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Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

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171–180 of 320 posts

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#171
Andrew Ng's deep learning course. For me it struck the perfect balance between being fast and 'easy' enough to not take up too much of my time while still being deep enough that I finally understood the basic math behind deep learning.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#172

I've been wanting to learn how to sketch. Has anyone taken on of the drawing courses and successfully brought their skill level up from nothing to being able to do recognizable drawings?

Some youtuber gave a code for 3 months free of Skillshare, which gave me the impression of being a Coursera for all things design. I already knew how to draw, so I can't say how it is for a newbie, but I did pick a couple new tricks (namely, portraits in Photoshop and watercolor houses).

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#174

favorite: the ancient greeks: good teacher: https://www.coursera.org/learn/ancient-greeks other favorite: absolutely insightful about Russia https://www.coursera.org/learn/russian-history-lenin-putin history of the modern world: really good just with headphones: https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world https://www.coursera.org/learn/modern-world-2 ancient assyrians: https://www.coursera.org/learn/organising-empire…

  Social Psychology
It is available on AcademicTorrents with seeders, if one is so inclined.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#175
post #130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Jennifer Widom, Databases, Stanford. This is not the flashiest of a topic, but oh boy was it well organized. Couldn't agree more. I took this course in 2011 but didn't have a need for working with databases until 2014. Three years after I took the course I was able to jump in and work fluently on databases -- Mongo, Sqlite, Firebase, etc. The least I can say is the course helped me internalize database concepts. Th…

Is it this one? https://lagunita.stanford.edu/courses/Engineering/db/2014_1/...

Yes there was a couple on Coursera but they scrapped it for God knows what reason. https://www.coursera.org/instructor/~1196954

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#176
Introduction to Biology - The Secret of Life by Eric S. Lander (available on edX) was entertaining and educational at the same time. Not many MOOCs were able to keep me engaged to the very end and make me proud and happy when I've finished them. If you are interested in the cell biology and are looking for a way to start on the subject that one is highly recommended.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Actually, there are three parts. The course uses Standard ML, Racket, and Ruby as vehicles for teaching the concepts. The intent is to make you a more effective programmer in any language.

It used to be 1 course, they've split it into 3 parts for commercial reasons I suppose.

He says he didn't, and that the summed price of the three courses are the same as if it were to be a single long course.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#178

Model thinking ( https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking ) Taught by Prof. Scott E. Page, teaches about models in several fields and how they're used to aid thinking about complex issues by careful design and usage. A couple of insights: all models are wrong but some are useful. Having many models about a situation to help your thinking is better than having only one, and much better than none. Complex models a…

I love this one. Saw it when it launched and it frequently helps me see through some situations. Some models explains why, despite best intentions, things go awry sometimes. Sometimes things are terrible not because people are terrible, but because everything interact in ways that are difficult to understand and predict.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#179
post #162

The "Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies" on Coursera helped me gain an understanding cryptocurrencies. Until I took that course I knew very little about the subject. It's possibly a little dated now, but it's a good primer. https://www.coursera.org/learn/cryptocurrency/ I'd love to hear what other cryptocurrency courses others recommend. As many others mentioned, Andrew Ng's course on Machine Learning on Courser…

Second this. Doing the homework assignments (especially the first one) helped me understand how transactions work and are validated.

Re: Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?

#180
A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari on Coursera.

There is also a book (that I have not read) called "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" which I think was quite popular. It was not quite was I was expecting yet it was very interesting and enlightening.

Also, it's been mentioned, but Databases, by Jennifer Widom. Stanford.

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