Ask HN: Do you watch streams (on Twitch, etc.)?
Hi folks,
I have recently been on a few Twitch streams as a guest and it seems like a totally different way to learn things. I was curious if you watched streams (on Twitch, youtube or elsewhere) and if so, what kind of technical topics you were interested in.
Also, any tips for great streams and/or methods to learn better while watching (follow along, review later, etc)?
(I know lots of folks watch gaming on Twitch, but I'm more interested in it as a new way to learn about software development.)
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Sometimes the presenter will have some setup or just mention a config and if you aren't on the exact same version of IDE/editor then everything looks different and you're lost. Then there is the larger problem of older videos are 100% irrelevant if the stack of tech they use has had recent updates. Maybe this is more game programming related because major version changes will have menus moving around or new/different options. I would imagine a new person to web development would feel the same if videos were on IDE version 1 and that IDE is on version 3 now (replace IDE with editor or whatever you use).
When I tinker with something new and there is a written setup guide, its much easier to follow along. I almost think video streams aren't the right format for learning.
Typically with most programming streams what happens is you watch people silently mash the keys on their keyboard, whilst listening to music, and occasionally talking to themselves about what they're doing, and not really imparting that much knowledge or interacting much.
[1] https://www.youtube.com/c/AndreasKling/videos
[2] https://serenityos.org/
I only watch live streams when it's like a game tourney, but even then they if it's important enough they also have a live stream on Youtube.
Not that I like youtube or anything, but that's how I interact with the streaming world.
I once attended a live stream on Twitch because I wanted to ask the streamer a very specific question. He had 15 viewers at that time, he read my question and answered it. Then I thanked him and logged off.
Higher level you may want to focus on what a great educator does when teaching. A big part of being a good educator is understanding the different ways that people learn and accommodating for each of them. I think? If you can leverage Twitch's chat system to help groups that learn differently you might have more impact. (Personally I would want an educator to present ideas and get through fully-thought out concepts before taking questions and interacting with chat).
If I try to give a more objective critique I think the act of writing something is more thoughtful than just saying it. Live content rarely, if ever, will have the same sort of detail as something written in a book because doing so on camera would be unwatchable tedium.
I agree with others that streams could be useful for introduction to topics (ex: conference presentations) but in my opinion, fall short beyond that.
There's latency between me being exposed to a topic and having enough understanding to ask questions about it, and after the time has gone by, the topic has already changed.
I wanted to make it part of my routine, but then the streamer started doing that twitch thing where they drop their sentence to thank someone that subscribed or paid some contribution.
It became too annoying as they got more and more popular, and eventually I just stopped tuning in.
Now I listen to a couple of NPR and Times podcast with much better quality and no annoying live interruptions.
I like learning. I remodeled my house with my father, I rebuilt an engine, I completely modified a car, built home servers and computers, I'm planning a patio project. Youtube videos and streams often have a lot of bad information, additionally I don't want to watch a 1 hour stream just to learn halfway this person doesn't know what they are doing. There is sometimes a lot of fluff in those videos and marketing. Books and even online tutorials are much MUCH better, easier to briefly see what is in it.
A lot of people who are making these videos is basically a blind person leading another blind person. They don't know the subject well enough but want to make a how to video. For example, anyone can build a patio that looks nice......however, not everyone can build a patio that will stand the test of time. There are different guidelines for different climate/soil types.
Imo, if you are really want to learn something you need to dive deep, start with the basics so you can then at least filter good information.
None of that is possible with streams, so I don't. From time to time, I will just explore the stream to see if everyone is working on something interesting (I am trying to get a feel for Rust at the moment)