4chan's /g is all you need
tutorial hell is ngmi behavior.
you watch some indian on youtube explain react hooks for 8 hours, you follow along, you feel smart, then you open a blank file and your brain is completely empty.
then you cope by buying another udemy course under $20.
why tutorial hell is cope
tutorial hell feels productive because you’re typing code but you’re not learning to think.
you’re learning to follow instructions - that’s how you turn into an npc.
when someone says “just read the manual” they’re not being elitist.
they’re telling you the actual secret sauce.
when you’re forced to figure shit out yourself, you learn how things actually work.
not just what to type, but why it breaks, what your computer is actually doing and why nothing makes sense until suddenly it does.
tutorials give you the illusion of progress without understanding - building forces understanding because you literally cannot bullshit a compiler.
the anons were right all along
let me introduce you to 4chan’s infamous technology board… /g/
yeah it’s mostly basement dwellers with questionable social skills however they can actually code.
not “i have 12 linkedin certifications” code.
actual working software
- custom window managers
-from-scratch implementations of git
-hobby operating systems that boot on real hardware
-kernel modules that do weird stuff with network packets
stuff that’s questionably useful but objectively functional.
when an anon wants to learn operating systems - they don’t queue up “OS concepts explained in 4 hours” on youtube.
they grab tanenbaum’s book and write a kernel that boots.
it takes days. they get stuck constantly.
the code is shit at first but it makes them better at their craft.
it’s slow and you feel stupid the entire time. but that’s the point.
the difference isn’t talent or IQ or whatever cope you’re thinking. it’s method.
the gas-pedal to the learning-crisis - LLMs
AI is here. chatgpt can spit out slop-code faster than your brain can process it - the promptcels think they’ve won. “just learn to prompt bro”.
ngmi mentality
here’s the thing: if you can’t code without the llm, you can’t code with it either.
when chatgpt hallucinates some bullshit solution you won’t even know, then when everything breaks at 2am and the llm is useless, you’ll just sit there banging “PLEASE FIX THIS” into it like a brainlet.
the ONLY competitive advantage left is actually understanding what you’re building - not “prompt engineering” cope.
actually knowing how to build shit from first principles.
everyone can ‘generate’ code now - barely anyone can build systems that don’t fall apart.
how to actually learn (whatido)
stop ai-seething and coping - actually do this:
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pick something you want to build. doesn’t matter what. something you’d actually use. not another fucking todo app. (refer to 4chan’s beginner project guide)
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try to build it. you won’t know how to. you’ll immediately fail. this is good.
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get stuck. don’t watch a tutorial. read some docs. yes it’s boring. yes you have to read it anyway.
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build it wrong. try if it works. look at your code. realize it’s garbage. refactor.
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learn why it was bad. fix it. do it again with something harder.
the terminal test
side test: can you build your project with just terminal + text editor?
not “would you” - you’d obviously use cursor if you want. but COULD you?
if no, you don’t understand your tools.
if you can’t compile, run, debug, and deploy from the command line, you’re just clicking buttons you don’t understand.
basement anons get this instinctively - they’re not hiding behind some electron bloatware ide.
they’re in the terminal actually seeing what happens when code runs.
build or ngmi
you’re a programmer when you can actually build stuff.
when someone says “wouldn’t it be cool if…” and you can just make it.
when you can take an idea and turn it into working tested working code.
in the llm age this is literally your only edge
everyone thinks they can code because they ‘prompt’ now.
barely anyone can build systems that work.
remember…you can’t debug what you didn’t write.
/g/ saw this and figured it out like 15 years ago.
that’s it. that’s the thread - time for me to get off 4chan and go build something.