from day-to-day, incapable of a higher construct of an overarching plan. The common Man, enigmatically, fills his daily life with mindless, meaningless and meritless pastimes and leisures. To him, what can be done today can rather be deferred to tomorrow, thus he imprisons himself of living in the yesterday of today, perpetuating himself into that vicious cycle. This is, inexplicably, something done out of his own volition, the common Man chooses nigh daily to sabotage his own potential and destiny. It is a sad but an undeniable fact of life that the majority participate in such a self-destructive lifestyle, and I observe this phenomena and lifestyle in an unfettered and distilled form in no better place than the passive Man's way of life. It can be observed in all quarters of his life.
This outlook of the common Man might be perceived, for some, as callous, self-conceited and narcissistic. Nonetheless, I earnestly implore you to commit to a moment of true reflection, how many people in your life truly devote their life to a higher purpose? This is the foregoing higher construct I speak of, the belief of committing to a certain set of means for an end. For the average Man, this possibility intimidates him, as many are offered by life a set of choices, most of whom will choose the easiest one, whether that be out of convenience, ease, inertia and what have you. I consider it a great insult and desertion of mankind, your tribe, and most importantly, yourself, to let oneself become a victim of the passage of time. Yet, life is the true subjugator of Man, he enslaves man by bestowing the weight of life on him until he succumbs to the pain and ultimately resigns. This, a temptation I and many people can resonate with, one that is shared by many, is what I will now neologize as “subjugation,” perpetrated by life, in which all are victims to varying degrees.
During the process of liberation, one will encounter what can only be described as traps, life being the architect of those traps. Be mindful of the fact that these are traits rather than archetypes, many characterizations can overlap with each other. Nuances are to be accounted for, not all humans can fit into categories, and consequently more observation is needed to discern these characters.
A common method I have been a personal witness of, and can confidently testify for, is the allure of money. I am unsure of whether money is the end or the means that people are deceived by. Simply, do people want to live a life of luxury because of the ease that comes with, or is it that money is the means for which allows you to live out your fantasies and desires? Perhaps it is a mix of both. Nevertheless, you will encounter many in your life, whose only true priority lies in the numbers, and assuring himself that it stays in the green upwards trajectory, it is his only source of fulfillment and aspiration, a sense of security that he has traded for unrealized potential. He does not even necessitate copious amounts of wealth, it can be paltry for all the passive Man is satiated by. I have personal anecdotes and experiences with people who have traded their aspirations and morals for money, the irony being that if they pursued those aspirations, the final outcome would have been more favorable and advantageous. The avenue of which they generate income is often insipid and uninspiring, and occasionally sordid, very rarely will you see a commendable project or craft produced by the passive Man, specially by the morally bankrupt, who embellish and resort to unimpressive glorified stunts they refer to as feats of accomplishment or actions.
Additionally, many are suppressed from their potential by fear. The fear of uncertainty, the fear of a possible failure. The passive Man sees this as a compelling enough force to deter him from reaching his destiny. The active, however, is unphased by this possibility, as he has devoted his life for this purpose and to him it is all he should know, failure is something that should not occupy his mind. To perseverate is fruitless, it will invariably lead Man into despair and hopelessness. Think to yourself, what does pondering about failure truly achieve? Do you think the highest achievers in life allot time in their already strenuous day to reflect on this, or is it more likely they continue, which I am sure to him is the only path forward.
Lastly, and most importantly, do not become a cog in the machine, let your aspirations stray away, as far as possible, from such an outcome. Life has been designed for catering to the passive Man in the last few centuries, to accomodate the passive, with a goal in mind to mold the malleable people into compliant, uninspired, apathetic and unenthusiastic workers. They want to churn out passives at an industrial scale. The most successful figures throughout time have been those who relentlessly pursue a goal, their sights set for the top of the mountain of which they will surmount. It is in life's interest to keep you resting on your laurels, to make you no more than what it wants you to be, of which life will be the greatest benefactor of in assuring you of this destiny. The solution to such a problem is simple: Be relentless. Utilize every positive quality of your mind and body and gallop towards your objective.
The inner workings of the passive Man will continue to remain incomprehensible to me. Why he chooses to operate under the premises of a set of factors in his life that negate that of which is beneficial. Factors that will inevitably lead to his failure and defeat. The allure of money, the fear of failure and the complacency are the most common seductions committed by life, it is those who you should be familiar with, but remain vigilant, internals of its glamour hard to discern. This writing piece was not written with the intent to reinforce a conceited way of life, but a plea to the reader that there is a possibility for glory.