Hacker News: markm208

Show HN: The Playback Press

markm208 — Tue, 13 Feb 2024 18:09:56 +0000

I just launched a site to share ‘books’ of code playbacks. These are guided walkthroughs of some code as it evolves with a narrative from the author. The narrative can include text, whiteboard-style drawings, images, and videos.

https://playbackpress.com/

I have been using these in my programming-focused CS courses for a couple of years. I always give an anonymous survey at the end of the semester and the feedback has been very positive. Students prefer them to traditional programming books (no surprise) and to videos (I was a little surprised). Next, I want to make these available to others. I am hoping to shake up the traditional programming book publishing market.

I’m looking for feedback on the medium of playbacks and the likelihood of these replacing books/tutorials/videos. If you are an enthusiastic supporter, I am also looking for new authors and partners/cofounders.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39360720

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Ask HN: Looking for help with code playback hosting app

markm208 — Wed, 26 Apr 2023 21:45:28 +0000

I just crossed over 30,000 views of my 'books' of code playbacks on: https://markm208.github.io

A few years ago I built an MVP to host code playbacks, 'Our Code Stories' (http://ourcodestories.com/), but I abandoned it because of some changes that I made in the code playback format. Since then I have been hosting on GitHub Pages.

This summer I plan on building a new hosting site from scratch. I will publish and sell curated 'books' from authors (myself and others) and let sw devs create portfolios and blog posts using code playbacks for free. These should let devs build their brand by showing their code and explanations of it.

I am looking for people who believe in the value of code playbacks. I'd love some advice on modern stacks that I should use to build it and/or people who are willing to work together on the new site (co-founders).

If you have any advice or are curious about partnering, reach out to me.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35720448

Points: 1

# Comments: 0

Show HN: Creating Code Playbacks with Storyteller

markm208 — Sun, 26 Feb 2023 21:02:03 +0000

I have been working for a while on a new medium to guide others through code examples. Devs use an editor (VS Code) to write code and then test it like normal. Then, the code can be played back in a browser and the author can add a narrative about its evolution. The narrative can include text, code highlights, hand drawn pictures, screenshots, audio/video files, and Q&A's. I call them 'code playbacks' (follow the link to see some examples in one of my 'books').

I have been making collections of these and using them instead of textbooks in the programming-focused CS courses that I teach for the last couple of years. My students don't like traditional programming books much anymore. They like videos but I don't think they are ideal for teaching with code. They have responded really well to the code playbacks.

I've been thinking about making a new site to host these so that anyone can sell (or share for free) their collections of playbacks. Users would also be able to make professional portfolios to show potential employers how they think about and communicate with code.

I don't really consider myself a web developer but I am pretty sure I can learn what I need to in order to build this. My dilemma is whether I should or not. Are playbacks a valuable enough new medium? Can they disrupt the traditional programming book market? Should I create a startup and write all of the code myself (probably slowly)? Should I raise money? Find a co-founder? Hire a seasoned web dev team? I'm looking for advice on next steps.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34949412

Points: 2

# Comments: 0

An Animated Introduction to Clojure

markm208 — Thu, 01 Dec 2022 01:20:16 +0000

Article URL: https://markm208.github.io/cljbook/

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=33810921

Points: 3

# Comments: 0

New comment by markm208 in "An animated introduction to Elixir"

markm208 — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 13:03:08 +0000

I am the author of the tutorial. I created a tool that captures keystrokes and file operations in a popular editor and allows them to be played back in a browser. The author can then add a narrative as the code evolves with text, pictures, and videos.

I have more 'books' on C++, python, SQL, web dev, dart/flutter, clojure, ruby, and more:

https://markm208.github.io/

I use these for the programming-focused cs courses that I teach instead of having the students buy bloated textbooks. The students prefer them to books (no surprise) and videos (somewhat surprising). The code is searchable and copy/pasteable so the students actually use it.

The tool is free and open.

Show HN: Our Code Stories- Programming Book Publishing/Tutorial Blog Alternative

markm208 — Thu, 15 Aug 2019 17:43:19 +0000

You may have seen a few posts lately around the idea of sharing stories about how code develops. I have been working on this too so I thought I would (re)share

https://ourcodestories.com

My feeling is that code is typically written by a single person on a single computer and that others really only get to see the final product. Other devs don't get to learn much from the development process since they aren't around to see it all happen. Pair programming solves this problem but it doesn't scale well. In other words, there are a lot of interesting things to learn during the development process but much of it is left on the cutting room floor.

I have created a new medium that allows sw devs to guide viewers through non-trivial code examples. There is a VS Code extension for authors.

