
I like the idea of debian but I usually get stuck using CentOS. OK, but I didn't even know that "apt-cache search" existed until you just mentioned it.

If search is always less than 5 minutes, eg., there's little or no point in memorizing the list, because even if you eventually used every single entry in the list, you still have a net loss of time. How long does it take to refind a tool via Google or just apt-cache search? A few seconds? There are hundreds and thousands of such tools, which will cost you many hours, and you will only ever look up or want a small fraction of them, and search is fast. The problem with that is that memorizing all random tools is a big commitment. But certainly I pay attention to any research I come across which seems like it might be germane. I think that the theory that 'procedural memory decay at the same rate as declarative memory' is a reasonable default theory, and I haven't noticed any real difference in average grade (accuracy of recall) for my programming cards and my more normal flashcards. This might simply require experimentation to settle? I dunno. I suspect the memory research that justifies spaced repetition might not apply to skill development as opposed to simple recognition and recall. Similar reasoning suggests that, it might be good to memorize the name and purpose of all the commonly tools that can be installed and run library in debian from the command line, and all the libraries that exist in one's preferred programming language. You can find and scan the books based on running into the problem in real life, but the existence of the books will (hopefully) be trigger by the simpler memories. That way you might hope to have instantaneous recall that something in the library will help when you run across a specific problem that books exist for. what subject is NZ? What are the three best selling non-fiction titles under NZ? That kind of thing.

Something that occurred to me yesterday after jogging was that the best things to memorize are probably meta-reference material that's likely to be stable, like the library of congress non-fiction classification system. Would it be better to memorize 150 specific positions and where each one's best move is or have a new one every time and practice? I suspect the memory research that justifies spaced repetition might not apply to skill development as opposed to simple recognition and recall. When I was trying to find or imagine the best way to create something to study tesuji I ran into this. In that essay you touched on the possibility of creating practice problems that generate a new puzzle each time to build skills. Yes! Good essay! It never occurred to me to think of calculating whether I'll save minutes over my life by memorizing versus looking up.
