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Survey Results

Which of the following are your preferred ways of learning?

Survey period: 15 Apr 2019 to 22 Apr 2019

Some methods are more efficient than others.

OptionVotes% 
Written tutorials61260.47
Video tutorials39639.13
Reading a book50449.80
Online interactive tutorials32231.82
By modifying and extending an existing application49148.52
Using the docs and trial-and-error44343.77
Formal courses19719.47
Randomly copying and pasting online code examples17417.19
Other302.96
Respondents were allowed to choose more than one answer; totals may not add up to 100%



 
General[Culturally Refined] Massage Parlor Pin
MacSpudster17-Apr-19 11:12
professionalMacSpudster17-Apr-19 11:12 
GeneralVideo tutorials are a grind Pin
daleofcourse17-Apr-19 0:44
daleofcourse17-Apr-19 0:44 
GeneralRe: Video tutorials are a grind Pin
den2k8817-Apr-19 1:19
professionalden2k8817-Apr-19 1:19 
GeneralRe: Video tutorials are a grind Pin
chris5gd18-Apr-19 0:50
chris5gd18-Apr-19 0:50 
GeneralBooks _used to_ be the best PinPopular
kalberts16-Apr-19 2:17
kalberts16-Apr-19 2:17 
Some of my oldest university text books, from the 1970-80s, are pedagogical masterworks: Consise, well organized, treating each topic separately, and with well chosen chapter headings and index entries. The author is clear on what is the expected background, and the material is organized in a way that if you know the elementary stuff, you may skim the first parts of each topic.

No more. First, any book less than 1200 pages is a "booklet" nowadays. There is so much talk, talk, talk, with no real substance.

Second, lots of books assume that you are closely familiar with some older technology that the new one replaces, and explains how the new thing works by telling how it differs from the old one. Or it explains a mechanism by showing e.g. which machine code (or .net msil), rather than its logical operation.

Third: The text assumes that you have read any preceeding page of the book in every minute detail, even those chapter covering topics that is way outside your needs. You must learn the whole thing, all the functions of the system, and work through every single example and exercize, to gain the background for understanding following examples; they are based on stuff that is completely irrelevant to you, but you must learn it anyhow. Otherwise the examples are useless.

Finally: Creating good indexes is a forgotten art. Nowadays, it looks as if authors believe that the more voluminous, the better, so they throw something, whatever, in there, whether useful or not, just to bring the size of the index up.

I guess that some newer books are like the old ones: consise, well organized, with an awareness of the reader's need for information. But on the average, the pedagogical value of textbooks have dropped dramatically the last 15-20 years. (When I think of it, the decline started long before that! Some of the books from the 90s are outright terrible!)
GeneralRandomly accepting one of the IDE suggested quick fixes Pin
englebart16-Apr-19 2:08
professionalenglebart16-Apr-19 2:08 
GeneralRelevance to achieving a goal Pin
maze315-Apr-19 23:41
professionalmaze315-Apr-19 23:41 
General[Other] - By asking and answering on QA sites Pin
Amit Joshi CP15-Apr-19 23:21
Amit Joshi CP15-Apr-19 23:21 
GeneralRe: [Other] - By asking and answering on QA sites Pin
Adam David Hill16-Apr-19 0:05
professionalAdam David Hill16-Apr-19 0:05 
GeneralRe: [Other] - By asking and answering on QA sites Pin
den2k8817-Apr-19 1:22
professionalden2k8817-Apr-19 1:22 
GeneralRe: [Other] - By asking and answering on QA sites Pin
Adam David Hill17-Apr-19 3:44
professionalAdam David Hill17-Apr-19 3:44 
GeneralRandomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
Abdullah Leghari15-Apr-19 7:35
Abdullah Leghari15-Apr-19 7:35 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
Kaladin15-Apr-19 8:09
Kaladin15-Apr-19 8:09 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
Nelek15-Apr-19 11:46
protectorNelek15-Apr-19 11:46 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
Paulo Zemek15-Apr-19 12:25
mvaPaulo Zemek15-Apr-19 12:25 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
Nelek16-Apr-19 9:05
protectorNelek16-Apr-19 9:05 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
MarkTJohnson16-Apr-19 3:53
professionalMarkTJohnson16-Apr-19 3:53 
GeneralRe: Randomly copying and pasting online code examples Pin
kalberts16-Apr-19 1:55
kalberts16-Apr-19 1:55 
GeneralTo Me a lot depends on what I am doing! Pin
MarcusCole683315-Apr-19 3:13
professionalMarcusCole683315-Apr-19 3:13 
GeneralVisual Learning / Trial and Error Pin
Slacker00715-Apr-19 1:18
professionalSlacker00715-Apr-19 1:18 
GeneralRe: Visual Learning / Trial and Error Pin
Kevin McFarlane15-Apr-19 3:31
Kevin McFarlane15-Apr-19 3:31 
GeneralBy Doing Pin
#realJSOP15-Apr-19 0:42
mve#realJSOP15-Apr-19 0:42 
GeneralRe: By Doing Pin
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 3:42
W Balboos, GHB15-Apr-19 3:42 
GeneralRe: By Doing Pin
#realJSOP15-Apr-19 4:06
mve#realJSOP15-Apr-19 4:06 
GeneralRe: By Doing Pin
Mycroft Holmes15-Apr-19 12:42
professionalMycroft Holmes15-Apr-19 12:42 

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