
Show HN: Devstream.tv – Watch developers code live - algorithm_dk
https://devstream.tv/
======
s0l1dsnak3123
I've been streaming on and off for a few years now. Livecoding was a good idea
in principal, but the team did not handle their growth well, and made a few
pretty bad decisions which have been well documented on HN before. Twitch
didn't ever feel like it was the right place for programming streams, but it's
the best we have right now. I hope I can get back into streaming later on in
the year (it's quite a big time commitment), perhaps there will be a better
solution by then!

My wish-list:

A good chat API which supports code snippets (this is something that streamers
will want to pour over and make streams about, because it makes good
content!).

Localized streaming servers in order to keep latency low.

The site development process should be streamed! I have no idea why the
Livecoding guys didn't live stream their dev work (other than perhaps a fear
of losing "IP", but I personally don't think that's a particularly strong
argument - there's always some code that could be streamed without issue, such
as frontend JS. I suspect the real reason was that their developers weren't
aligned with the product and didn't want to stream).

Support for pair programming (two streamers working on the same project
together) - this allows streamers to market to each others' audience, and can
produce some really great content as the streamer is forced to explain to
their partner _why_ they're doing what they're doing.

Integration with editors as an alternative to regular streaming. A UI which
looks something like jsbin.com - where the text editor is shown next to the
output - would allow for streamers with lower upload speeds to only stream
their webcam, while their editor and terminal is mirrored in text, nicely
resizing to fit the users' screens. This view could be composited into a video
stream for users who aren't viewing through a web browser (like chromecast
users).

~~~
porsager
This is somewhat where I'd like to see [https://flems.io](https://flems.io)
going. It's based on the open source Flems web playground
([https://github.com/porsager/flems](https://github.com/porsager/flems)), so
doing different kinds of embeds and sharing directly runnable code could be
added easily. Currently the entire state lives in the URL, which is pretty
interesting for sharing, and it really makes it a true serverless app, but I'm
working to support shareable sessions and live streaming of changes as well.

------
stablemap
See also
[https://www.twitch.tv/communities/programming](https://www.twitch.tv/communities/programming)

~~~
ben_jones
The problem is even if they can build near feature-parity as a streaming
platform (compared to Twitch and Youtube), the second they make any
discernable profit Twitch is just going to re-assign a few developers and blow
them out of the water.

Things like storing VODs (videos of past streams), community tooling, etc.,
are hard and EXPENSIVE. The developers have a very hard path ahead of them.

~~~
onion2k
Every big company can do this, and it's is precisely why, in a consumer facing
startup, tech is often far less important than community building. YouTube or
Twitch can build tools to enable streamers, but if your startup is _genuinely_
good to early adopters, and the communities they build, then you can still
keep going in the face of an 800lb gorilla.

The tech behind 9 out of 10 tech startups is relatively trivial to clone. The
part that's _really_ hard to copy successfully is the people.

It's also worth noting that if you can't do the people bit then even the most
brilliant, un-cloneable tech is likely to fail. It's very hard to get
customers if people don't like you as a person.

But hey, that's what co-founders are for.

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haukilup
For people who like to watch live coding - in what ways do you find it
helpful? Is it to learn about a particular domain, a way of thinking, a new
technology? Where would you consider your skill level to be at?

I'd love to hear your perspectives! I understand streaming in gaming contexts,
developer streaming is new to me.

~~~
rprime
When I work remotely, having someone "work" at the same time as me makes the
situation feel less ... lonely, it's like having a co-worker :) See them work,
makes me work.

Also I enjoy hearing other people code, especially the clack of the keyboard.

I remember there were some internet radio streams that had office sounds
playing (at different intensities), but I do not think they're online anymore.

~~~
dschoppe
Not quite office sounds, but Coffitivity nicely captures coffee shop murmur:
[https://coffitivity.com](https://coffitivity.com)

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tombrm
So this is basically a twitch aggregator for developer streams. Cool idea!

An idea: it would be cool to have separate feeds for the available tags so
that users could browse the available streams/channels by topic.

Good luck for your project!

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unwind
Cool although it seems this just does what Twitch could do themselves? Not
very familiar with that entire scene, though.

As a practical point the text on the stream thumbnails is strangely half-
translated which looks odd on an otherwise English-using page.

