Is a site like itpro.tv the best place to learn coding?

[Krum]

I guess you could say that I'm a tech enthusiast, but admittedly a lazy programmer/coder. If I wanted to buckle down and learn linux, networking, and even other coding languages; where would I go? I want to be a skilled user and play with all the great toys out there (rubber ducky, pineapple, etc.).

I know there is a 'google machine,' and I've looked at a lot of sites, but I would like some [pro] advice on which is the best. I'd even be willing to pay for it if I knew I was getting 'quality instruction.' For example, you can see a bunch of courses available at:

http://itpro.tv/course-library/#/

But, before I pay out monthly $$$, and it is pricey, I wanna be sure I'm going the right direction. I want to do this right. Where can I go to learn from scratch and go all the way to intermediate to skilled knowledge? I am sincere in this venture.

-Krum

NSS30 NSS30

[Sildaekar]

In my personal opinion the best place to learn something new is youtube, aside from that just read every article and tutorial online that you can. Or go to your local bookstore and grab a few books, flip though them and see if they are interesting then buy 'em.

I have never used the website you've mentioned so I can't comment on them either way but the methods I mentioned are what I do, plus I'm cheap like that haha.

[cooper]

It very much depends on how you take in information the best. Me, I need to have a problem facing me before I can motivate myself to the point of figuring out what needs to be done. I don't learn a language just for the sake of being able to say I know how it works. When I'm developing something and I realize something is needed that I'm not familiar with, I look it up. Google is your friend and it has the benefit that you can search for that specific nugget of information. I typically end up on stackoverflow for programming issues.

When I know I need to learn something from scratch, I prefer to have a book on the subject. It's how initially tought myself Java and UNIX. This involved me going to a well-stocked bookstore, the kind typically located near or associated with a large uni so you know you're likely to find a wide selection of books on the same subject. I'd go over the selection and figure out which book is written in a style I appreciate, has sufficient examples which focus on one thing only and that engage me at the level I want to be engaged at. If I were to buy, say, a book on Perl now, I'd skip any book that spends more than 5 pages on the history or the language, its current relevance or to provide a written blow-job to its creator because, respectively, I don't care, I'm looking for a book on it with the intent to buy it so it's relevant to me now regardless of your opinion, and I don't care.

I like youtube for the more hands-on type crafty things. Like how to make an antenna. For general programming concepts, particularly the complex ones, I tend to end up re-viewing the video multiple times and giving the speaker a certain amount of leeway because this might just be something he recorded at 3 am in his basement after a long night of working on the thing and he's skipping some parts because he's done them so often it's obvious to him that's what you should be doing at that point, which you who hasn't done any of this up until now will be left in the dark. Aside from the "how to build" type videos I find youtube mostly just useful to show me what can be done at which point I'll seek out a written text to discover for myself how to do it.

[Krum]

Thank you for the solid replies guys. I really appreciate them. I struggle with just sitting down with a book, because like one of you said, I need a problem to solve. However, going through forums and how to's, is how I've gathered much of my knowledge thus far. I don't want to continue with holes in my education. I know there are tons of fundamental things that I don't know. I realize that everytime I watch a hak5 video! So, I feel like a more instructional style of teaching, or even, yes, a video format is ideal. I would definitely benefit from a structured teaching method. That's why I was curious if sites like the above mentioned would be a good idea. But, if you think I can learn the basics on youtube, and supplement with texts, then maybe that's the way to go.

I'd still love further input if there's anyone out there with a silver bullet.

Thanks again,

-Krum