People flocking to Twitch for free coding lessons
By Sara Shaw • October 2, 2019
Every Sunday Suz Hinton sits down at her computer to write code as hundreds of people watch online. She’s among hundreds, or perhaps thousands, of programmers from around the world who regularly take to Twitch, a site best known for livestreams of people playing video games.
As she writes the code, she also verbally explains what she’s doing and interacts with the audience. A chat room appears in a frame to the right of the code, where viewers ask questions, make suggestions, and make conversation.
As the community grows, it’s also becoming more professional. Jeff Fritz, a live coder who works for Microsoft, adds music and sound effects to his Twitch stream. Most important, he provides commentary on what he’s doing. The effort helps his streams garner thousands of live viewers.