Is learning code writing from someone else the right way?

Is learning code writing from someone else the right way
For example, like YouTube courses
or code learning sites,
Which way is it right to write code?

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I believe it is :slight_smile: Is why I get help from here, and sometimes on YouTube, as well as other websites.

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The problem with learning from sites like YouTube is that anyone can declare themselves an expert and post videos, but not all of what is taught is sound coding or up-to-date practices. Unfortunately, the less experienced you are, the harder it is to tell what is good and what is bad. I’d say it’s best to stick with learning from reputable sources, at least in the beginning, and always make sure you check the date of tutorials you follow. If it’s more than a couple of years old, you might be better off finding something more recent.

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@TechnoBear I agree with sticking to reputable sources. However, when trying out the code for making a tooltip, I used YouTube, and found it quite helpful.

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I’m not saying there is no good content on YouTube - merely urging caution.

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One other problem with Youtube is that Google’s algorithms tend to favour older websites and content, on the basis that they’re not here-today-gone-tomorrow. That means that searches will often bring up older sites which use older, outdated techniques.

As @TechnoBear says, you need to use caution.

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Is there anything that can be done about that, to avoid the older websites, content and outdated techniques?

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All vids on Youtube show the date they were uploaded. That should enable you to ignore old videos, but that doesn’t mean that newer vids are any good…

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I have seen some Youtube tutorials that are not so old, by publishing date, but what they teach was bad coding 10 years ago. So date is not always a reliable way of judging quality, and unfortunately, the less experienced you are as a coder, the harder it is to judge quality for yourself.

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I personally don’t do anymore tutorials for 2 reasons is there is always a better way of doing it and I find myself writing code that could be done better and by the time I get the tutorial done it’s outdated. Coding is fast changing in today’s world and to do a good tutorial one needs to keep the tutorial updated as much as possible. That is something I don’t want to do as I could be doing something better with my time.

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What the others have said is a somewhat negative view of the world on videos. They do have an ounce of truth but as long as you qualify the videos a bit, they certainly can be a great resource. BUT should not be the only resource!

Always do your learning with a combination of mediums… books, articles, videos etc. Compare them, test out something you see on a YouTube video. Does it work? Hey the video may be 10 years old and can still be perfectly viable today (or they may not be). If they are showing you how to write a C++ loop, you still can write that loop in C++ today. Yeah things change, but no matter what source you go to things will change. Reputable sources change. I am cycling through my book library every few years myself due to things changing. Do I say “Throw out books?” no. You evaluate a book like everything else. Is the book offering conflicting info with something else? Did you try it? You should be practicing along with a video or book with your own code editor. If it doesn’t work, why doesn’t it work? Do research.

Just be smart about what you are learning. There is never just one way to do things and yes there will always be better ways to do things. No reason to shy away from YouTube videos. Just go into them knowing that everything may or may not work now or the best solution to a problem. Learn what they are doing, why they are doing it and confirm things you don’t know or have questions about with other sources. To leave out a resource like YouTube videos really does nothing but slow down your learning. As long as you are not taking something that is shown to you as gospel, you will be fine.

:slight_smile:

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To leave out a resource like YouTube videos really does nothing but slow down your learning.

So true, the various tutorials and how-to’s are helpful.

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I have found that Udemy offer wonderful courses in all sorts of things especially software development. They are inexpensive too.

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I find that most tutorials do not bother to validate their source code for some unknown reasons.

I believe every language has validation utilities to ensure the script is valid. Not only errors and warnings are thrown but also detailed instructions on how to fix the anomalies.

W3.org has some excellent validation utilities and also Mozilla.org which are kept up to date with the latest script revisions. Google also has quite a few web related validation routines.

Which “learning code” are you writing?

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