[Coder-san]

Learning new things can be VERY addictive. You may generate interest in 20+ things in a short amount of time and exposure.
But is it worth it? Mastering a single thing takes years. Add to that the bogus philosophy of being in a society, having a family, earning money to buy food, etc.

I being a jack of all trades and a master at none, have lived my life following the first option. Was it worth it? Probably. Will this all-around knowledge help me economically/socially? No.
The final question being "Would you, if given a chance, focus on few things and try to master them or learn a ton of things and become a royal mess once more?"

[1llusion]

Depends on the area of the "new things".
For example me, when I started going to conservatory (music academy or however you call it), I knew how to play my musical instrument and that was just about it. But there they started teaching me a lot of new things, for example how songs are composed, what are the rules of harmony, music history etc. This doesn't really seem related to playing an instrument, however, knowing these new things helps me when I try to play better. Now I have an idea about why the composer did something and I can add a little bit of "myself" to it. I can play songs from different time periods because I know how people played their instruments back then etc.

Learning new things can help you get better at what you already know. I'd say I'm something between, I like to learn new things and I like to apply them to something I already know.

[Coder-san]

@1llusion: That's good, but I wasn't really talking about "related things". I meant totally unrelated things.
Like skateboarding, computers, cooking, and music.

[Deque]

I prefer to do both a bit.
Specializing in one or two things (at least I try to, it is indeed harder than just learning new stuff).
Apart from that having a wide range of things I know a little.

[Psycho_Coder]

Comments :

Well yes I would like to have a few new things at a moment in hand and then try to gain depth in them, sorry to say but you can never claim that you are a master at a particular subject. There maybe some things in which you are at your best and it would be hard to compete you but that doesn't mean that you can't be defeated. My attitude asks me or makes my heart to study different things once I get interest in them. I am only into computers and programming or everything that includes Computers or the world of Finite Automation and discrete optimization. I am dedicated completely towards it.

Learning new things is actually very fun and a great way to spend your leisure time (at least it is for me). The ocean of knowledge is greater than GOD himself (I suppose even he doesn't have enough storage device to store all the information.). Also being the jack of all trades and master of none is a bad concept according to me as whenever I listen to this verse I remember a quote said by Albert Einstein "I don't need to know everything, I just need to know where to find it when I need it" and that's what I have followed in my life and will still follow but yes I won't stop learning new things. You may say that I understood this quote or interpreted it in a different way.

I know quite a few programming languages like C, C++ (GUI programming using Qt5), Java, these are my most preferred languages as I am good in them but not at my best as everyday I find a new way to explore an idea and a new way to think. Other than this I know JScript,VB.NET, python web designing, JSP (As server side programming) and at present learning Scala. So you see I am good in three but I still want to learn the others as I have developed interest in them and so I learn and study the rest everyday with a belief that within a few years I will be at my best in the above. On the way of me developing my skills I will definitely gain more interests for sure and will be learning them slowly but they will be added to my minds PriorityQueue with less priority and the above mentioned things have more priority.

Conclusion :

Learning new things are a different aspect and becoming better is a whole different aspect. New things seems very interesting but being consistent with them is quite hard as you will always find new interesting things which will force you to lose concept and interest in the subject that interested you before, which is bad imho. But if you gain new interest and stick with for sometime and getting to know it better then you will gain proficiency in many ways.

Learning new things and finding new interests is much more like that - "I want a new girlfriend everyday to sleep with or making my way to her p*s*y or try something new". If you want a new girl everyday then you must be rich, you must look like a hollywood super star, have a limo or a private plane, have a builder body etc etc.(as girls are most attracted to these things) but the disadvantage is that you may get AIDS and an EOF or better say EOL(End of life) tag will get itself attached at the end your minds doc or mind.exe or if all the girls catch you red-handed when you are doing your sorts of f**k with another girl. If you are caught red-handed then they will either kill you or all the girls will make you their s*x-slave. So it is better to be going along with a single girl, be dedicated be sincere and love her only (Occasionally if you get along with someone else then its not bad but she must have the same freedom as well.) now if she leaves you or you have problem getting along with her then leave her and find a new one. (Go to a pub and offer a beautiful lady a glass of Blackdog wine or Vodka, hahahahahahahahah)

(Above example is just an interpretation of my idea please don't get me wrong. All girls or women in HC if you are reading my reply then don't think I am a bad guy and I am insulting you'll, I am sorry if you get hurt.

So ultimately at the end I agree 50% with what @Deque said but most importantly I would fall for your second thought more i.e. "Becoming-better-at-what-you-already-know".


Thank you,
Sincerely,
Psycho_Coder.

[Deque]

I think it's actually the same I said (surely the same I meant).

Take Einstein's quote: In order to know where to find things, you need to know that these things exist and how they are called. Once you found them in a book you need to know the basics about the topic in general to understand what is written there.

Best example for a programmer: You don't need to know how every algorithm works, but you should know which are typical problems (i.e. knapsack problem, shortest path) that have good algorithms. You need to be able to ...
1. recognize that this is i.e. a knapsack problem.
2. know where to find algorithms that solve this problem.
3. be able to read and understand the (pseudo-) code, basic terms and often some mathematical knowledge that are related to algorithm engineering.
Without these you will have a hard time to get any further.

That's why a broad understanding of the basics in several areas is important.
This can also be useful while working interdisciplinary. The mere knowledge about things widens up your mind, makes you know more possibilities how to even start solving problems, where to look for answers.

But a jack of all trades will not excel in anthing. If you want to do something extraordinary, you need specialties.

[Psycho_Coder]

@Deque Algorithms and maths they are the basic fundamentals for any programmer with knowing an algorithm one will not be able to develop something new, yes they can develop new algorithms but for that they need to know algorithms that are already there regarding that particular subject. In my case Algorithms are mathematics are included by default (they are needless to be mentioned here). I kow how important mathematics and algorithms are and in fact Computer Science was evolved from mathematics, its a subject which is very important for any programmer and because of which a separate branch of mathematics i.e. Discrete Mathematics was made which was specially for computer science students.

Asymptotic, Algorithms, Probability, Statistics and Analytical Combinatorics ----> these five things I have found as the most important tool or weapon for any programmer.

[Coder-san]

Comments :

Well yes I would like to have a few new things at a moment in hand and then try to gain depth in them, sorry to say but you can never claim that you are a master at a particular subject. There maybe some things in which you are at your best and it would be hard to compete you but that doesn't mean that you can't be defeated.

The verb-usage of "master" was taken in my post from the figure of speech "Jack of all ..." I didn't literally mean that.
Besides since we cannot truly be perfect/best/unstoppable at something, I prefer to understand mastering something simply as being "professional" at it. Able to challenge anybody in the world in the specific field. However, the outcome is irrelevant.

[Psycho_Coder]

Comments :

Well yes I would like to have a few new things at a moment in hand and then try to gain depth in them, sorry to say but you can never claim that you are a master at a particular subject. There maybe some things in which you are at your best and it would be hard to compete you but that doesn't mean that you can't be defeated.

The verb-usage of "master" was taken in my post from the figure of speech "Jack of all ..." I didn't literally mean that.
Besides since we cannot truly be perfect/best/unstoppable at something, I prefer to understand mastering something simply as being "professional" at it. Able to challenge anybody in the world in the specific field. However, the outcome is irrelevant.

Well Sir I didn't meant anything wrongly.

A great personality had said me once (I admire that person a lot and a lot) "Being perfect is Boring" from that day I believed that gaining perfection is not quite possible and but being near to it is what I long for always and even god is imperfect in many ways.