Tried learning JavaScript from a bootcamp video first instead of reading docs

Spent 2 weeks following an online bootcamp series and thought I had it down. Then I tried building a simple to-do app on my own and realized I couldn't recall any of the syntax without the instructor walking me through it. Has anyone else found that reading the actual documentation forces you to think through problems better than watching tutorials?

2 comments

2 Comments

sanchez.mia1mo ago

Wait, is this the part where I admit I watched the same tutorial three times and still couldn't remember how to spell "function" without peeking? yeah, that's me. I think the problem with tutorials is they make it look too easy, like everything just flows perfectly with no hiccups. But real coding is messy and full of mistakes, and docs force you to sit there and figure out why your code broke. I learned way more from banging my head against the MDN docs for a weekend than from two weeks of smooth sailing through a bootcamp video. Not saying tutorials are useless, but they hide all the ugly parts that actually teach you something.

charlie_lane851mo ago

Respectfully, @sanchez.mia, I gotta disagree a bit. Tutorials show you the cleaned up version of code where everything works on the first try, yeah, but that's because they're trying to teach a specific concept without piling on debugging distractions. I've actually learned a ton from tutorials that walk through problems step by step and explain why they chose one approach over another. The real issue is when people only watch tutorials and never try to build anything on their own. You gotta use both - docs for the gritty details and tutorials for the big picture.