Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

github.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 83 posts

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#11

Post by vector_spaces »

hahhahanananana wrote: post #6

> High School Mathematics Whenever I try to catch up with maths (in Khan Academy and elsewhere), I always end up in an awkward state where I keep recursively researching less and less advanced subjects because of gaps of various sizes in my fundamental knowledge. It's incredibly demotivating.

I guess first consider that you might have math trauma -- read about it, own it (if it applies, of course), and recognize what it feels like when it rears its head. Lots of people -- mainly in the US, but it's a thing in other countries too -- were taught math in a pretty shitty way, often by people who don't want to be teaching it in the first place because they themselves have math trauma.

Then build up fluency in the basic manipulations: do lots and lots and lots of exercises until those manipulations become second nature. You might need to start with fractions[2], and that's fine. One of the nice things about math at the elementary level is that you nearly always are guaranteed to get better with practice. This absolutely isn't the case for proof-based math, where you really need to be intentional about truly digesting the material and thinking careful about the ideas. But if you're shaky on absolute fundamentals, you can get incredibly far with grinding.

At some point you'll need to engage with the ideas, but I think that's easier once you've built up some pattern recognition. But others will (surely) disagree

[1] https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-how-to-help...

[2] https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/fraction-phobia-the...

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#12

Post by totierne2 »

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#13

Post by OwlGoesHoot »

hahhahanananana wrote: post #6

> High School Mathematics Whenever I try to catch up with maths (in Khan Academy and elsewhere), I always end up in an awkward state where I keep recursively researching less and less advanced subjects because of gaps of various sizes in my fundamental knowledge. It's incredibly demotivating.

It would probably be helpful to start at a level above where you left off and look up specific gaps in your knowledge as you find them. It’s always good to come to a topic with the understanding of every previous topic, but often those deeper understandings come from moving into more advanced subjects anyway. It might be more slow and frustrating at times, but it will give you a better understanding of where your specific gaps in knowledge actually lie and you’ll be able to address them as you go.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#14

Post by Swizec »

totierne2 wrote: post #12

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Maybe your son is not into coding and that’s okay. This is not a great profession to be in if you don’t enjoy it.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#15

Post by gigatexal »

totierne2 wrote: post #12

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Let him find his passion. Don’t force him into programming. There’s plenty in the tech space that needs doing. And there’s even more in life that he can do to earn a living that’s not tech related.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#16

Post by mywacaday »

totierne2 wrote: post #12

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Pushing him to do something weekly that he doesn't sound interested in at the moment will only push him away from it in the longer term. Maybe try programming something that overlaps with his other interests that deepens his understanding of both subjects.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#17

Post by [deleted] »

totierne2 wrote: post #12

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

[deleted]

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#18

Post by vidyesh »

ghaff wrote: post #5
KnobbleMcKnees wrote: post #3

Not sure on the prerequisites. I have absolutely no discipline and still managed to get my compsci degree!

That probably because you were in a degree program. Discipline is definitely an issue if you just decide to complete a couple dozen courses making up a curriculum from OCW or whatever. Even if you take out elective stuff, especially that not connected to the major, you're almost certainly talking many hundreds of hours to plow through a college major.

I think the elective stuff might also be a reason to be able to successfully finish the degree. University degree for many comes down to studying strategically than understanding everything they are studying. So the elective stuff might be considered a break from other stuff, which means the brain does get time to take a break from a certain topic to retain that information while you study something else.

Self-study is a road with very little guidance to understand which part is more important to study, and which just needs to be understood so the pressure to make sure one knows everything makes it difficult to progress at a consistent pace.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#19

Post by ghaff »

tsingy wrote: post #8
hahhahanananana wrote: post #6

> High School Mathematics Whenever I try to catch up with maths (in Khan Academy and elsewhere), I always end up in an awkward state where I keep recursively researching less and less advanced subjects because of gaps of various sizes in my fundamental knowledge. It's incredibly demotivating.

The book that made things click for me was Maths: A Student's Survival Guide by Jenny Olive. Give it a shot, use a calculator for everything. IMO in the age of computers let computers do the calculations and just learn to have intuitions.

I'd have to be convinced that you can develop those intuitions without basic arithmetic. Mind you, I'm not saying spend a lot of time mastering long division or whatever. (I'd probably have to look up the technique myself.) But I think some level of numeric fluency is probably necessary.

Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science

#20

Post by tsingy »

totierne2 wrote: post #12

I am looking for a bottle of computer science motivation for my 16 year old. I do an hour a week coding with him. It is not enough, he does no coding in between times. There are other things he prioritises ahead of coding. (School, music, YouTube videos, and chess.)

Try finding something that he likes, that could be enhanced with programming to start with. Mine was fantasy basketball, doing it with the help of computers is so much better than by hand.
Post reply on HN