need to start the tutorials series... wasn't sure whether tamagotchi-style project is a good start, but maybe if we ignore the very-very first steps, where zero-knowledge students just _have_ to copy-paste some stuff, maybe then it isn't that bad after all? of course with a proper modern & simple low-level language to demonstrate all the concepts. yeah, i think it is a good idea. maybe a couple off-track projects too, as examples or homework, like some 300-line programs. yeah, i think it's a great idea

yes, it's zig that i'm using, correct. my biggest problem is with how to start it. i mean, the target audience of the series are people somewhat interested in learning stuff, but who basically have no, like absolute zero, previous experience. with students like that, it's either tons of theory upfront, or "just copy this, i'll explain it later". and tons of theory _upfront_ is very much against the very core idea of the series. the idea is to have a vague end goal, but crystal clear short-term goal, and then work towards that, with no dependencies and implementing everything from scratch. this way people will actually learn how it works. and what's even more important: we first try implementing something, and then we see, that it _doesn't work_. and then comes the theory that explains how we can address that. so like, people don't sit around thinking "why am i even reading this boring stupid theory at all?", but rather they ask you "give me some info! i see the problem, i want to know how to solve it".

don't generate the snippets, i can code myself, believe me i'm good at it. like come one, that's why i want to share this knowledge, because i do know how to do it (and let's be fair, your examples are not suitable). but what i actually want to discuss is something that i don't really use, so that's why i bring this topic: the teaching itself. and starting the series is the hardest. it's like starting a fiction book. the first words set the tone. yes, if the book is good, people will likely forget what was there, but if that start isn't good enough, they will never know, if the rest of the book is any good, they will just drop it. same here, if i explain stuff upfront, it breaks the approach i chose, and it is boring. but if i start with "copy this, no time to explain", it's hardly any better.

don't underestimate the challenge: half of the audience has zero prior knowledge. i mean it. literally zero. people don't know what's the point of operating system, how a program is different from a website, and what is "command line". if they are interested, they will learn it all in the first few episodes of the series, but that's the thing, we need to get them interested, from the first 2 paragraphs. of course, you can't get them curious with one word (well, you can start with "BOOBS!!!" but that's hardly gonna keep them after the next sentence transitions into programming), but you can't expect them to read the whole first episode to the end, unless it gets interesting in the first half. and yes,  tiktok generation can't read more than 5 words, but i don't care about those. people reading the series are smarter than those, and they are okay with reading, and reading a lot, they just lack any experience, and they need to get some assurance, that this reading won't be a waste of time.

i had an idea to start from the middle. quite literally: mid-sentence of episode 12+. and then, when people see that first words, they go "huh? what? is it some kind of error? did i miss something in here? did it load incorrectly? ok, let me finish the first paragraph, i need to know wtf is going on". that sets them up to read the first 1-2 paragraphs, and those are the actual trampoline into the series. so this weird move will give them an "immediate" hook, that secures the first 1-2 paragraph reading, and then those should invite to learn more. that's the idea anyway