FastAI and Jeremy Howard

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I began the FastAI book one year ago. I managed a few examples before trying my own project…and then it was back to my Masters Program. Attending a Univeristy now in 2021 is so different that when I first attained my BS. 7 weeks, One semester, week by week, very little time to explore. This tight schedule coupled with a full time job is / was very difficult.

Nevertheless - reading the book during my Christmas break last year has skewed my learning process. [TODO: What I think about learning today]

Learning from the Top Down

The premise of the teaching method is that you learn better from the top down- that is - you learn how something works first, then circle back and study the parts that you don’t understand. The analogy is similar to learning a new sport, how to do something physical.

For baseball, you learn by doing. You get out and swing a bat, you run around the bases. What you don’t do - is study a baseball. The stitching. The physics of a ball rotating and moving through air. The physics of swinging a bat.

Those concepts are important, but you need to understand and see the whole game to get put these ideas into perspective. To give the game some context.