[benregn]

Maybe this is a nitpick but I'd revise the opening sentance: "There is no better way to learn something than to watch someone else do it".

I think we can all agree that when it comes to programming the _best_ way to learn it is to actually program.

[arocks]

Hi! This is the author. I was pretty sure that someone would point this out and I completely agree.

But, even Programming has to be taught. Among the many ways to learn programming, I think the best approach is to demonstrate how a good progammer programs and explain the thought process.

[gamesbrainiac]

I gotta say, this looks like it was copied from tutsplus. But hey, if it helps people, who cares. I don't.

[arocks]

I would like to clarify that I was working on this, on and off, since last year (yes, it takes quite a bit of effort to create video tutorials). I read the tutsplus course page and it seems it is a course for teaching Django to beginners. It seems our approaches are different too.

[superchan]

Anyone have a reference to the Tutsplus tutorial? Curious to see how that differs from this one.

[rakeshmenon]

yeah is copied from tutsplus :-/ the only difference being its distributed for free

[schlecht]

Rubs me the wrong way where people don't give the necessary credit.

[benregn]

I agree with you on that. I didn't mean to say that the idea or the video wasn't good.

[Widdershin]

When you say programming has to be taught, do you include being self taught?

[jawr]

Definitely agree with this. I learnt to program with a lot of trial and error.. no screencasts or online workshops.

Also - I haven't actually watched the screencast, but looking at the text the virtualenv setup seems very wrong.

[Widdershin]

Embarrassingly enough, I learnt to program in Game Maker when I was pretty young. I still remember the day when it clicked what variables were :P

[krapp]

Game Maker is fun, I still play around with it now and then.

[Widdershin]

I still consider Game Maker to have the best standard library for actually making 2D games of any engine I've encountered.

[qu4z-2]

Don't be embarrassed. You've got to start somewhere.

[hdra]

I would agree that the best way to learn programming is to program, not just following along, but find a real problem and try to solve it, but then again, I know a lot of people who kept getting stuck because of the fear of "doing it wrong". So, yeah, watching other people do it has its merits as well.

[esalman]

It helps a lot if we watch some videos before actually program in a new language. It is also faster way to learn than reading a book, although reference books can be invaluable. I practically learned ActionScript by watching a screencast.

[serans]

I know many people enjoy screencasts, but they are just not for me.

I can't copy-paste code from a video.

Searching is orders of magnitude slower than just pressing "Page Up"/"Page Down". This is particularly important when I just want to take a glance and figure out if the text/video is of any interest.

I have to adapt myself to the speed of the video, and maybe most importantly, I have to swallow all the non-relevant parts (such as moving windows, launching commands, typing, etc.).

It takes me so much more effort (and patience) to watch a video instead of reading an equivalent text, that I almost never do so (khan academy being the exception).

[mhd]

Different strokes, I personally get pretty bored by watching people enter code and manipulate their windows, I read a lot faster than that and don't get distracted by all the non-code parts. Never mind different setups. I also much rather read a blog article than watch a long-winded podcast.

As Sartre said, Hell is watching other people use a computer.