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Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

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Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#131

Post by mehrdadn »

asdf21 wrote: post #118
m463 wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think people are ready for things at certain times. I think history class was wasted on me in high school because I was a kid and didn't have much life experience. But years later with a better grasp on human nature I think I would have had a better grasp. Another example is a foreign language class. I took it in middle school, in high school and later in college. I learned lots and lots of theory for many years. B…

Agreed. The reason its not that way is that schools are mostly state-run daycare programs, setup so that parents can work, not a genuine implementation of skill building.

If you agree, the logical takeaway from

> I history class was wasted on me in high school because I was a kid and didn't have much life experience. But years later with a better grasp on human nature I think I would have had a better grasp.

would not be

> Schools are mostly state-run daycare programs, setup so that parents can work, not a genuine implementation of skill building.

This is due to the nature of the topic, not its pedagogy.

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#133

Post by jackcosgrove »

jacquesm wrote: post #64
juskrey wrote: post #13

Skimming through the pages on the video, it shows vividly how far away academia is from real life problems.

Try the same for theoretical physics and the practical version of it and compare how far away those are. CS has it easy in comparison. At least you won't need to wait half a lifetime or longer to see if your ideas pan out or not.

> At least you won't need to wait half a lifetime or longer to see if your ideas pan out or not.

Or in the case of physics, wait half a lifetime to get a non-postdoc job.

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#134

Post by swagmoney69 »

Kalium wrote: post #85
jacquesm wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do those fields have a similar split between the language used by the theoretical and the practical side of things?

Generally no, because they do not have large populations of self-taught professional practitioners who never learned theory. Least common denominator writing is very useful for a great many things. It is wonderful and ideally suited for items aimed at a popular audience. It just may not always be ideal for efficient and precise technical communication.

How can a self-taught individual such as myself begin to learn the theory presented in the academic computer science world without enrolling in a college or university?

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#135

Post by edanm »

jacquesm wrote: post #62

Interesting how so many of these problems are probably hard for a fraction of the people that want to pass this exam simply because of the language in which they are expressed. For example, and I've noticed this pattern with some regularity: large and complex expression in a paper or some other document. Actual implementation: one or more for loops with an add or a multiply in the body of the loop with some initializ…

> I get it that mathematical notation is nice and compact and a quick way to communicate an idea but pseudo code would quite often be more clear.

Isn't that only becuase you already know how to code, and don't know mathematical notation? I doubt looking at code for most non-programmers is that much easier than looking at mathematical symbols.

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#136

Post by FPGAhacker »

learc83 wrote: post #107
walty wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What do you do professionally? How do you use automata there?

Web development, embedded systems, and game dev. I use FSMs, pushdown automata, and hierarchical state machines all the time.

What's amazing to me is how uncommon state machines are in software, comparatively. In ASIC and FPGA design, it's so fundamental and ubiquitous. At least with synchronous designs.

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#137

Post by avs733 »

Kalium wrote: post #85
jacquesm wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But do those fields have a similar split between the language used by the theoretical and the practical side of things?

Generally no, because they do not have large populations of self-taught professional practitioners who never learned theory. Least common denominator writing is very useful for a great many things. It is wonderful and ideally suited for items aimed at a popular audience. It just may not always be ideal for efficient and precise technical communication.

to add a term...

they have professionalized.

With licensure, required training, standards, codes of ethics, legal recognition by government actors, etc.

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#139

Post by Abishek_Muthian »

bollu wrote: post #43

I need to defend theory of computer science here, it seems. Please note that this computer science , not computer engineering . The idea of automata, regular languages, turing machines, and whatnot inform some of the most fundamental results of computer science . At least in the fields where I work [compilers, formal verification], all of the above theory is common parlance. Everyone working on this stuff knows all o…

I'm seeing 'Computer Science knowledge is not necessary to be a better programmer' statements more often nowadays, even from those who have CS degree(Degree != Education).

Here's one example, who is in Kaggle 1% - https://twitter.com/bhutanisanyam1/status/120900088154848051....

Re: Professor solves 240 computer science exam problems in 4 hours [video]

#140

Post by orange3xchicken »

tazedsoul wrote: post #105

Academia was not initially tasked with the purpose of preparing students for careers in industry. Academic interests are purely that: academic. They serve no intended purpose necessarily beyond their contribution to knowledge, understanding, and often the enjoyment of academics. In some cases, there is overlap between concepts of interest to academics and those in industry. However, to expect an undergraduate degree…

This is a good comment, but I suggest you make some paragraphs! It's a bit hard to parse atm.

To add on to what you said, many academics pursue knowledge for its own sake. In many cases, especially in theory, the value of new knowledge may not be known at the time of its discovery.

For example, the multi armed bandit problem was formalized by Herbert Robbins in the 50s. It was almost universal declared a negative result. Now, bandit algorithms are classified as some of the most commercially succesful applications of machine learning algorithms (ad placement, recommendation, experimental design), and the corresponding techniques used in the formal analysis of bandit algorithms are widely used in 'non-bandit' settings (see ICML's test of time award this year).

It always saddens me to see negative comments about academics & ignorance about 'the point' of academia.

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