How many of you don't watch tutorial anymore?
Posted by Nullify_Undefined@reddit | ExperiencedDevs | View on Reddit | 14 comments
I'm planning to learn a new stack by using AI. I think this will speed up the info-gathering process and provide a much quicker feedback loop. This is in contrast to watching tutorials and coding along, where you are often restricted to whatever the instructor says and it's harder to explore your own ideas.
My points might be completely wrong, so feel free to point out any mistakes.
I'm also wondering: are fewer people watching tutorials now?
diablo1128@reddit
This is what chatGPT is good for.
I ask some thing like give me an example of working code in that does basic thing using library. Then when I get the working example I read the documentation to extended it and do other things. That's how I learn anyways.
almarcTheSun@reddit
Why would you watch a tutorial? Read the documentation, it's usually written very well with a comprehensive how-to start guide that the person making the video is going to read out loud to you, poorly. Use AI when you don't understand some concept and want it dumbed down for you, not as the main source of truth.
teerre@reddit
The problem with this is the same problem with listening to a class and reading a book. There's tons of research proving that on average the latter will allow you to learn much more
Of course it's theoretically possible to learn from LLMs, but it requires extreme discipline. The vastly more probable outcome is that you learn nothing because you didn't actually think about anything
Teh_Original@reddit
In your first sentence, are you saying you learn most from a book?
I would also add that practice is required as well. If you are learning a new area you have to employ what you are learning as well.
publicclassobject@reddit
I have been programming since 2009 and have never watched a tutorial
tnerb253@reddit
I would argue there's trade offs, you're not learning shit from banging your head against the wall for hours googling things if the answer could be given to you through a tutorial or AI. Tutorials can be great for small projects or learning how to properly navigate a code base and start learning good practices. I've done a mix of everything but nothing trumps real work experience.
Outside-Storage-1523@reddit
When doing my own stuffs I limit AI as last resort and only for discussion. I use books and videos to learn slowly. After that’s all the fun is.
In work? Just bruuuuuuh through.
Adorable-Fault-5116@reddit
_Watch_, a... tutorial? Like on Youtube?
Buddy I still read the docs.
who_you_are@reddit
I don't want to watch a 4h video to get what would have take me 15 minutes to read
rm-rf-npr@reddit
Docs are superior, ngl. You can literally even use Context7 to grab the docs and give you examples if you struggle to understand them.
All though you need to be lucky to actually find good docs, like Tanstack or smth.
hurricaneseason@reddit
I've never had the patience for tutorials (even written tutorials most of the time). The only use I've got from them would be initial setup, particularly when it's something unintuitive/convoluted like originally getting a java environment going. It got a million orders of magnitude worse once everyone started trying to monetize and self promote while holding no actual fucking knowledge of their own. Give me the man pages or get the hell out.
MonochromeDinosaur@reddit
I still read books
Cerus_Freedom@reddit
I never found videos that useful to begin with. I've always learned from books, blog posts, or whatever text based documentation is available. Videos always felt like the slowest, least efficient way of learning, unless it's something that involves visualization. Even then...
Own-Statistician9287@reddit
I generally just put the video to an LLM and ask for summary. Then follow the course. It doesn't matter how big the video is but summary comes pretty great most of the time.