I'm about to start a project on data mining and statistics and the recommended tools are Python and R. As I have never before used R I want to learn about the language before tampering with any of the project code. Also the main structure is already made by someone else and I was asked to add more features.
So that's when this question came to me. Should I get a couple of books on the topic? Am I going to be fine after taking an online course (free or paid) plus some tests and exercises in hackerrank for example? Or do these methods compliment each other so it's best to do both?
What is your opinion? How do you usually get started with programming languages and new concepts?
P.S: If you have any good recommendations on where to start with R it would be much appreciated! But the main topic of the post is still the comparison of the two methods.
Thank you!
Oldest comments (52)
I took many online video based courses. Some of them are very specific and some udemy courses are just rip off of famous resources out there.
My suggestion is start with book.
Once you feel comfortable using R, then you can move on to advanced courses and projects
Video based courses are much easier to follow, I usually go for them too! Plus they fit in any schedule! No matter how much time you can invest.
Thanks for the recommendation, I'll check it out!
(General response, not specific to R)
I choose books because:
I choose online-courses because:
I look if the author(writer/speaker) is reputed for this domain. If he is in the development team, he can explain the "why it's working this way?" and it's something awesome to learn with the vision of the topic (langage or software).
Would you use a book to learn the basics on a fast-developing tool / language? And then maybe videos for the more complex and high-level concepts.
I use real books to search, digital books to learn the basics and videos for contents complex.
For me, the main concern about online courses (and video tutorials) is that the quality depends on the instructor, so is not a solution for every scenario. On the other side, you can't use a book from 2010 for learning modern web development or other evolving technologies.
So I guess it depends on what is your main concern. No matter what you choose, make sure to take 10 minutes to do research about the author/publisher/contents of the book/course.
Bookmarked! :D
In general, my experience is that basic level courses are not really worth it on online format compared to the value of the book. However a complete practical guide that includes advanced topics are really worth it.
Personally, I usually try to find online courses to get me up to speed faster. But studying from a book seems more in-depth
I must confess I never use video courses. I usually buy printed books, and sometimes ebooks.
My first problem with videos is the language barrier (I'm italian): I can read/write english very decently, but I struggle with real time listening. So, if I'm learning/studying something new, I still go with books.
That is a problem to me, too! OTOH most instructors have a very good pronunciation, so it ends up being a point in favor of courses to me, a good opportunity to practice English. Sure, it only works if I'm not totally alien to the subject but I rather read books for studying new domains anyway.
Just start with It... can be hard for some hours... but It will teach you english understanding and will give you access to a different learning approach
Prendi due piccioni con una fava
I can understand that. I've used videos, but only if literally nothing else comes up after weeks of internet searching. Even then, I sometimes have to bring up the transcriptions, even though I'm a native English speaker. Extremely thick accents coupled with broken English can be hard to understand, especially when the code is broken and you have to cross-reference and rewrite it to make it work.
I see them as complementary sources,
This!
Hello Kostas!
I guess you will eventually the best approach to you. It is kind of personal.
Nonetheless, here is what works for me.
I prefer books when entering whole new areas of expertise. In this case, I need to make my own pace, going back and forth in the subject, pausing, taking notes etc. For example, once I had to set up a call center but had zero knowledge of VoIP et al. So I read The Asterisk Book and Getting Started with Elastix.
When I'm acquainted with the subject domain, I find video courses helpful. Since I can assimilate the topic easier, the pace of the course helps me avoiding boredom and procrastination. For example, some time ago we used JAX-RS in my workplace. I'm a well-seasoned Java developer so I burned by free trial of LinkedIn Learning with Alex Theedom's excellent JAX-RS Introduction.
I doesn't mean it will be the same with you, of course :)
A friend of mine could use that asterisk book! Thanks for linking it!
I wouldn't think of using that linked in learning trial ever, I look it up and check if there is anything that fits to my occasion.
I like books, because you can navigate throught it easy and read again many times and is more in-depth.
The blogs are very useful when you had a certain expierence with new language or tool(after read the book?), you can get good topics/guides that other people with more expierence that wrote for their self and everybody.
I think the talks are more good when you have some knowledge in this new lang/tool.
I dont like so much videotutorials/videocourse because my english is only good for read, is very difficult sometimes follow the video, maybe with subtitles....
But is better get a mixin of them, books and videos, this is because I have an account on Safari Books Online, in there you have books(digital), videos and online trainings, is very useful !
Other good site is Packt, good resources !
Finally exist Leanpub is an amazing site of books and courses where anybody can create a course or write/publish a book, is for this that you can get some unique books from people (also they write good blogs ?) that not have an editorial or something like that (fix me if I'm wrong on this).
Of course exists other free stuffs, but if you have some money I think is good give the correct price to this amazing people that have the time to share their knowledge.
Thank you very much! I'll check the links!
As commented in other answers, these kind of videos can help you improve your English. If you can enable subtitles, adjust the speed to your comfort and listen to people who speak clearly you can benefit. On top of that you also learn the point of the video provided it is in a programming context.