Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#1

Post by 0culus » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 4:27 AM UTC

I was wondering if the HN community could suggest resources that might be helpful for getting over the hump on understanding theoretical CS.

To provide perspective, I'm a first year master's student in CS with a focus on cybersecurity. We are all required to take what is basically an advanced automata course. Undergrad automata was a while ago, and while I'm getting my feet again with DFAs and NFAs and regular expressions, I'm getting more and more lost as we move to more advanced material that either wasn't covered in undergrad or was only touched upon.

Thanks!

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#2

Post by webmaven » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 5:29 AM UTC

Check out the Open Source Society University's Computer Science learning path:

https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#3

Post by 0culus » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 5:38 AM UTC

webmaven wrote: post #2

Check out the Open Source Society University's Computer Science learning path: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

Thanks, this looks like a fantastic compendium. Will be looking through it.

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#4

Post by deninho » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 10:07 AM UTC

webmaven wrote: post #2

Check out the Open Source Society University's Computer Science learning path: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

Been looking for this for a while, but couldn't remember anything specific. So, thanks for the link :)

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#5

Post by sova » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 5:33 PM UTC

Coursera has many excellent courses which I would recommend once you start diving into advanced applications. If your professors have a coffee-circle "Let's discuss a research paper once a week" get-together, I'd highly recommend attending. Even if you don't get a paper completely, it's really nice to give other people a brief on what it's about, and you end up learning a lot of really great stuff. It's a good way to get up to speed. Not really online resources as you're looking for, but thought I should mention it.

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#6

Post by gt565k » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 6:54 PM UTC

Intro to theory of computation by Sipser is good.

https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Micha...

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#7

Post by 0culus » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 8:03 PM UTC

gt565k wrote: post #6

Intro to theory of computation by Sipser is good. https://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Theory-Computation-Micha...

That's the book we're using!

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#8

Post by 0culus » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 8:04 PM UTC

sova wrote: post #5

Coursera has many excellent courses which I would recommend once you start diving into advanced applications. If your professors have a coffee-circle "Let's discuss a research paper once a week" get-together, I'd highly recommend attending. Even if you don't get a paper completely, it's really nice to give other people a brief on what it's about, and you end up learning a lot of really great stuff. It's a good way to…

I'm not aware of anything like this currently, but I'll ask around. I know the professor for this class has run reading circles in prior semesters.

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#9

Post by jventura » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 8:08 PM UTC

An alternative to the books and links posted here could be to find someone who can help you with your "basic" CS doubts? Kind of a hire-a-CS-tutor, who could provide you with the necessary information, teach you something and eventually pointing the way forward..

As a CS professor myself I've been entertaining this idea for a part-time thing, but I don't know how many people could be interested on a service like this.

Re: Resources to get better at theoretical CS?

#10

Post by sova » Tue, Sep 19, 2017, 8:39 PM UTC

0culus wrote: post #8

sova wrote: post #5

Coursera has many excellent courses which I would recommend once you start diving into advanced applications. If your professors have a coffee-circle "Let's discuss a research paper once a week" get-together, I'd highly recommend attending. Even if you don't get a paper completely, it's really nice to give other people a brief on what it's about, and you end up learning a lot of really great stuff. It's a good way to…

I'm not aware of anything like this currently, but I'll ask around. I know the professor for this class has run reading circles in prior semesters.

It really is the best way. Half of my grad classes were exactly this format