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    I think this is particularly where open source software shines. It's nice to be able to step into the framework/system/libraries all the way down. I used to have a way better understand of framework internals back when I worked with Qt than when I was working with WinForms. Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 20:46
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    When would you need to know this specific example, other than not looking dumb in front of a special crowd? They idiot-proofed this. Other than that, the Effective C#, Java, C++, etc. series might have some cool things in it. Eric Lippert's blog is a good source as well. In general, we often do not know what do not know, so as they say "live for 100 years, learn for 100 years and die a fool". Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 20:46
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    Is it worth the effort? I am bilingual and trying to learn a few other spoken languages. I have taken some math classes but not enough of them. I would like to learn how to play tennis half-decently and learn to swim using butterfly stroke. I would like to travel more. I want to learn some Clojure. What I do not want is to be expert in one language, to have a PhD in math, to spend 30 hrs per week in a pool like Michael Phelps, etc. Lippert's and Skeet's knowledge is due to the fact that they put a lot of effort in one (or a few) things while missing out on other experiences. Maybe change job? Commented Jul 11, 2011 at 20:57
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    "I can understand why Eric knows this; he's on the compiler team, so he has to know." - chances are he knows this because he thought it up in the first place. I doubt he had to 'find out' that it works like this :) Commented Jul 13, 2011 at 11:13
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    @Alex: I've actually only worked on C# since we started actually building the implementation of C# 3. The "foreach" specification was written over six years before that. I still find out crazy historical things about the language every day. For example, I learned today that for delegates, ((A + B) + C) - (A + C) = A + B + C, but ((A + B) + C) - (B + C) = A. Weird! Commented Jul 15, 2011 at 6:08