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Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

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Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#1
My university just provided us with free Coursera accounts until the end of summer. However, there's so many courses to choose from that I don't know where to start! Please recommend me a course that you liked, preferably from the following areas:

- UX design

- bioinformatics

- statistics for data science

- mathematical analysis

- algebra or category theory

But of course, you don't need to stick to those categories, I'd love to learn about anything new!

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#2
The cryptography course taught at Stanford I have found to be excellent. it really helped me gain an understanding of what I MAC's were, cbc encryption, common problems with encryption schemes, etc. after taking the course I was able to find a bug in our company's software that they didn't know about or that they didn't know was a bug.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#3
> bioinformatics

The Honors Track of the UCSD series is really great.

https://www.coursera.org/specializations/bioinformatics

It's super hard and as a side effect you learn a ton about very interesting, amazing, and useful algorithms that you'd never even hear about in a top notch CS program.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#5

> bioinformatics The Honors Track of the UCSD series is really great. https://www.coursera.org/specializations/bioinformatics It's super hard and as a side effect you learn a ton about very interesting, amazing, and useful algorithms that you'd never even hear about in a top notch CS program.

That sounds great! I'll check it out tomorrow.

Some people here in Europe take bioinformatics as a shorthand of "database management, pipeline construction, and scaffold building" --- I'm glad to see the course is more algorithm oriented (maybe with a bit of DS thrown in as well).

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#6

https://www.coursera.org/learn/genetics-evolution Beginners level.Dr. Noor is an excellent instructor.

Thanks! The teacher makes or breaks the course, and that is exactly why I asked for personal recommendations.

As an aside, the world of genetics (and molecular biology in general) is beyond fascinating. I remember coming home after one the 5th or 6th lecture on Cell biology and thinking "wow, take your worst spaghetti code and imagine the pasta becomes sentient --- that is us".

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#8
Design: Creation of Artifacts in Society is my favorite course I've ever taken:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/design

It's taught by Karl Ulrich, a UPenn/Wharton professor/Vice Dean who helped design the Xootr scooter, Gushers, and many other awesome products. He teaches most of the course in his garage. Taking the course feels like you're his apprentice.

Re: Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera

#9
The Science of Wellbeing[1] taught by Yale’s Dr. Laurie Santos lives up to the hype. It’s been discussed on HN a few times[2] which is how I stumbled upon it.

If you don’t mind my asking, did your school give you access to coursera to earn credit while the campus is shut down? Or is it just something interesting and fun for students who might be inclined to learn something new while they’re stuck at home? Either way, props to your school! And enjoy whatever classes you decide to take!

[1] https://www.coursera.org/learn/the-science-of-well-being

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

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