I will have between 8-16 weeks of recuperation from a recent illness, there are no financial worries, therefore I would just like to ask you, what would you learn if you had this amount of free time?
If you want a programming language, learn one that is far away from what you know. If what you know is dynamically typed, interpreted languages, learn a static typed compiled language. If you work with procedural languages, learn a functional one, and vice versa.
Or, as others said, learn something outside of technology. Learn how to play an instrument, or how to write fiction, or how to paint, or how to ballroom dance (if your health permits).
None of my business, but out of curiosity: What kind of illness gives you that long a recuperation time?
You've reminded me I always had it in my mind to learn Lisp, I've spent 25+ years in C and Assembly land.
Recuperation time down to not being able to breathe properly, collapsed lung, pneumonia, etc.
Cut yourself some slack if you feel like you're learning more slowly than you "should". Give yourself permission to not be at full speed/mental energy yet.
I think that would depend on what I already knew, what I was interested in, and what I hoped to accomplish during this time (whether it be a hobby thing or professional development). Perhaps you could fill us in if you're looking for suggestions?
Personally I would probably sit down and learn the core of javascript, getting as deep as possible working toward a better understanding of what's going on under the hood. This is because in my daily work I really just scratch the surface superficially using it to write programs. I would want to understand it to the point where I could start to write something like Node.js from scratch (right now I don't even know where I would begin with this).
The reason for this is because I know C this way, so every time I write a line of code in C, I instinctively visualize what's going on under the hood.
I would like to be able to visualize this same thing with js.
That's plenty of time to build and launch a new SaaS product and get your first paying customers. You'll learn a lot more doing that than you could from 4 months of reading books.
I've been tossing around the thought exercise of writing a minimal Python interpreter. Do you feel similarly about writing an interpreter, or strictly a compiler?
(I have studied formal languages a little bit... enough to know the basics of finite automata, context-free grammars, lexers, etc.)
I can't exactly say since I've never built an interpreter, but I am in the process of building a compiler (it's been a challenging and rewarding experience thus far), but I'm sure you would learn a lot from both endeavors. If you already had this project on your mind you should definitely go for it.
Thanks for all the replies so far, very interesting. Just to add, I'm just wondering what others on HN would do, I've no idea yet what to do, but from Monday I'll need to do something , or I'll go mad :)
Or, as others said, learn something outside of technology. Learn how to play an instrument, or how to write fiction, or how to paint, or how to ballroom dance (if your health permits).
None of my business, but out of curiosity: What kind of illness gives you that long a recuperation time?