~~~
algorithm_dk
Yes, you are right - there is a #programming category on Twitch, but the plan
is to gather dev streamers from more platforms (YouTube comes next) into one
dedicated place.

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petercooper
Can I claim any credit at all? Hahah. Nice work - this is what I wanted to
see!
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16545022](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16545022)

~~~
algorithm_dk
Haha, great minds think alike!

~~~
petercooper
It happens quite a lot around here. I've seen multiple people be inspired by
the right combination of things on HN and launch similar projects back to
back. Keeps it fun! (But also encourages moving _really_ fast when you have an
idea.)

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kody
Please don't auto play videos on your site.

~~~
ronnier
It’s a site for streaming videos. Seems appropriate here.

~~~
afarrell
Yea but if someone sends me a link to one to look at later, I still don’t want
it to start autoplaying in class.

Maybe have an obvious ?autoplay=true param.

~~~
tenryuu
Twitch embeds are autoplay by default

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fuball63
I want to get started doing this, anyone have advice on starting out and
potential gotchas?

~~~
gameswithgo
Get a good microphone. Get a webcam, even if it doesn't make sense people like
to see a head. Get plenty of monitor space so you can stream on one monitor
and monitor chat and other things on the other.

Stream in 1080p, its the perfect balance between text looking ok and everyone
being able to view it well with their internet connection.

~~~
iMerNibor
Also don't worry about having high fps a 10fps 1080p stream is a thousand
times better for reading text than a 720p 30fps one

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orliesaurus
It would be cool if it would add some more context to what twitch already
does. I.e. develop a plugin to support markdown in the chat so you can
interact with your viewers and share snippets easily (just an example of a
useful feature) or if you really wanna help education of coders some kind of
plugin for sublime/vscode where twitch viewers can request to explain a
certain line on the screen, kinda like a real time poll where you vote the
next line of code you want explained?(again another example of useful addon
for live coders that do edu coding streams)

~~~
algorithm_dk
That's such a cool idea! I'll think of how this can be added, a VSCode plugin
sounds awesome.

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jaequery
i got tired of livecoding.tv after a while. perhaps i may get interested again
later. at the end of the day, i did not get the desired benefit of either
watching others code, or streaming your coding session.

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jamra
I like your site, but I don't understand what the difference is from just
going to
[https://www.twitch.tv/communities/programming](https://www.twitch.tv/communities/programming)

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pacificleo11
Nice idea . I think you should make it more generic. I am confident that We
will see a lot of this "Twitch of X " in years to come. I personally would
like to see Twitch of Cooking and Twitch of Uber Rides

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jbernardo95
Isn't this similar to [https://www.liveedu.tv/](https://www.liveedu.tv/) ?

~~~
minimaxir
Liveedu used to be called Livecoding (but then pivoted) since a coding- _only_
live-streaming platform did not get traction. And became redundant once Twitch
allowed live-streaming programming.

~~~
Kiro
Livecoding had a lot of other problems.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10486476](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10486476)

~~~
minimaxir
I suppose that may have caused SEO problems as well.

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keraf
Saw awesome-developer-streams on GitHub as well and had a similar idea :-)
Site looks neat, good job!

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stuaxo
Which coders are worth watching, and what have you learned by watching them ?

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ghostbrainalpha
Was really hoping to find a Ruby streamer... Why is it so hard to find?

~~~
avitzurel
[https://www.twitch.tv/omatum_greg](https://www.twitch.tv/omatum_greg)

Greg is building a product on top of Ruby/Rails. You might find this
interesting.

~~~
algorithm_dk
added

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mylons
haha, i came here to post "why wouldn't this just be twitch.tv" and it is
indeed twitch.tv, well done!

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jamiegreen
This sounds familiar... ;)

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pascalxus
Just when I thought everything has been done. Wow. this is an original great
idea!

