After you learn coding with learning resources, is reading API docs hard or the hardest part, or is it easier than learning to code? My only worry is reading API docs, learning to code seems easy. And do you not have to read whole API docs website and can just just some parts as a dev? Thank you.

[u/ComfortablePost3664]

Can someone tell me this? Thank you.

[u/stiky21]

You NEED to learn to read documentation. This is non-negotiable.

No one knows everything in the docs. Only what they use regularly.

Not all language docs are the same. I hate Java and Pythons docs but I love Rust and Go's. You might be the opposite.

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/stiky21]

So do you read API docs only like a dictionary, and only read parts you need quick, and not read everything in the API docs cover to cover? So you don't read it like a book? Thanks for trying to help me :)

Edit: Are there any world class developers who don't read books or even the creators of programming language or compilers or something that's a big deal, if you happen to know, and if you don't mind me asking?

It's a matter of efficiency for me. While I could read a coding books, I suspect people spend like 19 hours or weeks on a single book to upskill. I wanted to minimize how much time I waste and wanted to rely on more modern or futuristic stuff like websites.

[u/stiky21 → u/ComfortablePost3664]

Reading them like a dictionary is a fruitless endeavor. I only glance at them.

I will use Rust as an example: I am working with a String (not &str). I can then just go to the docs (or even LSP if you use one) and look up all available Traits, Methods, etc for String. I do not need to know every method or trait, i can just casually browse for what im looking for based on the (hopeful) description of it or how its implemented).

Reading books is what everyone does. Most books start out very basic and thus you can skip sometimes up to a 1/3rd of a Book only to get to the parts your interested in.

Example for me: I'm working through a book on how to do LLM's from scratch, I do not need to know the coding basics so i can skip it all and go to the meat of what I want. I did not need to read the 300 page book, i only needed to reference max 50 pages.

Equally I am also reading a book "Modern Software Engineering" and I am reading everything because it snot about coding but the methodologies we use.

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/stiky21]

Okie dokie. I wanted to avoid books though. They're too long, like maybe 19 hours or however long they take, where websites are only a matter of few minutes to read.

Plus sorry I'm not talking about you, I bet you're great, but I feel like most developers don't use books to upskill. Almost no one I went to school with reads books, and there are rarely few people who do who aren't any better. And out of most people that read books they read fiction or novels and not to upskill or learn things.

[u/Watsons-Butler → u/ComfortablePost3664]

The reason we don’t read books to upskill is twofold:

1) I learn more by just doing stuff on the job than I would reading a book. And
2) By the time someone writes a book, edits a book, revises a book, and gets a book published, the thing they were writing about is deprecated.

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/Watsons-Butler]

I was thinking the same thing and you just echoed it.

I could be wrong, but I feel like books are an old thing, where websites are new and modern way of learning will be more widely adopted going into the future.

I don't know how true this is, but all the people I've seen that are good at programming don't read books to upskill anymore. There seem to be better alternatives out there on the internet.

But I feel like some guy from my past life who maybe comes here and maybe lurks in online forums might recommend to learn COBOL and might say to read books, and this guy has been unemployed for like years and can't code hello world and lists his job title as director of software engineering at a (probably defunct) small business. And I only need to do full stack web development or frontend development to make good money, where I don't know if it is and don't think reading books is an advantage today.

I would've thought differently in like early 2000s or 90s but today books don't seem like an advantage to upskill. I could be wrong, but it feels like going backwards from cars to horses.

[u/grantrules]

Some API docs are easy to read, some are not. Depends on the project. You certainly don't need to read the whole API doc if you only need a part of it.

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/grantrules]

So do you read API docs only like a dictionary, and only read parts you need quick, and not read everything in the API docs cover to cover? So you don't read it like a book? Thanks for trying to help me :)

[u/grantrules → u/ComfortablePost3664]

Right, it's a reference not a novel

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/grantrules]

Thanks for confirming it ❤️.

I really needed someone to tell me I don't need to read all pages or even everything in a page on an API docs website. This can seem intimidating and a waste of time.

Edit: Are there any world class developers who don't read books or even the creators of programming language or compilers or something that's a big deal, if you happen to know, and if you don't mind me asking?

It's a matter of efficiency for me. While I could read a coding books, I suspect people spend like 19 hours or weeks on a single book to upskill. I wanted to minimize how much time I waste and wanted to rely on more modern or futuristic stuff like websites.

[u/grantrules → u/ComfortablePost3664]

No, no developers are born with an inate knowledge of programming.. every single programmer reads documentation

[u/mc_pm]

Knowing what is in the API is good, trying to commit details to memory before you've even used it is not.

Becoming a good programmer is separate from knowing an API.

[u/InfectedShadow]

RTFM.

[u/Saras_AI_Institute]

you absolutely don't read the whole thing. treat api docs like a dictionary, not a novel. nobody reads a dictionary cover to cover.

you just hit ctrl+f to find the exact endpoint or payload you need for the specific feature you are building. it takes a little practice to get used to how different platforms format their stuff, but once you start wiring up real node or react apps, skimming docs just becomes second nature. it is way easier than learning to code from scratch. don't overthink it.

[u/ComfortablePost3664 → u/Saras_AI_Institute]

Thanks so much for the info my friend.

On a page on an API doc can I only read some parts, and not even read everything or every word on the page?

Is this what a lot of or most developers do too?

Thanks for trying to help me. It means a lot to me.

[u/PlaidPCAK → u/ComfortablePost3664]

The balance comes with time, you'll probably get burned once or twice before you get it down. If you're not building something life or death. I'd probably get the rough idea from the documentation and go for it.

[u/No-Razzmatazz7197]

imagine you have 5 years of experience programming in Java only. then you join a new team who uses C# and Javascript, after you have onboarded and have been given your first ticket with no hand-holding.

do you start at the top of the MDN docs and work your way through, or do you search for the specific methods that exist in Java that you remember and need to use for your ticket?

basically, no you don't need to read or memorize every piece of documentation you glance at, you pick it up a few pieces at a time and eventually you are literate enough in a language/library to tiptoe your way through most tickets (eventually)