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Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

news.ycombinator.com

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Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#31

Post by dreur »

Arun2009 wrote: post #8
gauthr wrote: post #2

I have a similar, but slightly different issue. I also have an undergraduate degree, and I did take courses in operating systems, compilers, and algorithm design. The trouble is that I don't remember anything. I remember taking the courses, but there was a huge amount of information that got shoved into my head and remained there just long enough to pass the exams and now it's gone. This is an enormous pity, because…

> The trouble is that I don't remember anything. I read somewhere that our long-term memory has unlimited capacity, and there are basically three ways of measuring your memory: - Recall: see whether you can recall the pertinent facts. - Relearn: measure the time it takes for you to relearn the topic. - Recognize: see if you can recognize key points in a previously learned topic when it's presented again to you. Most…

Thanks for that, do you remember where you read it?

Feels a bit strange to ask you to remember a book/article about memory but sounds like a great read.

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#32

Post by dhume »

dotBen wrote: post #18

Why do you want to lean compiler design (or any of the other topics you mention)? Are they directly related to your job/career path or just hypothetical areas of interest? I have no college education and no formal CS training and I've done fine in the industry (12 year in it). I learned to program C at 13 from books and I learn what I need that is relevant from the internet and code samples. Stuff like compiler desig…

The post mentioned in the OP (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1608129) mentions some cases where knowledge about how compilers work would be useful and offers a warning about what may happen to those without this understanding:

"In fact I used to ask candidates, as a standard interview question, how they'd find phone numbers in a tree of HTML files, and many of them (up to 30%) chose to write 2500-line C++ programs as their answer."

Not that this necessarily describes you (since I don't even know what you work on), but I've heard it said (here, I think) that if CRUD is all you know, CRUD is all you'll ever do.

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#33

Post by mcantor »

LargeWu wrote: post #27

The point of an undergraduate education isn't to learn stuff, it's to learn HOW to learn stuff. Having a knowledge base in a particular field is only a sometimes-useful side effect. If you can't learn that stuff on your own now, then you failed at college. More college is not the answer.

The point of an undergraduate education isn't to learn stuff, it's to learn HOW to learn stuff.

In that case, what's the point of a high school education? ;-)

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#34

Post by B_Russell »

mcantor wrote: post #24
B_Russell wrote: post #22

You clearly missed the point of your liberal arts education. How sad.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there, cowboy. Just because my education was deficient in one way doesn't mean it didn't make up for it in others. I'm incredibly thankful for my liberal arts education; it turned me into the happy hippy I am today. Do I have some frustrations and regrets in terms of the things I missed? Absolutely. But that in no way prevents me from appreciating the things I did learn, which were numerou…

good to hear; my apologies for the negative note. contextually, far too many people consider a liberal arts education irrelevant and we are producing generations without a grounded understanding of critical or contextual thinking-- or an appreciation for beauty. easier to get that studying Spenser than code, I'd argue.

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#35

Post by dhume »

B_Russell wrote: post #34
mcantor wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Slow down there, cowboy. Just because my education was deficient in one way doesn't mean it didn't make up for it in others. I'm incredibly thankful for my liberal arts education; it turned me into the happy hippy I am today. Do I have some frustrations and regrets in terms of the things I missed? Absolutely. But that in no way prevents me from appreciating the things I did learn, which were numerou…

good to hear; my apologies for the negative note. contextually, far too many people consider a liberal arts education irrelevant and we are producing generations without a grounded understanding of critical or contextual thinking-- or an appreciation for beauty. easier to get that studying Spenser than code, I'd argue.

On the other hand, I found it easy enough to get that in high school and then on my own at the local book shop.

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#36

Post by Arun2009 »

dreur wrote: post #31
Arun2009 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The trouble is that I don't remember anything. I read somewhere that our long-term memory has unlimited capacity, and there are basically three ways of measuring your memory: - Recall: see whether you can recall the pertinent facts. - Relearn: measure the time it takes for you to relearn the topic. - Recognize: see if you can recognize key points in a previously learned topic when it's presented again to you. Most…

Thanks for that, do you remember where you read it? Feels a bit strange to ask you to remember a book/article about memory but sounds like a great read.

Actually, I do - had to quickly glance through the book to confirm it though.

The book is this: http://www.amazon.com/Your-Memory-How-Works-Improve/dp/15692...

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#37

Post by sharvil »

If one is dedicated enough, I think the best way to go about it is picking up textbooks (make sure to pick the good ones - reading reviews on Amazon) and powering through them.

There are quite a few resources out there though to supplement the textbooks, like course websites, old exams and opencourseware (MIT and Stanford have some amazing videos on iTunes U, Berkeley has a channel on YouTube)

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#38

Post by dcx »

jsyedidia wrote: post #7

Start with "The Elements of Computing Systems" by Nisan and Schocken. It's a book built around the goal of designing and constructing a computer from the ground up, starting with hardware design and ultimately writing the compiler and virtual machine for a simple Java-like language that runs on the computer you designed. You can download all the software necessary; all the software and support material work very well…

Agreed, this is a great book. I'm working through this right now and finding it very rewarding. It's very information-dense, has very little fluff, and is still surprisingly easy to work through.

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#39

Post by madmadwiz »

Hi! I'm actually in precisely (100%) the same situation - and actually one of my friends asked if it's not me who wrote this post (that's how i got to know about it originally). I'm not a "so-cool" programmer, but what i have noticed:

1). All the things are good - till they produce something. In other words (if your job is not very special) - you won't be using tons of different algorithms. So learning only a few most common is simply PERFECT!

2). For all the "hard-times" buy a handbook with things that you think you might need in future (for me it's whole series of Graphics Gems :)

3). To get some grip on what you missed - try the MIT Video Courses. They have an "Introduction to Computer Science". The course is very cool and easy to follow, and should cover some of your gaps.

5). Yeah, five! And the most important - trust yourself and do LOTS of free-time projects. You heard me right - LOTS! When? For ex. I have 30h of classes a week and 25h of work - and I manage. Means - you will also ;) And, wish you good luck! 8]

Re: Ask HN: What if I missed the good stuff in my undergraduate education?

#40

Post by rick_2047 »

jsyedidia wrote: post #7

Start with "The Elements of Computing Systems" by Nisan and Schocken. It's a book built around the goal of designing and constructing a computer from the ground up, starting with hardware design and ultimately writing the compiler and virtual machine for a simple Java-like language that runs on the computer you designed. You can download all the software necessary; all the software and support material work very well…

Anyone knows where I can order this book in india? I checked and couldn't find it in any of the major book shops or libraries. Amazon is not an option coz I cannot pay for the shipping. Any other ideas?
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