i tend to rail against things that try to be "helpful".
You know the type. These are programs that make life "easier" and "assist" you in ways that might be useful once, but soon make you want to hunt down the folks that came up with the idea and beat them with encyclopedias. Like Clippy did.
Not all painfully helpful things are as obvious as Clippy. There are some that are far more insidious, specifically, IDEs.
Why the IDE hate? They're the GPS of Coding. They're useful, to be sure, but i'm not sure it's a good idea to learn how to drive with them, but folks are. Heck, i'm one of them.
With the IDE's, not the driving with GPS. Wait, i have one of those too. Damn, i'll start again.
IDE's biggest problem is that they don't teach you anything. In fact, they kind of keep you from learning. The reason is that with complex languages that need an IDE, you start relying on the IDE to do things like tell you what methods and object are available. This leads to a false sense of understanding about the language because, you can get a program running or fix things, but it's a false knowledge. It's a bit like saying "Oh, i know everything there is to know about Yellowstone. i drove by Old Faithful."
That's not really seeing Yellowstone. You've got to get out of the car, away from the well marked trail and concession stands, and out into the woods. Sure, there are wolves and bears and buffalo that haven't dated in a really, really long time, but that's how you learn important things. Like not to bend over when picking up your honey dipped pet chicken.
The best way to learn a language really is to just grab an editor, a compiler and a debugger. You may also want a Drill Sergeant Phrasebook, but that's optional. It's brutal, nasty, and about as much fun as grabbing a map from the 1960's and trying to navigate downtown Boston. Ok, with less gunfire, but it's about as deep a learning experience, and that sort of education will stay with you forever. Much like the scars from the beer bottle that someone threw at your head.
Ok, so that probably doesn't sound very appealing does it?
Tough, it's good for you.
He's right, of course. i'd also add that it's a damn good idea to know which and where the main library and framework repository is for your language of choice (e.g. CPAN, jQuery/YUI/MooTools, etc.), but i tend to view that much the same way that i think of manuals. (Basically, if you don't have at least one, you're a glutton for punishment or an idiot. Either way, you've got a larger problem to deal with.
