Learning about tools through videos

[jonaslagoni]

I always have a hard time getting a quick overview of tools and what they do and how they help me. However, videos such as Jeff Delaney informative videos "subject in 100 seconds" really give me all the information I need in a small period of time, that almost anyone has time for.

So to that end, I want to build similar videos for AsyncAPI tooling. My thought is to start with code generation more specifically, parser, generator and templates, and Modelina. While the end result is to create the videos, I will use this process as a positive feedback loop to look at our current documentation from a fresh pair of eyes and see if we are missing anything (and create issues where needed).

All videos will be targeted towards an audience who already knows JS and its syntax and a general idea of what AsyncAPI is. The idea is the videos will give a general sense of understanding of the tool and potentially create a hunger for the viewer to deep dive into the tools afterward. And not necessarily explain every little detail of the tools 😄

Here is my preliminary plan on what to do and how to do it.

Parser

Intro to the js-parser and how it parses and represents AsyncAPI documents, that the other tools build upon.

Target duration: 60 seconds
Preliminary script:

1. Introduction to AsyncAPI
2. AsyncAPI object representation
3. References
4. Schema formats

Generator

What are the generator and templates, and what can they be used for.

Target duration: 100 seconds
Preliminary script:

1. Introduction, what is the generator and what can it be used for
2. Types of templates
3. Creating your own
4. Reusability

Modelina

What is Modelina, and what can it be used for.

Target duration: 100 seconds
Preliminary script:

1. Introduction, what is Modelina and what can it be used for
2. Inputs
3. Generators
4. Output formats
5. Customization

Discussion

As I am starting at absolutely 0% knowledge of how to make videos this is gonna be a steep learning curve for me, so any feedback and help would be appreciated 😆

• Do you think it makes sense to spend time on this?
• Anything you would change/add/remove from the preliminary scripts?
• Which kind of introductory videos do you like to watch?
• Would you like to help make them?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

[Barbanio]

@jonaslagoni , I love the idea. Anyway, I think that maybe this could be discussed under the whole umbrella open for educational videos (#155).

The question might be how to bring the videos you want to create together with the rest of the educational videos we want to develope. Could we integrate your videos as a section there? What do you think?

The length you are proposing is different from those, so, I guess we should dicuss about it in order to make it comprehensible and cohesive. All the videos in just one format or strands with different formats, that's the question :)

[jonaslagoni]

Good point @Barbanio, as the idea is to give a quick overview of the tools instead of a comprehensive explanation, I think that these videos serve as a good starting point to create more in-depth videos, as I understand #155 tries to solve, right?

I.e. at the end of the videos, we could link ways as a "get to know more here".

The question might be how to bring the videos you want to create together with the rest of the educational videos we want to develope. Could we integrate your videos as a section there? What do you think?

What if we made a section about tooling in this way: "What is the generator?", "What is the parser?" and "What is Modelina"?

[Barbanio]

I think that these videos serve as a good starting point to create more in-depth videos, as I understand #155 tries to solve, right?

Yes, the idea is to go a little deeper into each topic and that each video will have a duration of approximately 5 to 15 minutes. And then we will make a tesear of each video.

What if we made a section about tooling in this way: "What is the generator?", "What is the parser?" and "What is Modelina"?

I find very interesting to make this section, I think it can be very useful for users who need concise information.

[derberg]

I agree that we should combine efforts with #155 because in the end every short video needs a longer version.

[quetzalliwrites]

@jonaslagoni I love your ideas and your proposed videos so far! I would learn from them too.

I am curious to see if Tools videos can be added to the proposed topics @Barbanio has going in #155, and to see if the Tools videos can be a few minutes longer.