I am curious: in what ways is an online course of this sort preferable to reading a book (plus doing exercises)? Is the "live" help really that much of a factor in learning the material?
They don't help with beginning programming topics because the primary thing beginners have to learn is reading and writing code. The videos mostly help beginners who have been convinced through "learning modality" marketing to fear reading and writing as a teaching technique. After that, if they aren't typing and reading they aren't learning to code.
Where videos help is with demonstrating visually dominant technique topics, like CSS layout, how to use Vim, how to change the path in Windows, how to run a debugger, etc.
I personally dont think it is, at least if I consider the things I am good at and how I got there. I read books. I find that tutorials and online classes actually slow me down.
I think this can appeal to people used to a classroom setting. It can also appeal to people see it as a chance to commit to things, like to videos coming up each week.
I'm 65% through the Pragmatic course, and the answer is that it of course depends on your learning style.
Books are great, but I enjoy the lectures, combined with the follow up exercises. I intend to supplement with books and the amount of free material on the web, but I feel the quality so far is worth the price.
Unlike a book, the instructors check in on you to see how you're doing, and ask for honest feedback. And you get access to a mailing list where so far I've seen any question answered very quickly, and without some of the intimidation one can feel asking "noob" questions in other places.
Again, I don't think it is an "either/or" proposition. But I do feel like this combined with other resources is a good option.
Where videos help is with demonstrating visually dominant technique topics, like CSS layout, how to use Vim, how to change the path in Windows, how to run a debugger, etc.