I am using it primarily as a replacement for traditional programming books, online tutorials, and youtube videos of code demos for the classes that I teach. Viewers can see code evolve and get a narrative commentary from the author while it happens. These are code focused resources which is what I think many learners want.

Here is an example of one: https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/4/Playback/89

These work best on a big screen. Use the >> button to quickly move through the code.

Here is all of the content I have created so far: https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/All

I want OCS to be a marketplace where authors go to write 'books' (alternative to O'Reilly or Pragmatic Programmers) or smaller tutorials (alternative to Medium) and where learners can go to get content (alternative to Khan Academy or YouTube). The site allows content creators to charge for their work or make it freely available to all.

I'd like to point out a few others that seem to be doing similar things: https://codelines.dev/ https://storytime.dev/ https://scrimba.com/

These are all interesting in their own ways and are worth checking out.

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20707610

Points: 4

# Comments: 0

New comment by markm208 in "Inverse Live Coding: A practice for learning web development"

markm208 — Sat, 06 Apr 2019 01:47:11 +0000

I have struggled with the speed at which I can write code live in class. It is hard to do it fast enough to keep students interested. It is also difficult to show even moderately complex programs from start to finish.

I have created a tool that allows me to move quickly through my code where students can still see how the solution evolves. I can comment at interesting points in the development of the code and attach hand drawn pics and screenshots. Here are some examples:

https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/All

(Click on the >> button to move from comment to comment. These work best on a big screen)

I show some of these in class before asking the students to work on a related problem. I require the students to view the rest outside of class.

My students really like these. They prefer them to textbooks (no surprise) and videos covering similar material.

The tool to create these 'playbacks' is free and open source (currently a VS Code plugin). I have also created the site to share these with others. I am looking for feedback.

New comment by markm208 in "A Brief, Animated Introduction to Programming with Python"

markm208 — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 20:21:22 +0000

I am the creator of a new medium to guide others through code examples. I call them playbacks.

This is an intro book on Python. I have also written books on [C++](https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/2) and [Clojure](https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/4). I am looking for feedback on the medium.

I am also looking for others to write their own books/tutorials and to create professional portfolios to show potential employers how they do their work. Storyteller is a free, open source tool to create playbacks. Our Code Stories is a site to host them. Authors can post their playbacks for free, make them private, or charge a fee for others to access them.

If you are interested in creating your own playbacks and need a little help getting started reach out to me and I’ll help.

A Brief, Animated Introduction to Programming with Python

markm208 — Thu, 06 Sep 2018 20:19:41 +0000

Article URL: https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/16

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17929222

Points: 2

# Comments: 1

Show HN: Our Code Stories

markm208 — Wed, 15 Aug 2018 13:49:47 +0000

Our Code Stories (https://ourcodestories.com) is a site that holds animated, annotated code walk-throughs called 'playbacks'. These resemble recorded live code demos but one can usually get through a playback faster than a video by skipping only to the points where the author has something to say.

These can be used to create code-oriented tutorials and programming books. Here is a 'book' I wrote about Clojure:

https://ourcodestories.com/markm208/Playlist/4

The site can also be used to create professional programming portfolios. These animated playbacks are a great way to communicate how one thinks about problem solving and code to potential employers. A dev can add text, images, screenshots, and video comments to their code. Finally, the guided walk-throughs can be used to help dev teams prepare for a code review or get a new team member up to speed on a code base.

Users can create an unlimited number of free public and private playbacks. They can also charge a fee to access a group of playbacks. For example, if someone wants to write a book about a programming topic they can use Our Code Stories instead of going through a traditional publisher. I am hoping to disrupt traditional programming book publishing with playbacks. Authors receive 75% of each sale.

Playbacks are made by using the open-source software that I created called 'Storyteller' (https://markm208.github.io/storyteller/index.html). Storyteller is a plugin to the Visual Studio Code editor. Our Code Stories is a site that holds groups of Storyteller playbacks kind of like how GitHub holds Git repos. Follow us @ourcodestories.

I am curious whether professional sw devs will find this medium useful. I welcome any feedback. I am also looking for brave people to use the tools to create and publish their own playbacks. I am willing to help early adopters with any issues they have (email me @ my profile email).

Comments URL: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17765988

Points: 4

# Comments: 1

New comment by markm208 in "Are videos really the best tool for the job of educating coders?"

markm208 — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 20:32:02 +0000

I already posted to the original but thought I would chime in. I like the idea of guiding someone through some code with a narrative. Your tool is very helpful for this.

