Very interesting topic. We have multiple variables to consider. I would say that the most important is the reason why you want to learn this new technology. Sometimes we as developers need to help temporarily in other projects with a framework that we don't know. In those cases I think anything is valid as long as you get the job done soon.
In the other hand if you want to have deep knowledge on something, I believe video courses and books are valid but they failed very often. I have found that a lot of the resources out there were make by people that is not really prepare to teach and worst they don't have the knowledge require to do so.
I have caught people teaching on the internet things that are complete lies like saying that 'JavaScript has variable hoisting' and worst they hurt the industry I have seen recruiters asking question of 'hoisting on JavaScript' on interviews and I have told them that it is a lie there is no such a topic in the ECMAScript specification. Obviously they don't like me after that, but this an example of how misconceptions can damage our industry. There are a lot of people doing whatever it takes to be a youtuber or get money from creating low quality courses on platforms like Udemy.
My suggestion about this is that: if you really want to learn something deeply, you need to go to the main source of truth. It could be official documentation or the specification. We are lying ourselves pretending to be experts on something and not willing to do what experts do. Which is to study enough to be able to understand and modify the given technology. It is difficult to start in those cases I would say that you should look for resources created by true masters of the technology. I have done something around 50 courses related to javascript in my life, until I found the courses of Kyle Simpson in FrontEndMasters I realized that I wasted most of my time. Always try to get information from well known experts maybe the creators of the technology. Sometimes they create courses, books, podcasts, follow them trust in them more than trusting a random guy on youtube.
True! You're right.
I have seen videos teaching a lot of lies about frameworks/language/technology. This is complicated specially on new developers, they believe everything they read or watch. I am example about that. I didn't learn to code until 3 years after graduating! I mean, I thought I knew, but didn't. I wrote bad code following bad practices until I really investigate how to code.
Even today, I need to learn a lot about new concepts.
Have you seen examples about this in books? That's interesting, because I haven't
I was thinking in how books get outdated easily. I believe books related to fundamental concepts are useful longer than let's say almost any book on any new technology. For example, pick any book for learning Ionic. Each major release of Ionic was a complete change all the old books are worthless, unless you are maintaining a legacy project which is highly improbable because some modules have become unsupported.
My recommendation is that you should not read books just because. Our time is limited, it is better to read books of theory or books that are widely recommended by the developer community.
I also like reading books about principles or engineering but I would never pick a book for learning a new technology.
Thanks for your tip about variable hoisting in Javascript!
I also assumed that to be true and finally looked into how that is processed under the hood in the MDN Web Docs and this more concise medium article and finally understand that it's not true 'hoisting'.
That being said, unless I was working in academia or with the V8 engine directly, I probably wouldn't call it a 'lie' since the end result seems to be the same and many Javascript developers already came to a conclusion that it is what they mean when they call it 'hoisting'.
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Very interesting topic. We have multiple variables to consider. I would say that the most important is the reason why you want to learn this new technology. Sometimes we as developers need to help temporarily in other projects with a framework that we don't know. In those cases I think anything is valid as long as you get the job done soon.
In the other hand if you want to have deep knowledge on something, I believe video courses and books are valid but they failed very often. I have found that a lot of the resources out there were make by people that is not really prepare to teach and worst they don't have the knowledge require to do so.
I have caught people teaching on the internet things that are complete lies like saying that 'JavaScript has variable hoisting' and worst they hurt the industry I have seen recruiters asking question of 'hoisting on JavaScript' on interviews and I have told them that it is a lie there is no such a topic in the ECMAScript specification. Obviously they don't like me after that, but this an example of how misconceptions can damage our industry. There are a lot of people doing whatever it takes to be a youtuber or get money from creating low quality courses on platforms like Udemy.
My suggestion about this is that: if you really want to learn something deeply, you need to go to the main source of truth. It could be official documentation or the specification. We are lying ourselves pretending to be experts on something and not willing to do what experts do. Which is to study enough to be able to understand and modify the given technology. It is difficult to start in those cases I would say that you should look for resources created by true masters of the technology. I have done something around 50 courses related to javascript in my life, until I found the courses of Kyle Simpson in FrontEndMasters I realized that I wasted most of my time. Always try to get information from well known experts maybe the creators of the technology. Sometimes they create courses, books, podcasts, follow them trust in them more than trusting a random guy on youtube.
True! You're right.
I have seen videos teaching a lot of lies about frameworks/language/technology. This is complicated specially on new developers, they believe everything they read or watch. I am example about that. I didn't learn to code until 3 years after graduating! I mean, I thought I knew, but didn't. I wrote bad code following bad practices until I really investigate how to code.
Even today, I need to learn a lot about new concepts.
Have you seen examples about this in books? That's interesting, because I haven't
Very appreciated for your comment!
Sorry I didn't understand your question. Examples of what kind or about what?
Ok, I'll change my question. You mentioned: " I believe video courses and books are valid but they failed very often".
I believe in books, everything they say hehe. Because is written by professional. Why do you say they failed? Any example?
I was thinking in how books get outdated easily. I believe books related to fundamental concepts are useful longer than let's say almost any book on any new technology. For example, pick any book for learning Ionic. Each major release of Ionic was a complete change all the old books are worthless, unless you are maintaining a legacy project which is highly improbable because some modules have become unsupported.
My recommendation is that you should not read books just because. Our time is limited, it is better to read books of theory or books that are widely recommended by the developer community.
I also like reading books about principles or engineering but I would never pick a book for learning a new technology.
That's a great point of view. Thank you for sharing
Hi scruong,
Thanks for your tip about variable hoisting in Javascript!
I also assumed that to be true and finally looked into how that is processed under the hood in the MDN Web Docs and this more concise medium article and finally understand that it's not true 'hoisting'.
That being said, unless I was working in academia or with the V8 engine directly, I probably wouldn't call it a 'lie' since the end result seems to be the same and many Javascript developers already came to a conclusion that it is what they mean when they call it 'hoisting'.