After 20+ years of teaching computer science, I've decided my main job isn't teaching syntax or frameworks. It's motivating students to want to learn. Enthusiasm and interesting projects go further than polished lectures. I talked with Quincy Larson on the freeCodeCamp podcast about this and more.

freeCodeCamp.org@freecodecamp.bsky.social · 4mo ago

On this episode of the freeCodeCamp podcast, Quincy interviews CS professor Mark Mahoney. He talks about why learning programming the hard way is still the right way, how not to deskill yourself when working with LLMs, and more. www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-...

Teaching code is difficult. Blogs and videos don't always let learners see how code & logic evolves over time. In this post, Mark introduces Storyteller, a VS code extension that plays back code evolution with inline comments so learners can follow step-by-step. www.freecodecamp.org/news/storyte...

Big update at Playback Press: All code playbacks are now open to everyone, no signup required. Browse the full library and learn at your own pace. playbackpress.com/books Want to ask questions about the code? The AI assistant is available for logged-in users. See it here: youtu.be/WAPql5KZFR4

My site to share programming concepts, Playback Press, crossed 180,000 playback views this year. I built it to replace textbooks in my courses. Now people I've never met are using it too. Check them all out here: playbackpress.com/books

As a web dev, you'll use many tools & frameworks when you're building websites & apps. And to help you learn the key concepts, Mark created this guide. You'll learn front & back end Web Development basics like HTTP, Node, Express, JSON, HTML, CSS, React, & more. www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-anim...

I added a small but valuable feature to code playbacks on Playback Press. Since the hand drawn pictures and screenshots are so important to viewers I added a way to search for comments based on the pictures. Hit 'shift + /' on the keyboard to bring up the new media picker search dialog.

Now is a great time to learn some non-traditional programming languages. I have two free 'books' of code playback on #Clojure and #Elixir. playbackpress.com/books/cljbook playbackpress.com/books/exbook

I’m looking for a little feedback. I am working on a playback describing #perceptrons for my #AI course. Here is a link to it: markm208.github.io/cppbook/ai/p... Reach out to me if you have any feedback!

I'm looking for experienced developers to write code playbacks for my platform. If you enjoy explaining your code and teaching others, code playbacks are a great way to share knowledge and build your reputation in the dev community. Get the details here: playbackpress.com/contact

Design patterns are solutions to common coding problems that show up often in your projects. And here, Mark explains how some key object-oriented design patterns work in Java. He covers patterns like Strategy, Singleton, Composite, Decorator, Observer, & more. www.freecodecamp.org/news/object-...

Learn how to make and use code playbacks in your CS courses on Tuesday July 29th at 1:00pm CDT. Join with a friend or come with your whole department! www.reddit.com/r/CSEducatio...

I can’t quite believe it myself but… Playback Press has just crossed a major milestone: 40,000+ playback views in a 30 day period!

I’m hosting a free online zoom to discuss how to create code playbacks, how I use them in the classroom, and the best practices for using them. "Learn How To Share Your Code With Others With Code Playbacks" Jul 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM Central Time www.eventbrite.com/e/learn-how-... Please share!

Learn How To Share Your Code Examples With Others Via Code Playbacks

Learn about the tools and best practices to create and share code playbacks with others!

eventbrite.com

C++ is a powerful, high-performance programming language devs use for things like systems & game development. And here, Mark teaches you the basics through a series of interactive exercises. You'll learn about variables, functions, vectors, pointers, & lots more. www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-p...

As a web developer, you'll use many different tools and frameworks. And to help you learn the key ones, Mark created this guide. You'll learn both front & back end Web Dev basics like HTTP, Node, Express, JSON, Mongo, HTML, CSS, Web Components, and React. www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-anim...

Here is a quick video showing the new AI assistant interface to code playbacks: youtu.be/WAPql5KZFR4 These new features make code playbacks more interactive. Plus, viewers can review questions they have asked in the past. Check them out here: playbackpress.com/books Let me know what you think!

