[gbog]

I was very interested by the question, and closed the page after skimming through the first screen: why is there any need to scenarize? why would I want to read about some guys in a bar? Can't we make it interesting to talk about what it really means for a device to "listen on port x"? In my experience (listening to Collège de France podcasts), any topic, even the most obscure and narrow field of knowledge, say "Late Babylonian scriptures as seen by Ibn Amhoud during 8th Century" (invented), can be made a thrilling experience if the speaker is really passionate and knowledgable about it. But there is never any need to start by a conversation at starbucks: one just dive in head first. </rant>

[voidfunc]

So on one hand, I absolutely hated the writing style as well... on the other hand, its some guys blog and if he likes this style and it makes him happy to write educational stuff like this, even if its not an ideal format for us then should we really judge?

[ohashi]

Because different people learn differently?

This style reminded me of GEB a bit and I enjoyed it.

[Barrin92]

Brings to mind Elements of Style. Place yourself in the background, don't overwrite, don't overstate

"Write in a way that draws the reader's attention to the sense and substance of the writing, rather than to the mood and temper of the author. If the writing is solid and good, the mood and temper of the writer will eventually be revealed and not at the expense of the work. Therefore, the first piece of advice is this: to achieve style, begin by affecting none — that is, place yourself in the background."

[semitones]

I agree that it is probably not the optimal way to write an educational piece. However, in our year of 2022, the amount of content available online is absolutely staggering. If there weren't at least some pieces out there that tried to scenarize concepts like this, I would be disappointed - it's an experiment worth attempting.

[cormacrelf]

I think the idea is that people who have had done their Computer Networks homework at the college coffee shop with their friends Tim and Liz can identify with the article. It's a niche audience but it's the only reason the author can imagine anyone would be interested in it. It's unappealing to me because despite having (re-)imagined this whole scene himself, the author can't really imagine why the reader would want to know, why I would want to know. If he could, then he would have motivated it that way instead.

[sdwr]

Its making a point about embodied learning, curiousity, and work as a healthy part of life. Imo, the framing is a hell of a lot more interesting than the implementation details of port binding.