thegreenman
Skilled Investigator
David's question: "How can you use it if you don't know how it works?"
C'mon David,
You're better than that.
C'mon David,
You're better than that.
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Well, here's the point:
When you know how something works, you can use it more effectively than someone doesn't know how the same item/tool works.
dB
No I disagree. You or I knowing the ins and outs of IP addressing systems between computers does not in ANY way make us better at using the internet.
If it does then please feel free to give me a couple of working examples of how this would help a normal internet user get better performance?
daz
David's question: "How can you use it if you don't know how it works?"
C'mon David,
You're better than that.
Well, here's the point:
When you know how something works, you can use it more effectively than someone doesn't know how the same item/tool works.
dB
If it does then please feel free to give me a couple of working examples of how this would help a normal internet user get better performance?
Another example,
My brother is an excellent knife-thrower. He can hit just about any target, at will, from 60' or less with nearly 100% accuracy. he does this despite the fact that he knows absolutely nothing about physics, aerodynamics, drag coefficients or the like.
I suggest your brother DOES know all about physics, aerodynamics, drag coefficients, and the like. He's honed it to a fine art. So does my dog. He can compute a perfect trigonometric function in his brain just by looking at a ball in flight and catch it in his mouth. He can do the math in his head a lot better than I can do it on paper. Now, expressing it--that's another matter.
I like examples. Examples are good. Here's one. I have a Wi-Fi network in my house. You can 'secure' a Wi-Fi network at the router level, but if you read the directions on the router, you will find them to be nearly indecipherable--unless you understand hexadecimal. They say, for example, to 'enter a string of hex.' Of course, you could use a cookbook approach, but that's like using "password" for your password, pretty lame. You can also mate your router and network to the computers in your home by entering their MAC addresses in a table to give them exclusive access. Of course, if you have no idea what a MAC address is or what it looks like, or how to find it, you're not going to be able to do it. I don't need directions or a book on how to do this. My neighbor has no idea what all this is about. My network is 'secure'; his is not. Does it matter? Depends. If you get your bandwidth stolen or someone does a copyrighted torrent off your router it might matter a lot. That's an example of how knowing how it works makes you more efficient.
Here's another. Everybody Googles. Google does a pretty good job of guessing what you really want. So most people just type in a question or a few words. Google typically returns a zillion hits and if you see what you want on the first page, you're there. People spend a lot of time and effort to get their sites on that very first page because most people won't go any further. Most people have no clue how Google hits are manipulated by advertisers bidding on keywords or using meta tags. However, if you understand Boolean logic, you can turn sloppy Google into a very precise search engine. You use 'and' 'or' 'not' and 'nor' properly, and you'll get the ten hits you're after--not a zillion. You are thereby a much more efficient user.
There. I didn't take two hours to give you zero examples. I gave you two in as many minutes, examples of how knowledge of your tools makes you a more efficient user.
You or I knowing the ins and outs of IP addressing systems between computers does not in ANY way make us better at using the internet.
If it does then please feel free to give me a couple of working examples of how this would help a normal internet user get better performance?
No I disagree. You or I knowing the ins and outs of IP addressing systems between computers does not in ANY way make us better at using the internet.
I suggest your brother DOES know all about physics, aerodynamics, drag coefficients, and the like. He's honed it to a fine art. So does my dog. He can compute a perfect trigonometric function in his brain just by looking at a ball in flight and catch it in his mouth. He can do the math in his head a lot better than I can do it on paper. Now, expressing it--that's another matter.