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The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

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Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#61

Post by kmill »

firebones wrote: post #59
wtbob wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There's an author I know who does "live writes", which are essentially the same as this but for drafts of prose (she does them via shared Google Docs). Who knew that Monty Python would so accurately predict the future? Their Novel Writing skit is exactly this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogPZ5CY9KoM

Harlan Ellison ofter wrote short stories in a storefront using ideas tossed out by on-lookers. I'd love to see the programming equivalent, particular in the game space. It'd go a long way towards settling the art versus science debate--and I doubt there are but a handful (including Notch) who could perform the kind of improv that someone like Ellison did in his medium.

Recently I attended a gathering where about ten people tossed out ideas for an interactive fiction game as it was being live-coded in Inform 7. It was surprisingly fun (and if we had a better grasp of the language it would have been even more).

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#62

Post by BurningFrog »

dmarble wrote: post #44

"There's a good half-century of research around high expertise development but some of the most powerful and interesting has been greatly underestimated. The short version: modeling, modeling, modeling. If you want to develop high expertise, spend time, lots of time, observing those with high expertise. If you want to help others develop high, deep expertise, put them in a context where they have as much exposure as…

One of the major advantages of pair programming that I don't hear mentioned much is that you get to learn how others solve programming problems.

I've never learned so much about programming as my first year on a pair programming team. I taught those guys a few of my special tricks too.

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#63

Post by jeffreyrogers »

DarkTree wrote: post #55
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #54

If this sort of thing interests you (or even if you think it is totally ridiculous) you should definitely check out Handmade Hero[1], which is a livestream of a game's development. My own programming skills have improved from watching Handmade Hero as I've picked up some new techniques (and shed some bad habits as well). [1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/handmadeheroarchive

I can never imagine having as much knowledge of any programming language as Casey does. After only programming for a year now, it blows my mind that anyone can know and explain programming as well he does.

Yeah, it's been really amazing to watch. Plus you can really see how passionate he is about it, which is also a wonderful thing.

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#64

Post by markm208 »

I think the 'live' part of streaming might introduce a high noise factor.

What if the programmer could finish a programming session and then go back and see exactly what they have done and reflect on it? What if they could highlight just the interesting parts and leave the uninteresting parts on the cutting room floor? What if they could supply a reflective narrative describing how and why the code evolved? I think these types of experiences would provide more valuable learning experiences than the typical live code stream.

This is what I am trying to accomplish with my project called Storyteller:

http://www.storytellersoftware.com

There is a longer video demo here:

https://vimeo.com/97711978

(Earlier in the life of the project I also emphasized the tool as a version control tool/replacement but I am backing away from that for the time being)

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#65

Post by RobotCaleb »

I just did a five hour session the other day. When I do stream, I stream at http://watchpeoplecode.com. I really like the low latency on it. I am able to interact with the audience via text and/or voice chat in nearly realtime with the code I'm writing.

I record my streams and upload them to youtube after. I find it helps me to be productive, meet other people, and share my joy in creating.

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#66

Post by endtime »

minimaxir wrote: post #10

It should be noted that Livecoding.tv is (YC S15). Also, the article states there are "legions of coders" flocking to the site but I can't find much evidence of that, if the Twitter account ( http://twitter.com/livecodingtv ) which tweets all live streams, is anything to go by. At the least, if I wanted to livestream code, I would do it on YouTube where I can stream 1080p60fps. (I'm also sore about Livecoding.tv's "y…

> Also, the article states there are "legions of coders" flocking to the site but I can't find much evidence of that

Possibly an instance of http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#67

Post by Ollinson »

MiguelHudnandez wrote: post #25

A year or two ago, I watched notch stream coding for a weekend game competition, and it was fascinating. It was on the front page of HN for a while. I ended up watching it for a couple of hours while I did some low-cognition tasks. I think the appealing aspects for me were: * Seeing someone else's desktop and windowing habits * Watching for new keyboard shortcuts * Seeing workflows similar to mine in different IDEs a…

For anyone interested twitch.tv (live streaming website) has a section for programming[1]. Twitch archives all past videos so be sure to check those out as well.

The game development section often has good programming related content as well.

[1]http://www.twitch.tv/directory/game/Programming

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#68

Post by w0000t »

DarkTree wrote: post #55
jeffreyrogers wrote: post #54

If this sort of thing interests you (or even if you think it is totally ridiculous) you should definitely check out Handmade Hero[1], which is a livestream of a game's development. My own programming skills have improved from watching Handmade Hero as I've picked up some new techniques (and shed some bad habits as well). [1]: https://www.youtube.com/user/handmadeheroarchive

I can never imagine having as much knowledge of any programming language as Casey does. After only programming for a year now, it blows my mind that anyone can know and explain programming as well he does.

That is a pretty naive point of view. That amount of know-how, and I'm assuming he knows much more that has presented, is normal for someone who has been programming for 15+ years straight.

If you find yourself still seriously programming after a few years, try evaluating this position then.

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#69

Post by klibertp »

andrewchambers wrote: post #36

I think people like watching game programmers. I'm writing a compiler at the moment and wonder if I could get any audience.

I can't bring myself to watch those videos precisely because they are about coding games. I would totally watch coding a compiler though. I wonder how strange am I?

Re: The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code

#70

Post by LunaSea »

delecti wrote: post #46
Coding_Cat wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>The highest YouTube earner of 2014 made nearly $5 million >Related: A Swedish YouTube star made $7.4 million last year by playing video games Now I'm not a mathematician, but something seems off here...

Presumably it just means that not all of that $7.4m came from Youtube itself, while all $5m of the previous number did.

It could also be that the $7.4m came from another year.
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