How do you like to learn?

Hi everybody!
To expand upon the poll I posted on Twitter, I’d like to know more from you on how you like to learn about new programming/designer-focused topics? Is it written tutorials? Videos? Puppet show?!!

What you write here will help influence the types of new content you’ll see here for the next bajillion years!

Cheers,
Kirupa :stuck_out_tongue:

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For me, it seems to drill down to three categories.

  • Video tutorial for new concepts and new learning. (show and tell, relaxed).
  • Documentation sources for details and recapture of knowledge. (short, precise, focused)
  • Forums/threads for unknown issues and bugs. (fluffy)
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I use both tutorials and videos.
Tutorials for more detailed learning along with trying out the samples. Videos for getting a quick idea on the language.
Documentation, source code, test cases when actually programming, and also when hunting for why things are not working.
Forums for help if I cannot figure out by myself.

Matrix style system whereby the information is uploaded directly into the brain.

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While I appreciate and agree with the thoughtful @linusj list and priority, I would offer two additional thoughts.

First, unfortunately, poorly presented video tutorials are not helpful. Those that fail, in my experience, usually fail because the presenter a.) was too into him/herself and b.) the media content was usually poorly composed.

Second, I would consider a well-documented, source and executable version of some sample code to be the better equivalent to a video. Being able to execute on your own system at your own pace, is generally more instructive than merely watching someone click on buttons.

Basically what @linusj said. I also like to make a little project where I try to utilize what I learned on my own without going for help before trying to apply my own solutions to the problem. It’s a very good method to find out that you really don’t understand things you thought you understood.

One of the things I find most surprising is that interactive exercises is pretty high up there in the Twitter poll. That is also a bit scary since that is something I’ve never done before and don’t even know where to start. That’s a good feeling haha :ghost:

I’m not sure how that could work exactly, but a creating a challange where you ask the comunity to solve a problem or develop a project and post on the forum how they did it to show diferent solutions to the same problems could be interesting…maybe. I try to solve some of the Project Euller problems from time to time, and It’s really interesting to see how experienced programmers come up with crazy ways to solve problems.

That is a good idea! :slight_smile:

Yes, that is a good idea. It seems people like the same story told in different ways (literally).

If you present a story or information in several different ways, you have a stronger message. For example oral language + body language. Image + text, Video + illustration + text. Adding an extra abstraction layer of task or purpose only adds to make it more interesting.

Fair to say though, on Project Euler, you have no access to other peoples solutions while you try to figure out the problem. You have to solve the problem to earn the solutions.

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I think that trying to do it yourself before looking at the solutions is the best way to learn, but if that should be forced like in project euller or delegated to your consciousness is up to debate.

I use both written and video tutorials cause it’s the most accurate source for me.

Personally I hate video tutorials. They are great for beginners who will follow the tutorials closely but if you are only searching for one peace of information than video tuts just suck. Interactive tutorials like the one from Codeschool and Treehouse are great but I guess they are quite time expensive to setup and maintain.
My advise is to stay with old school text tutorials :smiley:

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My problem with most video tutorials is that they simply draw out what I could be reading without adding much additional value. There’s a lot more video can offer. It usually takes too much time to take real advantage of it, though.

I also think that people like video tutorials (or the idea of them) because they expect something more analogous to video game streams, where you can watch people play a game and learn something from their play style. With those streams, you’re not watching someone teach, you’re watching someone do, and you can learn from what it is they’re doing rather than see how bad they are at teaching. I don’t think a lot of video tutorials offer that, though I think people might like to see more of it. The only problem there, I guess, is that watching someone code is far more boring than someone playing a game :wink:

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I like to learn new programming languages based on the Tutorials.

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Hi, I think I like to learn best through tutorials and if the tutorials are interactive or allow some sort of hands down, then that is like the best way for me to learn.

Hope to see something like that soon ! Thanks !

I like books, but the video is also cool explanation.

Don’t worry, I still find plain old tutorials to be the best!

Usually I’ll have a project I need the tutorial for, so I follow along, but every time the tutorial says to do something, I do the same thing but in a way that my actual project needs. Like, if it says how to make a network call to fetch a to-do list (wow, so interesting!), I’ll make a network call for something I need instead. :slight_smile: And if I don’t need it… skip!

I remember the Meteor tutorials being awesome, and I liked using Heroku’s tutorial for Go integration recently too!

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I like to learn more from youtube or any videos, as we will be able to understand more deeply when its explained with examples practically. Along with that I would also like to google for written tutorials to know more about the related topics.

I like to learn from YouTube videos, they are usually the first thing I look at when I’m interested in something.

I like short but practical blog posts that address a particular issue or one central theme. I feel like reading few a few blog posts (even if it’s a long series) is way less intimidating than opening a huge book.

As far as books go I usually get frustrated working through them because I feel like they are usually bloated with lots of abstract concepts and jargon, as someone who’s more of a designer than a developer this frustrates me. The best book I think I have ever read on the topic of development is Michael Hartel’s Ruby on Rails Tutorial that book is very easy to follow. I recently started reading @kirupa’s new book on React, I’m not too far into it but so far I’m having no trouble following it and I really enjoy it.

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