[Tutor] The Reading Documentation problem

[Alan Gauld]

On 25/08/2019 00:04, Mike Barnett wrote:
> Sorry this is so long, but it's a real problem I'm witnessing and I'm 
> wondering if it's only a certain portion of the programming world 
> (self-taught people) or the internet-generation in general does 
> this regardless of educational training.

My own opinion, based on  anecdotal evidence only, is that its a symptom of
the YouTube generation.

People now learn from YouTube - which is invariably a shallow learning
process
driven by example rather than deeper explanation. (I'm biased since I write
books and a website! :-)

But if you "learn" by video, any documentation seems dull and boring.

So unless there is a short (one paragraph) text or a video these folks turn
to forums etc and ask for an answer (not an explanation, they only want
the immediate answer).

This is an issue in all manner of areas. I am a keen photographer and I see
the same thing there. Just tell me how to improve this shot, No interest in
understanding the deeper reasons why the image is wrong and how
to avoid the problem in future.

There are exceptions of course, but YouTube has created an expectation
that you can learn anything from a 15 minute video clip.

-- 
Alan G
Author of the Learn to Program web site
http://www.alan-g.me.uk/
http://www.amazon.com/author/alan_gauld
Follow my photo-blog on Flickr at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/alangauldphotos