Code School now open to the public

Doesn't it seem to anyone else that there's more than a little astroturfing going on here?<p>Many positive commenters in this thread have 1 karma and no other posts, and this link has shown up in no less than 3 front page links as of this writing.<p><a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2354776" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2354776</a> <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2354830" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2354830</a> <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2355091" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2355091</a>

"An interactive online marketplace where you can learn to code directly in the browser"<p>Is it just me or does something seem ... off about this blurb? For whatever reason, "interactive online marketplace" just rubs me the wrong way, but I can't quite put my finger on why.

75 US$ (final price for Rails Best Practices) for 5 videos of 10-15 minutes seem a little expensive. Are the non video parts worth the money?

I see "Featured Courses" on the homepage, and a "My Courses" link that requires a login, but no way to see any other courses. I take it that means the four I see are the only ones available/scheduled right now?

Rails for Zombies was very well done, but not too long into it I found myself going straight to the end, looking at what I needed to do and then clicking through the video to find to the parts where he actually got to the guts of what it was about and how to do it.<p>Overall it's a neat idea and the guys at EnvyLabs are great but I couldn't see myself paying for more.

Rails for Zombies is brilliant. Very high-quality stuff, and the website design is beautiful. I can't wait to see their JS courses.

Can you claim that something is on sale the moment you release it?<p>(A genuine question, I thought there may have been a requirement to note that something is an "introductory offer", but there are almost certainly different laws that apply to online sales.)

looks great, any plans for courses on Objective C, Cocoa, iOS/Mac development?

Loved Rails for Zombies and I can't wait for the others to open up. The format that Envy Labs has for online learning is really just brilliant.

Tested this and learned a ton of from the Rails Best Practices course, whereas it usually takes me a while to learn how to refactor code properly using a new language or framework or even to care.<p>Definitely trickier than Rails for Zombies for people how have used Rails before but much more rewarding.

Looks good, but I'll wait for more refinement of the courses and website.<p>One thing others have mention and I hope gets attention, is more details are need for each class. Right now it's like looking at a book with just the title and back cover. Hard to see if it's for you.

Definitely worth it. Went through it a few weeks ago and learned a lot - even though I've been using Rails for years. It goes into a lot of Rails 3 best practices too, so helps to make sure you're on the right track there. Really like the approach they take too -- sometimes writing code from scratch, sometimes refactoring bad code to best practices.

Big 404 after trying to "buy" Rails for Zombies. Hopefully just the HN effect setting in. Ah, worked after a few tries.

I'd love to see computer science problems explained and solved.<p>For instance start with a problem like <a href="http://www.coderloop.com/puzzles/friendsfinder" rel="nofollow">http://www.coderloop.com/puzzles/friendsfinder</a> and then show various approaches and solutions to it.<p>Just a thought.

I haven't watched any Code School videos yet, but learning to code by video has always been my method of choice. I've been using the (awesome) videos from Lynda.com for years now and have always found them concise and helpful with really good content.

Been using Code School for a while now (beta) and absolutely love it. Just posted my thoughts on it here: <a href="http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2355091" rel="nofollow">http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2355091</a>

I haven't used it, but due to some of the comments in this thread, some people should check out PeepCode.com

I like the concept a great deal. Just the sort of presentation needed for me to get fence sitters off of it.

Just registered and I'll try Rails for Zombies(never programmed Ruby/Rails before).<p>The design is pretty cool.

This is awesome. I've been wanting to try ruby and get better at coding in general.

First time the graphic designer in me went "WOW" after clicking an HN link.

Are there live human instructors behind this or is it just videos?

That is one gorgeous site.