5 tips to build a coding memory palace 🏰 ⌨️

Ten years ago I went to a seminar about memorization techniques. The meeting was held in one of this old building that have soul. It was 20 degree Celsius outside making it a perfect, relaxing day.

The facilitator was a rather calm person sharing with us some memorization techniques like they were generous gifts and in deed they were, as I have learned five years later…

There I was, walking through corridors of an ancient brick castle. There were red torches on the walls. I have entered a rather big audience room, with rows of tables. I came to the first on the left. It was piled with blue broccolis. Second table legs were in the shape of unicorns.

Down the room I saw a flying cat with the face of Dwight Schrute from The Office. The cat was blowing fireballs everywhere.

I began to smile.

…

From all possible explanations of what it was, one seems to be obvious, I was delirious or/and intoxicated. Or was I?

…

The seminar took place at 4pm since I took a day off I was able at last to organise all my new photos. I have copied to a secondary backup disk, and as usual, encrypted it with a pin code. Something I was doing once a year. I have blessed that day while walking through the castle later.

It really changed that day that seemed to end with a misery and sadness.

What you have to know, is that year I had moved to another apartment. Taking all my stuff day. I needed more space to live because the room rented before was too small and in a bad neighborhood.

Something I have learned on my own skin, when someone broke into the apartment and stole my laptop. With it, all my data was gone. Except photos I took for many, many years. Memories of my younger life that I have kept safe on a backup device.

After moving to the new apartment, that had two rooms and was in a nice surrounding mostly inhabited by older generation, at last I felt safe. It took my quite some time to arrange all living issues. Eventually one evening, when the apartment looked not like a storehouse anymore, I have decided it would be great to cover new, empty walls with some photos.

I took the backup, 32GB disk out, plugged it in to my computer with a IDE slot and found a list of encrypted files with my photos, a moment I looked for.

What you really should know about me, is that I am lame at memorizing stuff. Especially numbers. When I was in the school, I had to use various tricks to remember dates of historical events. I can tell you whole story, even with more details than they teach us, because I love history, but remembering dates, those four digit inventions of Voldemort, is out of my reach.

So, as an educated graduate of software engineering studies, I have securely noted my backup files pin code on a piece of paper from my notebook. Than placed it in a small deposit in my old backpack.

But where was my backpack? Ah right. The though stroke me like a lighting. My backpack was on somewhere on a garbage dump after I thrown it away while moving out from old apartment two months ago. Just another proof that it’s worth to be ecological and reuse stuff.

So there I was, with a strongly encrypted files (software engineering!) but without the pin code. I just felt like someone erased my whole history. What a dreadful situation it was. All my memories vanished.

The miserable day was coming to its end, while I was trying to figure out the pin code. The problem was I made it unusual, and especially complicated it won’t be anything I’d use anywhere else. Like a worst historical day of all times.

Unfortunately nothing helped. After hour or two I just gave up starting to thing what wallpapers to download to print and hang on my brand new walls.

One photo of a castle was quite interesting. It was Malbork castle, the biggest medieval castle in the world, located in Poland.

I had only few sips of a adult beverage when my brain decided to take me into experimental Beatles style joyride to a place I have created ten years before.

Broccoli

Unicorn

Cat

Schrute

Broccoli, unicorn, cat, schrute! I have shouted joyfully out of my lungs setting up the atmosphere for relations with my behind the wall neighbour’s and proving, again, software engineering has many forms.

Broccoli, unicorn, cat, schrute.

The joyful laughter filled the space of the apartment together with the feeling of relief and being reborn.

…

One month later when you visited me, you could see photos of me and my friends, but also, a photo of a Malbork castle without any explanation.

…

Until today and until the end of my life probably, I will be gracious to the facilitator who came and gave us this gift. I will remember that memory palace I have created back than, on a seminar, as an exercise.

Since back than I have created a lot more of memory palaces, even some memory realms. And one is crazier than the previous one.

I also used memory palaces for learning programming. Almost every day in my job I have to learn something new. I learn new language almost every three years, new framework or library each year.

Memory palaces make big difference in the memorization process. Especially because they are almost effortless. Once you set up a memory palace right, it is hard to get rid of it from memory.

And it makes sense, we all are keener to learn rules of Magic The Gathering, Stoneheart, Warcraft or realm of The Witcher rather than a new set of new APIs.

That is also why I have created Summon The JSON decks. They help to fill a palace with items and are creatures, making the process even better.

If you want to create your own coding memory palace, by using the method I call Realm And Code (RAC), here are five tips for you:

1. Imagine a building or a location for each technology you learn eg. castle for. JavaScript. You have to see it in your imagination.

2. Imagine characteristic places in the building eg. library room can be dedicated to string operations.

3. Place creatures and items in the room. The weirder it gets, the easier your mind will remember it. Our mind loves to remember weird stuff surprisingly.

4. Put life into that scene. Let things happen there.

5. Treat your memory realm as a garden. Take care of it, organize it, add new things.

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to ask them below. I will do my best to help.

Check the method out, and let me know your experiences with coding memory palaces 🏰 also final word : don’t worry, it does not cause any mental issues 🙂