好的开发者是如何塑造自己的大脑的(译)
I believe that one of the most important tools or attributes you have as a developer is your memory. I am already hearing people trotting out the old, ‘I don’t need to remember anything, I’ll just Google it’ argument :). It is a decent argument, but I can poke several holes in it without having to think too hard. Aside from the fact that there are still some places out there that will not allow Internet access for security reasons (that’s right you gotta work with no web access – bummer), you will always need to know what you actually want to Google for. Google can’t read your mind (yet :)), you need to remember the concepts your search centers around as well as related information. Hell, you need to remember that whatever you’re searching for exists in the first place. Regardless, you can’t Google everything. You don’t want to keep searching for the basics, or you risk slowing the pace of your work down to a crawl. You can’t Google domain knowledge, it is simply not there to be found, you need to learn it. Not to mention the fact that having a great memory can be damn impressive, try reciting Pi to 1000 places at a party and watch the ladies swoon :).
我相信，作为一名开发者，所拥有最重要的工具（或者属性）就是我们的记忆。我经常听到有人这样说，“我们根本不需要记住任何事，因为它的答案就在谷歌上”，这样的观点很有趣，也很容易发现其中漏洞百出。比如，出于网络隔离的考虑，一些工作是不允许联网的（没错，你必须在断网的情况下工作，这简直太糟糕了），其次，在谷歌之前，你至少要知道，你要在谷歌上输入什么内容（谷歌无法读懂你的想法），比如，你需要搜索某个概念，那你就需要知道这个概念的名称或者相关信息，老天，你不能无中生有吧？换而言之，即使你能搜索到任何你想要的，你也不想搜索那些最基础的知识吧？搜索会占用大量的时间，从而影响你工作的节奏。其次，有时候，你也会发现，当你需要搜索一个特殊领域的专业知识时，你根本找不到，此时，最好的解决办法是学习并尝试记住它。记忆能力所能带来的好处太多了，设想你在一个聚会中背出了圆周率小数点后一千位数，这将带来怎样的轰动呀！
Seriously though, having a good memory is important. It is valuable in interviews – being able to recall and talk about concepts you haven’t worked with for a while. It is valuable in your day-to-day work – being able to remember what classes do what and which script is executed when. It is an important interpersonal skill – being able to remember names of colleagues, customers etc. There is no doubt, having a great memory will make you a better developer. So, how do you turn your sieve into a steel trap?
说真的，拥有好的记忆力非常重要。在面试中，你能够面对长时间没有使用的技术或者概念侃侃而谈。在工作中，您能够清楚的记得工作中的细节，比如，什么时候执行了一个脚本。在人际交往中，你能够轻松叫出同事、客户的名字。毫无疑问，好的记忆力对我们的工作和生活都是大有裨益的。那么，我们如何提升我们的记忆能力呢？
Training Your Memory 记忆练习
You’re probably expecting me to say that there is an easy way and a hard way, unfortunately there is only the hard way. Like everything else in life, practice makes perfect and memory is no exception. You need to train your memory to increase capacity, recall time etc. First thing first, you need to memorize crap. Seriously, the first step is that simple, memorize whatever strikes your fancy, poetry, music, code, trivia (even Pi to a thousand places) just make sure you keep doing it. Over time this will make your memory better and better, but it will take a while, fortunately there are some techniques you can use to fake a great memory in the meantime.
你可能会期待我告诉你一个简单轻松的方式，遗憾的是，记忆练习没有任何捷径可循。这是一个老生常谈的话题——熟能生巧，任何事都一样。练习的方式包括，反复的记忆，增加记忆的容量等。首先，你需要记住一些废话，没错，刚开始就是这么简单，记住任何你喜欢的东西，诗歌、音乐、代码、八卦（或者圆周率小数点后的一千位），只要你坚持这么做，慢慢的，你的记忆力就会越来越好。这会需要一段时间，幸运的是，这里有一个小技巧，比如，你可以“伪造”一些美好的回忆。
Using Mnemonics 使用助记符
Mnemonics are basically memory aids that can help you recall information by association. There are many different ones, some are specific to particular information such as memorizing numbers while others can be generalized to all kinds of information. Here are some common ones:
总的来说，助记符是帮助记忆的辅助工具，可以帮助你联想或回忆起一些信息。对于不同的信息，通过特定的方式对信息重新组织，比如，将信息变成数字。以下是一些常见的方式：
- Visualization – associating concepts we want to memorize with parts of a vivid image that we already remember well (such as the layout of your room, or the face of a loved one) 图像化 —— 将我们想要记住的概念与我们已经很熟悉的图像进行关联（比如，你房间布局、或者亲人的面孔）。
- Rhyming – making up a rhyme around the concept, thing you want to memorize can help as we are a lot better at remembering rhymes than we are at memorizing random data押韵 —— 围绕这个概念创造一个押韵的句子。相比较于杂乱无章的句子，我们对押韵的句子，记忆效果会更好。
- Chunking – forming data you’re trying to memorize into larger pieces of data that is easier to remember (e.g. forming letters into words, forming words into sentences, forming binary numbers into decimal etc.)归纳 —— 将需要记忆的数据重新组织成更大的模块（比如，将字母组织成单词、将单词组织成句子、将二进制数变成十进制数）。
- The number shape system – associating raw data that is harder to remember with shapes that are easier, in this case associating numbers with shapes so that you have to remember a sequence of shapes (which is easier for our brain to process) instead of a sequence of numbers 数字形象化系统 —— 将难以记忆的原始数据与更易记忆的形状相关联，将数字形象化之后，你需要记忆的，就不是一系列数字，而是一个具体的形象（对我们的大脑而言，这样更容易进行处理）。
Much has been written about all of the above, it is not voodoo science, they really work. The reasons they work are twofold. Firstly, simply by virtue of trying to use a mnemonic technique on a piece of data, you focus on it for a period of time which gives your brain more opportunity to do whatever it does. Secondly, mnemonic techniques are all about associations , you associate your information with various cues; either visual, verbal, musical, conceptual etc. This gives your brain more entry points into the data you’re trying to recall later. How does this help? It is incredibly useful when you use a recall technique called priming . We all do it unconsciously but you can also use it in a targeted fashion.
