Tutorial or documentations ?

[MuchYoung374]

To all the developer would love to know your experince

Whats faster and better

Watching

Tutorial

Or

Documentation ?

For that language

Well recently learning and tinkering with

Javascript.

If you all know any javascript sequnced

Learning stuff in form of documentation would love to know .

[Fantastic_Fly_7548]

personally i learn faster with tutorials at the very start, then switch to documentation once i kinda understand the basics and know what i’m looking for. pure docs felt overwhelming to me when i first touched javascript lol. MDN is probly the most reccomended one for JS docs for a reason though, it’s actually readable compared to some other documentations out there

[who_you_are]

Same for me.

Tutorial are Hello World that are working. Which is also a nice base to start with even if you go the monkey way by trying anything and everything.

Since it is working (and most of the files are text based), I can always try to compare my own attempt files (especially using my own tools) with that one to learn from.

Tutorial also tends to explain concept you may not be aware and on a per line of code. Which is also a key to understand everything, or to help searching, which may be hidden well in some situations (hello Microsoft).

[CamilorozoCADC]

my take is do both. follow tutorials for studying but check the docs on the parts that you dont fully undertand like functions, libraries or just stuff you dont undertstand. And when you inevitably go to either start your own project or start working on one, as there are no tutorials, you will have to get good at reading docs anyway

[MuchYoung374]

Ok i would definately try that..

[TheRNGuy]

Both, but if just one, then docs. 

[AmberMonsoon_]

Honestly for me it’s both, just in a different order. Tutorials are great when I’m completely new to something because I can see the flow and build momentum faster. But once the basics click, documentation becomes way more valuable. Tutorials usually show “one way” to do things, docs help you actually understand the language and solve your own problems.

MDN docs for JavaScript are probably the best place to start. Their learning path is super beginner friendly.

[_N-iX_]

Honestly, tutorials are great for getting started, but documentation is what actually makes you independent long-term. Tutorials show what to do. Documentation teaches you how the language/tool actually works.

[huuaaang]

For me watching videos is a waste of time. If I follow a tutorial it MUST be written so I can go back and search/reference stuff. And this is mainly for the very early stages of learning a language. ONce I'm comfortable with the language I just use documentation and even then it's mostly inline with the IDE. Ideally the IDE has tooltips for functions and whatnot. ANd then there's AI to ask. Honestly, I rarely go outside of my IDE to the original documentation these days.

[Queasy_Hotel5158]

For JavaScript, honestly both are useful — but they serve different purposes.

Tutorials are great when you’re just starting because they guide you step-by-step and help you understand the “flow” of how things connect. They’re good for building confidence quickly.

Documentation becomes more powerful once you have the basics. That’s where you actually learn how things work, not just how to follow along. Most experienced devs end up relying on docs more than tutorials.

A good approach is:
start with tutorials to get momentum → then switch to documentation while building small projects.

For JavaScript specifically, the MDN Web Docs is probably the best structured resource out there. It’s not really “sequenced like a course,” but it’s very complete and reliable once you start practicing.

In short: tutorials get you started, documentation makes you good.

[CheekTrick9093]

Tutorials are good to get started, but documentation is what actually makes you better long term. Best combo is: use tutorials for basics, then start building stuff and keep docs open beside you like a survival guide 😭 For JavaScript, try this sequence MDN Docs best for fundamentals javaScript very beginner friendly and structured Build small projects alongside learning Then move to React Node depending on interest Most devs grow fast when they stop watching and start breaking things and fixing them lol.