[0xCMP]

Very true. Or things like "download and install git".

Oh wait you're on a mac you need Brew. But you're on windows? You're gonna need X. You're using linux and still don't know? (e.g. Parent installs linux on a computer for their child to learn programming on (e.g. buys them a rpi) )

Lots of "setup" stuff needs to be explained or at least guided through for a from scratch approach, but also needs to be easy to skim and skip if the person learning already knows how to do it.

[yorwba]

Sometimes I fantasize about a platform for tutorials on "how to do X using Y if you know Z" where prerequisites would be linked wiki-style, but disambiguated for the learner. If they are on Windows and use cmd.exe as their shell, command-line examples would be adapted to that, while someone using bash on Linux would get fitting examples as well. If they already know how to do a part, they get just a short summary instead of lengthy explanations.

Unfortunately, you'd need a lot of content before something like that would take off, and just specifying a few options while otherwise relying on the reader to figure out any differences is simply easier for a writer and still good enough for most learners.

[voltagex_]

A few times I've visualised this as a tech tree like you see in some RPGs and RTS games. I'm not an artist but I'd love to try sketching this out for a few "trees" at some point.

[somebehemoth]

This is a cool idea. I hope you do this and I happen upon it one day.

[voltagex_]

I probably should just start an "as yet unimplemented ideas" section in my blog.