Ask HN: Do you learn more from Tutorials?

9 points by joeclef 10 years ago | 5 comments

Most tutorials tend to provide a step by step solution. But I feel like I would learn more if I had to figure things out on my own. Does anyone else feel the same way?

codegeek 10 years ago |

For me, a good tutorial explains the "why" and not just the "how" or "what". So even though step by step tutorial can be useful, if they don't teach the why, I don't find them too effective.

Also about figuring things on your own, the point of any good tutorial is to give you directions. You still have to figure things out on your own. You always do. But a good tutorial can at least tell you where to look to figure a specific thing out.

WritelyDesigned 10 years ago |

I' a pretty visual person myself. So I find that watching a video tutorial and then immediately trying to put it into practice myself seems to be a winning combo. But of course, everyone is different and some learn more effectively with other means (reading, audio, etc.).

b_t_s 10 years ago |

I arguably learn things more _thoroughly_ slogging through the docs. But only if it is important enough to justify the much higher initial effort, otherwise I don't learn them at all.

However, I learn more things faster from tutorials because they(assuming they're any good) give a high level overview and show how the pieces fit together to actually get something done. That is something a lot of official docs do poorly or not at all. And if it is a topic I'm actually interested in and use regularly, I'll eventually spend plenty of time with the official docs & learn it in detail.

kzisme 10 years ago |

It really depends on what I am trying to do and the type of tutorial.

The more detailed the better and if it explains pit-falls as well it's nice.

But if you considering SO a "tutorial" or something like fixing small problems - then no I don't learn much it's mostly quick fixes and I'm off.

It comes down to the details and how much time an author puts into a post - Quality comes secondary (ie: authors primary spoken language)

MichaelCrawford 10 years ago |

I learn from the kind if tutorials that are linked from HN, but if I google for a tutorial many have little useful information but lots of ads.

My own tutorials often focus on underlying principles rather than srep-by-step solutions. If the solution doesnt apply bevause the problem is different, say because a new release changed the UI of the software that the tutorial discusses, understanding the principles may enabke you to work out your own solution.