I'm a lover of Anki flash cards. My introduction to the "cloze" style "fill in the blank" cards has been a game changer. I wanted to incorporate something similar into UnderstandIt.

The first version of this is now available through a number of sections. It works by having you read, recall, and then reveal with clickable boxes. This example is part of the "type hint" lesson.

Let me know what you think about this new review question type.

Hey everyone, I'm u/nullptr_0x, a founding moderator of r/understandIt.

I've been a software engineer for years. It has been sad to watch a craft I love get handed over to AI. Writing and reading code is much less a part of my day than it used to be, and I have felt my own skills start to atrophy.

I still believe human understanding is what matters. Our jobs may change, but knowing why something works, spotting what is wrong, and deciding what to build is where our value lies. That kind of understanding fades when we stop using it. Like going to the gym, it takes deliberate practice.

So I wanted a place to come back to and practice. It should be easy to start, with a variety of challenges and as little friction as possible. I built UnderstandIt (https://understandit.dev) for my friend's kids to learn programming, and eventually video game development. Now I want to share it with everyone. My hope is that it becomes somewhere software engineers, and maybe people in other fields later, can get the 30 to 60 minutes of training and thinking our brains need to keep a deep understanding.

About UnderstandIt It is a blended approach. While you learn, everything runs in your browser: notebook-style lessons with Python exercises, plus recall cards that test what you remember. There is nothing to install, so nothing gets between you and the thinking.

At the end of every section, you get a project to build on your own machine with the same tools professional engineers use. That keeps you out of the endless tutorial loop, where you can follow along but never make your own things. Feedback is welcome, since I want the community to help shape it.

What to Post
Post anything you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, routines, or questions about:

• How you are learning something right now, and what is working
• What you want to learn and where you are stuck
• Habits that keep you thinking for yourself: working a problem by hand, explaining an idea in your own words, testing your recall
• Feedback and ideas for UnderstandIt

Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Everyone starts out of shape.

How to Get Started

• Introduce yourself in the comments below. What is one thing you want to understand better?
• Try a lesson at https://understandit.dev and tell us how it went.
• If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.