Earlier quoted context omitted.
I graduated with a degree in BioSciences a few years ago, and elected to not do grad school like my peers. I saw no point of losing thousands of dollars to do a master’s in Bioinformatics/Data just to get a jr level job. That summer after graduation from undergrad I attempted to learn CS and go through OSS Computer Science program and TeachYourSelfCS to break into the industry. The problem was a lot of it wasn’t job…
I think that CS vs SWE thing happens with a lot of people, and I got caught there, too. Luckily, I ended up really liking CS and it introduced me to the field, whereas otherwise I would've gone for SWE. There really needs to be a 'teachYourselfSWE' for people who are into that.
Teach Yourself Computer Science
71–80 of 273 posts
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
I remember telling people to read "The Python Tutorial" on python.org , if they wanted to write Python. It takes a few hours for an experienced programer, and a couple of days for a beginner. People had difficulty starting.
A beginner might have trouble assimilating this information - too few examples, not enough entry level drilling on data types, operators, flow control and functions. For example they might forget to put quotes around a string or not know how to use two for loops, one inside the other, even if they know how to use one in isolation. It's hard to grok how to compose things even if the student saw how to use them in isol…
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#73"If you’re a self-taught engineer or bootcamp grad, you owe it to yourself to learn computer science. Thankfully, you can give yourself a world-class CS education without investing years and a small fortune in a degree program"
.. They then go on to list various categories of information and skills in each high-level topic.
First of all, it implies that someone who is "self-taught" may be basically equivalent to someone who just finished a bootcamp. That is ludicrous. A "self-taught engineer" might have been programming and studying computer science topics for 30+ years, whereas someone who only attended a bootcamp may have only had four months of training or something.
Secondly, it implies that self-taught engineers do not have computer science knowledge or skills. This is also a ridiculous belief.
Now, examining the specific list of topics.
'Programming. Don’t be the person who “never quite understood” something like recursion.' -- This implies that self-taught engineers do not understand recursion. If someone calls himself a "self-taught engineer" or "bootcamp graduate" and does not understand recursion, then he should not call himself an engineer and/or should not have been allowed to pass the bootcamp. Again, this description shows that the creator of the website assumes that "self taught engineers" and "bootcamp graduates" in fact have virtually no useful skills and knowledge. Its asinine and quite insulting.
'Algorithms and Data Structures. If you don’t know how to use ubiquitous data structures like stacks, queues, trees, and graphs, you won’t be able to solve challenging problems.' The ridiculous implication here is that self-taught engineers don't know what a stack, queue, or tree is.
Another general criticism I have is that the creator of this website seems to think that watching videos and reading books is a good way to learn. Unless the books or videos have exercises (and the book recommendation I saw did not have exercises), that is horrible advice and a huge waste of time. If you are just looking for something like a survey or reference, passively watching the videos or reading the books could be useful. However, there is nothing so special about these books or topics that they cannot be learned about from many different websites.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#74I like to compare CS to medicine. Most topics of it aren't difficult to understand, but overall it's just a lot of information. If you want to get a comprehensive CS-education, you have to accept that it takes years of studying, learning and practise.
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#75Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#76My lab had a project that nobody tended to, an evangelist at the lab told me all the good things about linux and git so I bought a burner laptop for $250, wiped the disk, installed ubuntu and wrote 3000 lines of the crappiest code you can ever imagine.
But it worked.
So now when someone ask me for advice to start fresh in software engineering, I always tell them you just have to wipe your computer and install $DISTRO. And start from the terminal, everything else will just come naturally (with deadline pushing it might get faster).
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#77This is a pretty good website. But I have a huge problem with the premise as stated at the beginning of the website: "If you’re a self-taught engineer or bootcamp grad, you owe it to yourself to learn computer science. Thankfully, you can give yourself a world-class CS education without investing years and a small fortune in a degree program" .. They then go on to list various categories of information and skills in…
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#78This is a pretty good website. But I have a huge problem with the premise as stated at the beginning of the website: "If you’re a self-taught engineer or bootcamp grad, you owe it to yourself to learn computer science. Thankfully, you can give yourself a world-class CS education without investing years and a small fortune in a degree program" .. They then go on to list various categories of information and skills in…
Some people learn great by watching videos. Some people learn great by reading books. I personally learned the best by taking an example ripping it apart and changing it to do something new.
https://www.apa.org/news/press/releases/2019/05/learning-sty....
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#79> If you’re a self-taught engineer or bootcamp grad, you owe it to yourself to learn computer science. No, you don't. I know all these topics and I don't recommend anyone working in a corporate environment to learn any of this. It'll likely result in you resenting your job, your peers and the entire software industry. --- I gave my heart to know wisdom, and to know madness and folly: I perceived that this also is vex…
Re: Teach Yourself Computer Science
#80Has anyone here learned a subject by going through one of these "teach yourself" lists? I've learned most of what I know about computers on my own, but it wasn't from following a list of textbooks. And when I've tried to follow a course like this for other subjects, despite my initial interest, I've found myself unable to make it through more than a couple chapters of the first textbook before running out of steam. B…
I graduated with a degree in BioSciences a few years ago, and elected to not do grad school like my peers. I saw no point of losing thousands of dollars to do a master’s in Bioinformatics/Data just to get a jr level job. That summer after graduation from undergrad I attempted to learn CS and go through OSS Computer Science program and TeachYourSelfCS to break into the industry. The problem was a lot of it wasn’t job…
CS was born out of a time when computers were very limited. How do you write a word processor with a spell checker, when the dictionary alone won't fit on a floppy disk, or fit in memory?[1] How do you draw rounded rectangles on your GUI when they take too many CPU cycles to draw?[2]
CS people managed to carve out paths through problem spaces that could be done on the computers of the day. These days, you put everything you need into a hashtable and it looks up in microseconds and you don't have to care anymore.
[1] https://prog21.dadgum.com/29.html
[2] https://www.folklore.org/StoryView.py?story=Round_Rects_Are_...