Most tutorials tend to provide a step by step solution. But I feel like I would learn more if I had to figure things out on my own. Does anyone else feel the same way?
I learn from the kind if tutorials that are linked from HN, but if I google for a tutorial many have little useful information but lots of ads.
My own tutorials often focus on underlying principles rather than srep-by-step solutions. If the solution doesnt apply bevause the problem is different, say because a new release changed the UI of the software that the tutorial discusses, understanding the principles may enabke you to work out your own solution.
I' a pretty visual person myself. So I find that watching a video tutorial and then immediately trying to put it into practice myself seems to be a winning combo. But of course, everyone is different and some learn more effectively with other means (reading, audio, etc.).
While I do understand many prefer videos I cannot tolerate them myself.
That contributed to my divorce. Not because I was angry with Bonita for watching TV all the time but because we spent very little of our free time together. She watched TV in our living room, I listened to music in my office.
I once met a science fiction writer who did not own a computer. I said, "This is gold to me. Please tell me why!"
"I like paper."
I wouldnt be caught dead with an eBook reader but my dear friend Norman King is heavily into them.
The business term for this is "market segmentation". One has the choice of deeply penetrating one particular segment such as video tutorials, or spreading oneself thin by covering multiple segments; despite that I dont care for them I plan to produce some video tutorials of my own.
For me, a good tutorial explains the "why" and not just the "how" or "what". So even though step by step tutorial can be useful, if they don't teach the why, I don't find them too effective.
Also about figuring things on your own, the point of any good tutorial is to give you directions. You still have to figure things out on your own. You always do. But a good tutorial can at least tell you where to look to figure a specific thing out.
I arguably learn things more _thoroughly_ slogging through the docs. But only if it is important enough to justify the much higher initial effort, otherwise I don't learn them at all.
However, I learn more things faster from tutorials because they(assuming they're any good) give a high level overview and show how the pieces fit together to actually get something done. That is something a lot of official docs do poorly or not at all. And if it is a topic I'm actually interested in and use regularly, I'll eventually spend plenty of time with the official docs & learn it in detail.
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[ 14.7 ms ] story [ 142 ms ] threadMy own tutorials often focus on underlying principles rather than srep-by-step solutions. If the solution doesnt apply bevause the problem is different, say because a new release changed the UI of the software that the tutorial discusses, understanding the principles may enabke you to work out your own solution.
That contributed to my divorce. Not because I was angry with Bonita for watching TV all the time but because we spent very little of our free time together. She watched TV in our living room, I listened to music in my office.
I once met a science fiction writer who did not own a computer. I said, "This is gold to me. Please tell me why!"
"I like paper."
I wouldnt be caught dead with an eBook reader but my dear friend Norman King is heavily into them.
The business term for this is "market segmentation". One has the choice of deeply penetrating one particular segment such as video tutorials, or spreading oneself thin by covering multiple segments; despite that I dont care for them I plan to produce some video tutorials of my own.
The more detailed the better and if it explains pit-falls as well it's nice.
But if you considering SO a "tutorial" or something like fixing small problems - then no I don't learn much it's mostly quick fixes and I'm off.
It comes down to the details and how much time an author puts into a post - Quality comes secondary (ie: authors primary spoken language)
Also about figuring things on your own, the point of any good tutorial is to give you directions. You still have to figure things out on your own. You always do. But a good tutorial can at least tell you where to look to figure a specific thing out.
However, I learn more things faster from tutorials because they(assuming they're any good) give a high level overview and show how the pieces fit together to actually get something done. That is something a lot of official docs do poorly or not at all. And if it is a topic I'm actually interested in and use regularly, I'll eventually spend plenty of time with the official docs & learn it in detail.