DRBD learning curve

DRBD learning curve

Posted Apr 27, 2009 3:03 UTC (Mon) by giraffedata (subscriber, #1954)
In reply to: DRBD learning curve by mgb
Parent article: DRBD: a distributed block device

Yes, "steep learning curve" is frequently (usually, I think) used to mean it's hard to learn or there's lots to learn. So one has to know that when reading the term. But that doesn't change the fact that it's wrong and it would be better if people didn't write the term that way.

The learning curve is a well known name for a useful concept with a clear history. It was invented by industrial engineers to describe the effect of introducing a new process or machine and is always a graph of productivity vs time. It slopes upward because learning takes place.

One could imagine a graph which shows, as Wikipedia suggests, a rate of learning or of investment, but you won't find anyone drawing such graphs anywhere, unlike true learning curves. One could imagine a graph in which steepness reflects something that is hard to learn too, but no one ever uses those either (and if someone does, I'm sure he would give it a name that isn't already taken for something else).

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