I have a similar tool but it allows the comments to be added to the code as it evolves:

https://github.com/markm208/storyteller#storyteller

The main difference being that the context of the comment is always in line with code at the point the comment is made. One other difference is that a person can add drawings and audio to their comments.

New comment by markm208 in "Are videos really the best tool for the job of educating coders?"

markm208 — Tue, 22 Nov 2016 18:12:04 +0000

I am working on a tool that allows developers to walk others through their code. It can certainly be used purely for teaching others but I think there is also value in having developers reflect on what they have done in their workflow:

https://github.com/markm208/storyteller#storyteller

New comment by markm208 in "The Strange Appeal of Watching Coders Code"

markm208 — Thu, 20 Aug 2015 04:14:23 +0000

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)

New comment by markm208 in "YC Fellowship"

markm208 — Tue, 21 Jul 2015 02:27:14 +0000

Was there any reason why this wasn't timed for the summer months?

It seems like a lot of entrepreneurial college students would love to spend their summer working on their ideas. Perhaps it just came together at this time but in hindsight I wonder if summer is a more logical time since students have the free time anyway. The 12K would allow them to easily live/eat too.

I can even imagine involving college professors and students. Then it might disrupt entrepreneurship education in higher ed.

New comment by markm208 in "John Resig annotates original jQuery source code"

markm208 — Tue, 07 Apr 2015 21:56:18 +0000

There is something that I have been working on:

https://vimeo.com/97711978#t=0m37s

New comment by markm208 in "Every line of code is always documented"

markm208 — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:30:28 +0000

Ha ha... yes, it sounds painful but imagine you come across a function that you don't fully understand. You can highlight it and watch how that code evolved. The code will be animated very easily (compared to trying to reconstruct the history from some VCS). Most people will never watch (or care about) you writing code but sometimes it may be very useful.

New comment by markm208 in "Every line of code is always documented"

markm208 — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 15:20:13 +0000

Imagine if the author of the novel had to write those irrelevant scenes anyway in order to get to the good stuff. There might be someone, a literature academic for example, who would want to study that material. It wouldn't be for everyone but there are some who might want access to it. My point is that we are generating this history anyway, so why throw it out? There may be someone who wants to see how the code has evolved. Plus, nobody says you have to watch stuff that is not interesting. There are ways to filter out things you aren't interested in.

New comment by markm208 in "Every line of code is always documented"

markm208 — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 01:02:08 +0000

I agree with the author that historical information about how a codebase has evolved is important. I would also argue that code comments are not always the best place for this historical information (if you don’t know about the deep past of a bit of code, then why would you want to see a code comment describing some change to it?).

I suggest we take a step back and ask if modern version control is the best way to store historical information. Modern version control systems (git, mercurial, etc.) were built within the last decade or so but they were built with the same constraints as the original version control systems of the 1980’s. They are optimized to be disk efficient (and don’t get me started about their command line interfaces). This is crazy!

We should store much more about the programming process than the data gathered if and when a developer chooses to commit. We should record it all- every keystroke. No human generated source of data is ever going to fill up our hard drives or the cloud. Don’t optimize for the disk!

This data can be used to replay programming sessions so that others can learn exactly how the code evolved. Developers could then comment on the evolution of their code. Think of this as a modern commit message. I am working on a project that attempts to do this:

http://www.storytellersoftware.com

New comment by markm208 in "Code is not Literature"

markm208 — Tue, 21 Jan 2014 01:29:21 +0000

The main problem I see is that code is read left to right, top to bottom (for the most part) but it is rarely, if ever, written that way. The order that decisions are made is almost as important as the decisions themselves. But, we lose almost all of that order or 'context'. Worse, although we can place comments in the code, we cannot attach comments to the evolution of code. Evolutional comments could describe why things are changing in the proper context and make reading code a lot easier.

New comment by markm208 in "Pair Programming (give it a rest)"

markm208 — Sun, 17 Nov 2013 15:50:59 +0000

The OP clearly doesn't believe that he has a responsibility to teach those around him to be better. Imagine that you were the CEO of a company that had one great programmer and four average ones. Don't you think the CEO would want the great one to spread some of his/her knowledge? Now, imagine you were one of the four average developers, wouldn't it seem crazy that you sit three feet away from a great developer but never learn anything from him/her?

Do we want this to be an industry where only the self taught succeed? I don't. I believe there are still some things that I can learn from others. I believe I am obligated to help those around me get better- it should be part of the job description. Pair programming, if it does nothing else, does open up what is normally a solitary activity and gives people a chance to learn from others.