综上所述，虽然内容很多，但这些方法确实有效，请注意，这不是伪科学，这些方法有效的原因是多重的。首先，简单尝试对一些数据采用助记符，再加工的过程中你的大脑是完全专注于这些数据的，这样你就有机会对这些数据做更多的事，其次，助记符全都是和联想相关的，将信息和各种线索（视觉、语言、音乐、概念等）联系起来，这些线索为你的大脑提供了更多可供回忆的“入口”，这些“入口”有什么作用呢？当你回忆时，这些线索便会发挥作用，帮助你更好的回忆。我们可以在思想中无意识的做这件事，也可以通过刻意练习使用它。
You’re priming your brain when you’re trying to remember a piece of information and you try to recall anything that you can possibly associate with the data – sounds, smells, concepts etc. It is like building a virtual mind map around the concept you’re trying to recall. The more different associations you have formed with the data the more chance your brain has of finding the information you’re looking for. Simple. I could keep going and going about this stuff and I probably will at a later date :), but for now I’ll leave it here.
当你试图记住一条信息时，你需要唤醒大脑，与记忆中可能相关的东西（声音，气味，概念等）产生关联。这就像围绕着这个概念构造了一个虚拟地图。简单来说，与数据形成的关联越多，你的大脑能够寻找到信息的机会就越大。这件事，可以现在做，也可以以后再做，但我会选择现在做。
In the meantime, if you want to know more about specific mnemonic techniques as well as your mind and memory in general I recommend you pick up a copy of Mind Performance Hacks , which puts together a bunch of these techniques into a cookbook format. However if you don’t feel like reading a book and doing a lot of practice here is a ‘trick’ that I use, which draws from many of these concepts and can give your memory a noticeable boost without too much hard work (if you remember to use it :)).
与此同时，如果你想了解更多关于助记符的技术，我向你推荐一本叫做《****心理和脑与生活****》的书，这本书将这些技术像食谱一样组织在一起。但如果你不想读书，也不想进行大量的刻意练习，上面的那些方法就是我所使用的“技巧”，这些技巧借鉴了很多书中的内容，可以帮助你相对轻松的显著提高记忆力。
Your Brain Is A Search Engine 你的大脑是一个搜索引擎
I think of my brain as a search engine. Like any search engine, your brain contains a bunch of data and it also contains an index that allows you to recall this data. You’re constantly bombarded by new information (the web, blogs, books, tv etc.) so adding more data is not an issue, being able to efficiently recall this data is the challenge (your index is more important than your data ). According to what I said above, your brain’s index is formed by associating data with a bunch of stuff, you can help out by consciously trying to form these associations. Every time you hear/learn a piece of information you want to be able to recall later (like a name), focus on it for 2-3 seconds and associate it with stuff around you, colors, music, smells, shapes, feelings etc. You want to give your brain a chance to form as many different types of associations as it can. After that just let it go and don’t worry too much about it. In essence you’re trying to piggyback important and hard-to-recall information on sensations and concepts that are less important and easier to recall . That’s all there is to it.
我认为，我们的大脑就是一个搜索引擎。与任何搜索引擎一样，我们的大脑包含大量的数据，而且有着不同的索引，帮助你回忆起这些数据。当今社会，信息的获取渠道非常之多，网络、博客、书籍、电视等，信息的获取已经不是问题，最大的挑战是如何有效的利用这些信息，换言之，信息的索引比数据更加重要。根据我上面所说的，大脑中的索引的形成，是将数据与之关联，你可以通过有意识的形成这些关联来帮助你更好的记忆。当你想要记忆或者学习一条重要的信息的时候（比如一个姓名），你可以用一小会儿时间，将这个信息和周边的环境（东西、颜色、气味、形状）联系起来，之后就完全忘记这件事吧，不用太过于在意。从本质上讲，你是在尝试将重要且难以回忆的信息归纳至更容易回忆的感觉和概念上。这就是索引建立的过程。
It may not seem like much, but if you do this consistently you will find you can recall things a lot more frequently and easily. You may not be able to impress anyone with a Pi recital, but you will find that after a while people will start telling you that you have a ‘good memory ’. So there you go I was wrong, there is an easy way, I guess I forgot :). Seriously though, it is a helpful technique but it is not a substitute for real memory training. Infact in one of those ironic twists that the universe is famous for, the better your memory is already, the easier this technique will be to use. Do you have a favorite memory technique that you use in your day-to-day life? If so please share it with everyone, as always, the more we share, the more opportunity we have to learn and the better off everyone will be in the long run.
这听起来可能没那么特别，但只要你长期坚持这样做，你会发现你能够更轻松的，更高频的回忆起更多的事情。你可能还是不能一次性记住一千位的圆周率，但你会发现，会有人开始夸赞你记忆力好。你可以尝试证明我所言非实，证明的过程很简单，但我想最终会承认我说的。说真的，这个技术真的很有用，但它不能替代真正的记忆训练。事实上，一个越是记忆力好的人，对这种技术的使用就会越好。你在日常生活中最喜欢使用哪种记忆技巧？如果你有好的技巧，欢迎分享出来，让更多的人知道你的好办法，从长远来看，这会让我们共同成长。