New AI Assistant Interface

YouTube video by Mark Mahoney

youtu.be

It's been almost a year since I added the first AI assistant to code playbacks on Playback Press. They have been helpful to my students to fill in any gaps in their knowledge and to explore advanced concepts. Today I'm sharing a major update.

Just a reminder... in one week I'll be giving a free webinar on how to create and use code playbacks! You can click the link and get a free ticket or if you just want the zoom link DM me for it. www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-tex...

I'm particularly proud of this interactive tutorial that makes Elixir's functional and concurrent programming concepts approachable through animated code playbacks. 🎥✨ Great intro before diving into Phoenix or Nerves. 🌐🔌 🔗 playbackpress.com/books/exbook #Elixir #Programming

freeCodeCamp.org@freecodecamp.bsky.social · last yr.

Elixir is a functional programming language that lets you build scalable & maintainable apps. It's built on Erlang, which was designed for high reliability & availability. Mark explains how Elixir works & covers key concepts, including Elixir's concurrency model. www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-anim...

I recently wrote two tutorials comparing different approaches to component-based web development. Both approaches solve similar problems but with different trade-offs: www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-brief... www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-brief... #WebDevelopment #JavaScript #React #WebComponents

A Brief Introduction to Web Components

In a previous article, I gave a brief introduction to React. This tutorial introduces an alternative approach to building a component-based frontend. It covers the fundamentals of Web Components to bu...

freecodecamp.org

On June 26th 12CDT I am hosting a free webinar on creating and sharing code playbacks! Join me to learn how I use playbacks to teach about programming. www.eventbrite.com/e/1355457412...

I have been posting to @freecodecamp.bsky.social lately with links to my code playbacks. This post covers SQL, practice problems, and coding with SQLite (C/C++, Python, Java) from my free books: playbackpress.com/books/sqlbook playbackpress.com/books/worked... playbackpress.com/books/sqlite...

freeCodeCamp.org@freecodecamp.bsky.social · last yr.

SQL, or Structured Query Language, lets you query relational databases to get the data you need. And in this interactive tutorial, Mark teaches you how to use it. You'll learn about ER diagrams, schemas, keywords, SQLite - and there's tons of practice problems. www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-anim...

Kenosha WI (a few days back)

I'm using the wiki feature of GitHub's repos to host my updated documentation for Storyteller: github.com/markm208/sto... I also have this video which describes creating your own playbacks: youtu.be/LITe23OkSm0 Let me know if you want some help getting started! My students really like them.

💾 Want a quick intro to SQL? Watch me build a database for a fictional pet adoption center and write some SQL queries: 📌 Database Design and Simple SQL 🔗 playbackpress.com/books/sqlboo... SQL queries evolve step-by-step and playbacks show that process visually. They are a great way to learn SQL!

Are you teaching a programming course this semester or learning to code? Here is my semi-annual reminder... I’ve written a dozen or so ‘books’ of code playbacks that are available for free (#CPP, #Python, #Clojure, #DesignPatterns, #Elixir, #SQL, #WebDev) on Playback Press playbackpress.com/books.

AI replacing sw devs? Imagine that you are being sued for a large sum of money. You could, right now, plug in the lawsuit and attempt to defend yourself with an AI model's knowledge of the law. However, no sane person would consider this.

I just added the ability to share a link to an exact point in a playback using either a comment number or an event number (check out the url in the video). This feature is perfect for students and instructors collaborating on questions, or for pro sw devs doing code reviews.

I love having a little time off at the end of the year to add some features to code playbacks. I have just added two new features to all playbacks on Playback Press: - comments can be read aloud for the viewer - search for comments based on selected code

This last semester was the first one where I integrated an AI assistant into my code playbacks (via the #OpenAI API). The playbacks were used in my Computing Paradigms (#Clojure, #Elixir, #Ruby) and Data Structures (#C++) courses. Below are my observations from the semester. #AI #CodePlaybacks