Where It Began

It all started when I decided I wanted to demonstrate how I build a codebase. In my first series of videos I introduced the concept of a base layer and went on from there to build up layers for operating system interfacing, graphics programming, and more. Along the way I tried to show details of my process. I wanted to see if I could make videos that show me actually going through the steps of a project, but cut down and edited to the highlights and important concepts.

I'm not the first to try to "show how the sausage gets made". Handmade Hero was the first video series in this vein that I know of. Bitwise explored a variant of the same idea with a mix of on-screen and off-screen programming and write ups. Creators like Tsoding and Dan Zaidan have used other variants of this approach.

I think this format has a lot to offer. We are still fundamentally struggling to pass on the how of programming in an efficient way. The problem with this format is that the audience has to commit an enormous amount of time to consuming the videos. My approach of cutting and editing to bring out just the key points helped, but it still got old for me and the audience over time. The extra editing work also meant I had a lot less time for programming, which is a major drawback.

In the end I retired this format, but the project that started here lives on in everything happening at the Mr. 4th Lab today.