Sympathy is building for the point that beginner-oriented tutorials written by developers are simply difficult for beginners to read.

Beginners in programming and development often turn to developer-written tutorials as their initial guide. Author Annie Mueller explains how many developer-written tutorials are difficult for beginners to read and understand.

How I, a non-developer, read the tutorial you, a developer, wrote for me, a beginner - annie's blog

https://anniemueller.com/posts/how-ia-non-developer-read-the-tutorial-you-a-developer-wrote-for-me-a-beginner

In a blog post titled 'How I, a Non-Developer, Read a Tutorial You, a Developer, Wrote for Me, a Beginner,' Mueller describes the development of a fictional game called 'Very Simple Thing.' Mueller explains that Very Simple Thing is quite versatile, despite the 'juggling' of 'Chromas.' He decided to 'argyle' the 'Pintafore' with 'Quagmire' instead of 'Hoobastank.' This worked, but he ran into a problem: 'Phisterfunk' couldn't communicate with the 'Shamrock Portal' and couldn't even send a beep back to 'Snarfs.' Mueller writes that the entire 'Hoobastank' got stuck in 'Glamelion,' so he connected the 'Snarfs Stagnator' on the back to the 'Shamrock Klingon Emulator' on the back, which improved the situation.

And here's how to set up Very Simple Thing:

1: Open the terminal and run 'ajkl;gawgor;iqeg;iJLkqen'
2: Then go to 'folder/hidden/deep/in/the/file/system/surprise!.file' and copy the contents of the file.
3: Return to the terminal, paste the copied content and enter '64A786AGR45JAR'.
4: If you see a 'beep!' then it's a success.
5: Finally, launch Snarfass and upload the file you created. You can also run '—()()(]]asdg a=-do —cd go cd stay —sususudododo baby shark—][]' to unlock Sham in ChronostatioMatrix, but this is optional.

These steps are fictionalized by Mueller, and are meant to humorously depict what a developer's tutorial might look like to a beginner. The 'Very Simple Thing' task is also a satire of tutorials that claim to be 'simple' but provide complex information.

Regarding the problem with developer-written tutorials, Mueller said, 'It would take about seven hours and 193 internet searches to complete the first three steps.' In other words, even though the tutorial is aimed at beginners, if the explanation uses technical terms and proper nouns without explanation, you will need to read the explanation to understand it.

Furthermore, even if a sentence simply says 'paste the copied content into the original file,' when written in the context of web development, it often assumes some knowledge or operation, and is different from simply copying and pasting text or files. Mueller points out that such 'omission of prerequisite knowledge' and 'ambiguous commands that are taken for granted' leave beginners behind.

At the end of his blog post, Mueller said, 'This is a humorous critique, and I'm grateful to the developers who share their knowledge.' He went on to emphasize the importance of carefully determining 'where common sense begins' when describing technical terms and specific steps, with beginners in mind.

Mueller's blog has become a hot topic on the social news site Hacker News, with some users emphasizing the importance of a beginner's perspective , saying, 'I recommend having people with minimal expertise read the documentation, aiming to achieve the tutorial's objectives, and seeing where they get stuck.' One user, who describes the phenomenon in which people with expertise assume others have the same knowledge as them as the 'curse of knowledge,' said that an important rule is to always consider the possibility that the other person is only listening half-heartedly and that they may be sharing information the listener may not be aware of.

Furthermore, some users have shared their experiences that the problems Mueller points out are not unique to beginners, but can be faced even by people with a certain level of experience and knowledge. A common problem that occurs is that when a new ecosystem matures to a certain extent, standard knowledge that everyone in that ecosystem has is established and omitted, making it difficult to access detailed initial tutorials.