Polymath program language software#

While he's mostly known for his paintings and art in his notebook we find many scientific breakthroughs which he never shared with the world. Leonardo can be an example in how not to do things too. In the same way senior developer can teach juniors techniques they'll further develop. Verrocchio taught Leonardo the art of representing light of curved surfaces like draperies, which Leonardo eventually took to the next level. Learning to collaborate effectively with others is paramount to achieve great results in building software.Д¬ollaboration is also a way to share knowledge. We work together, some times on the same piece of code, other times putting together pieces we worked on alone.

Polymath program language software#

Software development is very much the same. Leonardo's illustration of the Rhombicuboctahedron for Pacioli's De Divina Proportione. For example, he illustrated his friend Luca Piacioli book on geometry. Leonardo collaborated with other Renaissance artists and scientists too. Or master and students could work on different subjects of the same painting. The master might work on the draft of the piece, letting the students do most of the painting, coming back only for the final touches. It was a common practice at the time for master and students to work together. Most of the art pieces Leonardo worked on in Verrocchio's workshop, and later in his own, were not solo projects, but collaboration.

Leonardo started his career in his early teen in the workshop Verrocchio, a famous artist in Florence, who mentored him. Blogs, books, conference talks, they are all ways to get exposure to new ideas and concepts, which you can then cherry pick to get your hands dirty with.

At the same time you need to admit there is value in theory and the work of academia, like Leonardo did as he matured in his career. When learning new things in software development often the best approach is to try and build something, to learn by doing. He also asked questions to every person he met in order to learn something from them. Yet he was also an avid reader, collecting hundreds of books on a variety of topics. He would observe something in the natural world, develop a theory on the rules governing it, and devise experiments to verify it. Leonardo defined himself as a 'disciple of experience'. There is so much to learn and to benefit from if you look outside your comfort zone. Swift the new programming language developed by Apple uses concepts developed in earlier languages such as Scala and Haskell.ДЄs software developers it's easy to get passionate about a language, a framework, or a community. The famous web framework Redux was inspired by the first version of the Elm architecture. The ability to cross-pollinate is a strategic advantage for software developers. His work building machines for special effects in his plays taught him of mechanics and engineering, which in turn helped him understand the motion of muscles in the human body and the flight of birds. He studied the human body to become a better painter, and his skills at drawing let him enrich his studies with illustrations of unprecedented realism and detail.

He was able to take learnings from one discipline, apply them to another, and vice versa. Painter and engineer, sculptor and anatomist, geologist and theatrical producer. He was a perfect example of the Renaissance polymath. Leonardo's ability to cross-pollinate between disciplines helped him in his many achievements. There is a lot people working in a technical and creative field, like software developers, can to learn from Leonardo. Countless pages in which he painstakingly practiced, studied different subjects, reflected on his experiences. He reached extraordinary results through constant, relentless, and deliberate practice of his craft.

For example, despite being a great engineer he never excelled at math, as shown by some algebra mistakes in his notebooks. Leonardo is one of the greatest minds humanity has ever produced. Leonardo da Vinci from master biographer Walter Isaacson takes a fresh look at the Renaissance icon through the lens of his many notebooks.ДЄnonymous portrait 1600.