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Level Starter · Learning Concept Starter
Explain a concept: three layers, no definition first
The docs do not land, or they land but you cannot repeat them.
Prompt
Explain '{{concept}}' to me.
My level: {{level}}
Where I am stuck: {{stuck}}
Three layers, each deeper:
1. An analogy from everyday life, one paragraph, plus where the analogy breaks down.
2. What problem it solves and what happens without it (the cost, not the history).
3. A minimal working example with input and output that I can trace myself.
Then give me 3 questions to check whether I really got it. No answers yet.What to state before it starts
Leave these unsaid and the model fills them with an assumption. Most 'wrong answers' start here.
- {{concept}}: one at a time
- {{level}}: e.g. 'I write SQL but cannot read a query plan'
- {{stuck}}: paste the sentence that lost you
Go through each of these
Where this kind of work most often goes wrong. Already in the prompt, so you do not have to remember it.
- Asking where the analogy breaks stops you memorising a wrong model.
- Questions before answers beats re-reading the definition ten times.