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Mark Mahoney

@mark.playbackpress.com

160 followers 270 following 100 posts

CS professor at Carthage College Creator of Storyteller and founder at Playback Press https://markm208.github.io/ https://playbackpress.com/books I love helping people learn how to read and write code.

markm208.github.io

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Nov 26

Are you new to code playbacks? Here is a short video explaining how to view them:

How to View a Code Playback
youtu.be/uYbHqCNjVDM

If you have any questions DM me.

How to View a Code Playback

YouTube video by Mark Mahoney

youtu.be

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · 26d

I’m looking for a little feedback. I am working on a playback describing #perceptrons for my #AI course.

Here is a link to it:
markm208.github.io/cppbook/ai/p...

Reach out to me if you have any feedback!

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Aug 20

I'm looking for experienced developers to write code playbacks for my platform. If you enjoy explaining your code and teaching others, code playbacks are a great way to share knowledge and build your reputation in the dev community.

Get the details here:
playbackpress.com/contact

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Reposted by Mark Mahoney

freeCodeCamp.org @freecodecamp.bsky.social · Jul 29

Design patterns are solutions to common coding problems that show up often in your projects. And here, Mark explains how some key object-oriented design patterns work in Java. He covers patterns like Strategy, Singleton, Composite, Decorator, Observer, & more.
www.freecodecamp.org/news/object-...

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 22

Learn how to make and use code playbacks in your CS courses on Tuesday July 29th at 1:00pm CDT.

Join with a friend or come with your whole department!

www.reddit.com/r/CSEducatio...

Learn how to make your own guided code walkthroughs

www.reddit.com

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 18

I can’t quite believe it myself but… Playback Press has just crossed a major milestone: 40,000+ playback views in a 30 day period!

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 16

I’m hosting a free online zoom to discuss how to create code playbacks, how I use them in the classroom, and the best practices for using them.

"Learn How To Share Your Code With Others With Code Playbacks" Jul 29, 2025 at 1:00 PM Central Time

www.eventbrite.com/e/learn-how-...

Please share!

Learn How To Share Your Code Examples With Others Via Code Playbacks

Learn about the tools and best practices to create and share code playbacks with others!

www.eventbrite.com

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 15

You can play the game first before diving into the code:

markm208.github.io/wordZearch/

Let me know what you think!

Word Zearch

markm208.github.io

Reposted by Mark Mahoney

freeCodeCamp.org @freecodecamp.bsky.social · Jul 1

C++ is a powerful, high-performance programming language devs use for things like systems & game development. And here, Mark teaches you the basics through a series of interactive exercises. You'll learn about variables, functions, vectors, pointers, & lots more.
www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-p...

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Reposted by Mark Mahoney

freeCodeCamp.org @freecodecamp.bsky.social · Jul 1

As a web developer, you'll use many different tools and frameworks. And to help you learn the key ones, Mark created this guide. You'll learn both front & back end Web Dev basics like HTTP, Node, Express, JSON, Mongo, HTML, CSS, Web Components, and React.
www.freecodecamp.org/news/an-anim...

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 7

Here is a quick video showing the new AI assistant interface to code playbacks:
youtu.be/WAPql5KZFR4

These new features make code playbacks more interactive. Plus, viewers can review questions they have asked in the past. Check them out here:
playbackpress.com/books

Let me know what you think!

New AI Assistant Interface

YouTube video by Mark Mahoney

youtu.be

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 1

The future of coding requires that people get better at reading and understanding code, not just writing and generating it.

Check out the new features here: playbackpress.com/books

All of the books are free but you do have to create an account in order to use the AI features.

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 1

- Skill level selection (beginner/intermediate/expert)
- One click to ask common questions
- Self-grading multiple choice questions are generated in batches now instead of one at a time
- Project extension suggestions to build on the existing code

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 1

The new interface is cleaner with tabbed sections for questions, practice problems, and project suggestions.

What's new:
- Tabbed interface and updated UI
- Improved prompts for more specific feedback from the AI model- it really does produce better answers now

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jul 1

It's been almost a year since I added the first AI assistant to code playbacks on Playback Press. They have been helpful to my students to fill in any gaps in their knowledge and to explore advanced concepts. Today I'm sharing a major update.

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jun 19

Just a reminder... in one week I'll be giving a free webinar on how to create and use code playbacks! You can click the link and get a free ticket or if you just want the zoom link DM me for it.

www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-tex...

Beyond Textbooks and Videos: Creating and Sharing Code Playbacks

Join CS professor, Mark Mahoney, to hear about how he uses code playbacks in his computer science courses.

www.eventbrite.com

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Jun 19

Just a reminder... the webinar is in one week! You can click the link and get a free ticket or if you just want the zoom link DM me for it.

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · May 29

I'm particularly proud of this interactive tutorial that makes Elixir's functional and concurrent programming concepts approachable through animated code playbacks. 🎥✨

Great intro before diving into Phoenix or Nerves. 🌐🔌
🔗 playbackpress.com/books/exbook

#Elixir #Programming

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · May 27

UPDATE: I am going to offer some free online training this summer about how to create code playbacks and use them in a course. I'll show how I use code playbacks instead of textbooks and videos and share what my students think of them.

www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-tex...

Beyond Textbooks and Videos: Creating and Sharing Code Playbacks

Join CS professor, Mark Mahoney, to hear about how he uses code playbacks in his computer science courses.

www.eventbrite.com

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · May 12

I recently wrote two tutorials comparing different approaches to component-based web development. Both approaches solve similar problems but with different trade-offs:
www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-brief...

www.freecodecamp.org/news/a-brief...

#WebDevelopment #JavaScript #React #WebComponents

A Brief Introduction to Web Components

In a previous article, I gave a brief introduction to React. This tutorial introduces an alternative approach to building a component-based frontend. It covers the fundamentals of Web Components to bu...

www.freecodecamp.org

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · May 6

On June 26th 12CDT I am hosting a free webinar on creating and sharing code playbacks! Join me to learn how I use playbacks to teach about programming.

www.eventbrite.com/e/1355457412...

Beyond Textbooks and Videos: Creating and Sharing Code Playbacks

Learn how to create and share guided code walkthroughs with the free, open-source Storyteller VS Code extension.

www.eventbrite.com

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Apr 19

I have been posting to @freecodecamp.bsky.social lately with links to my code playbacks. This post covers SQL, practice problems, and coding with SQLite (C/C++, Python, Java) from my free books:
playbackpress.com/books/sqlbook
playbackpress.com/books/worked...
playbackpress.com/books/sqlite...

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Mar 23

Kenosha WI (a few days back)

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Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Mar 23

I'm using the wiki feature of GitHub's repos to host my updated documentation for Storyteller:
github.com/markm208/sto...

I also have this video which describes creating your own playbacks:
youtu.be/LITe23OkSm0

Let me know if you want some help getting started! My students really like them.

Image of new documentation page in repo wiki

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Mar 16

New to code playbacks? Have questions? Do you want to create and share your own code playbacks?

Learn more here:
markm208.github.io

Or DM me here.

Mark Mahoney's Code Playbacks

markm208.github.io

Mark Mahoney @mark.playbackpress.com · Mar 16

Learn about more complex relationships:
📌 Many-to-Many Relationships and Even More SQL
🔗 playbackpress.com/books/sqlboo...

Want more? Check out my free book on SQL!
📖 Database Design and SQL for Beginners
🔗 playbackpress.com/books/sqlbook

All of my other free 'books':
🔗 playbackpress.com/books

Playback

playbackpress.com