Once I took a class in data structures and algorithms. In the class, we went through various common structures and learned them and used them, with say a lecture validating each topic with boardwork. Similar to other classes.
I don’t remember well now, but I’m guessing about half of the algorithms were new to me, and the others I was already using. I’d imagine I had come up with some independently. CS was still a new field, so hobbyists, especially young nerds, often had a jump on things. I imagine it doesn’t have to be a new field for that to be the case. Relearning things, I often have to repeat them ad nauseum, as if I have dementia, to retain much. I’d like to learn to _discover_ algorithms and data structures, like I used to, not simply parrot what’s mainstream.
