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If you like this, I strongly encourage you to also check out Harvard’s CS50. Lectures are all on YouTube. https://cs50.harvard.edu
Here's my question: This seems wonderful for 2010. It's 2023. We have 3B1B, SoME, Python Tutor (which now does many languages), and various types of fairly smart tools to support kids as they're coding (e.g. Jupyter/Pluto-notebook style system, ones like Khan Academy, and ones with a split pane). Has this progress been applied to algorithms? If not, why not?
I have to appreciate the intelligence of top notch CS school students. I once took the equivalent class in CMU and couldn't even complete the first assignment. Forgot which one but the last problem is too hard for me. Then I realized I better just study whatever I'm interested in and go back to algo if needed.
A reasonable person may ask whether a student's inability to complete the first assignment is a failure of the student, or of the support structure (materials, lecture style, any applicable TA)
If you like this, I strongly encourage you to also check out Harvard’s CS50. Lectures are all on YouTube. https://cs50.harvard.edu
I’ve been curious for a while now, if anyone’s had success completing these courses via YouTube or open courseware or whatever, and citing them as a proxy to an actual undergrad degree on a resume. The content seems great, and other than, I guess, interaction with professors and other students, I’m unsure what the difference would be in outcomes?
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand what your question is? How is the 2023 course material taught at UC Berkeley being publicly accessible not exactly the thing you're asking about?
I'll simplify. In 2023, there are much more effective ways to teach computer science than tossing lecture videos up on a web site with homework assignments. MIT pioneered that in the nineties with OCW. It was a good idea at the time. Now, we have ways of doing online learning which are an order of magnitude more engaging, and lead to much better learning outcomes. I would never use the Berkeley stuff with kids. I mig…
Granted most students don’t attend because the lectures are diligently posted online on the website.
What’s not captured on the website are twice a week discussion small groups where one TA to 20-30 students work through problems in a group setting. There’s a lot of collaboration and interactivity here. Then there’s the once a week lab, where about 20-30 students go to a computer room and go through an interactive lab exercise.
Then, there are the projects. Every CS 61ABC course is defined by their projects. These projects are the opposite of traditional learning. And 61B has done some of the most innovative projects I’ve seen in an educational context. For example, we had one semester where students grouped up and designed a rogue-like from scratch. There was a minimum rubric, but students were given the time to be extra creative, and we definitely saw that shine. It was a nightmare to grade though, but it was experimental and cool.
So this website is just a small fraction of what the students experience. It’s really just a schedule + lecture directory.
Is there a point for working programmer to learn these in 2023, rather than just treating them as abstract interfaces?
The students are learning about lists, sets, and maps. These are so common that misusing this stuff can lead to big consequences during engineering design.
I feel like I could just go through the docs for for java / kotlin collections lib and cracking the code interview, and get a good understanding of DS / algos. What would this offer beyond that?
(this is a genuine question, btw, no sarcasm, there is something here that is resonating with other folks, but not me and I would like to know what that is)
Here's my question: This seems wonderful for 2010. It's 2023. We have 3B1B, SoME, Python Tutor (which now does many languages), and various types of fairly smart tools to support kids as they're coding (e.g. Jupyter/Pluto-notebook style system, ones like Khan Academy, and ones with a split pane). Has this progress been applied to algorithms? If not, why not?
Not much money in academia since MooCs took a lot of the more motivated students, I reckon?
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I took this so many years ago I can't remember who taught it. Paul Hilfinger maybe? Microvax assembly language was a big part of the course, IIRC.
I took it two semesters ago with Hilfinger and sadly didn’t have any Microvax in it. You might be thinking of 61C, which deals more with computer architecture.