I think everyone is somewhere on the 'spectrum'. And each one of us has a unique way we learn best. Some people can listen to lectures in a university, go home

I think everyone is somewhere on the 'spectrum'. And each one of us has a unique way we learn best. Some people can listen to lectures in a university, go home and ace the assignment. Others can sit through 100 lectures and learn nothing, but then read an algorithm textbook chapter, ace the assignment. Some people can listen to thousands of lectures, podcasts, read hundreds of algorithm textbooks, but if they never actually program an implementation it just won't stick in their brain. I think the appeal of watching people code is for people who learn best by example, with visual/audio/story-line cues as reference for learning. Humans love story telling and if a code-caster can weave their coding with their dialogue about how they are going about their tasks, the result can be some pretty powerful learning juice for the brain. YMMV!