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A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
51–60 of 83 posts
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#52> 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.
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Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#53I 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.)
Then stop focusing on trying to get him to code, and focus on his music, his chess, his YouTube videos ( especially if he has aspiration to be a content creator rather than a passive consumer), and his academics. Maybe related to one of those things, you could gently try to build a bridge between them and coding. However, don't force it . If you force it, you're essentially going to be raising someone who hates progr…
This is good advice if you live in a Hollywood movie fantasy, or are insanely rich. Otherwise this is bad advice.
A parents job is to steer their kids not into superficial happiness found through whatever interested them at 16, but to actual long term happiness achieved through fulfillment, accomplishment, stability, and belonging.
If I ignored CS pushed by my father to focus on whatever interested me at 16 (pot, girls, metal music, wow), I’m not sure where id be, but I imagine it would be worse off.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#54As someone who could never afford to get a degree at university, I love this kind of stuff!
I have gaps in my own knowledge, so I keep going through stuff, to find what I'm missing and fill it in. Eg I'm not great on O(x) calculations.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#55I 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.
Imagine doing science, engineering, or mathematics. Might as well be getting an English degree.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#56I 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.)
Lots of ideas two days ago:
Two years of teaching high school CS
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#57> 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.
Weirdly enough, mathematics is a very emotional subject for me. I never understood how it was taught in school, and had serious difficulty understanding it. As a result I just ignored it, believing that I didn't have the right brain for it. Even though I taught myself how to code, I never went back and learned math, so my level of knowledge is at a basic high school level. It can be embarrassing at times, and every n…
I honestly think this is one of the bigger problems with people who "can't do math", probably most people can learn quite a bit of (at least basic) mathematics. But oftentimes when you did not understand the subject well previously, like in high school because of different interests at the time or a bad teacher or something. And then because of this whenever you see an equation or hear the word 'mathematics' you just shut off your brain. I know some people who can understand me when I explain some physics or mathematics concept without explicit mathematics, but they would be scared off at the first equation.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe 5 years ago, I was in a similar place. I had a particularly embarrassing moment at work when it clicked that I just... didn't know the basics. I was, to use an overused term, "mathematically immature". So I made a commitment: I decided I would work through Khan Academy math for 1-hour a day for 1 year. I started with pre-K [1] (specifically counting) and watched every video and did every single exercise in orde…
if you would have to do it again, would you change something on your methodology? I assume there were some unnecessary time sinks here & there
If you, or someone else is seriously considering learning math from the basic at a high level, I’d recommend picking up “art of problem solving, pre-algebra” book, and walking up from there.
These sets of books are universally considered to be among the best math education resources by mathematicians and others, and they start from the very basic (such as the number line and basic operations), but without the need of practicing elementary school material like counting.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#59Earlier quoted context omitted.
Then stop focusing on trying to get him to code, and focus on his music, his chess, his YouTube videos ( especially if he has aspiration to be a content creator rather than a passive consumer), and his academics. Maybe related to one of those things, you could gently try to build a bridge between them and coding. However, don't force it . If you force it, you're essentially going to be raising someone who hates progr…
This is good advice if you live in a Hollywood movie fantasy, or are insanely rich. Otherwise this is bad advice. A parents job is to steer their kids not into superficial happiness found through whatever interested them at 16, but to actual long term happiness achieved through fulfillment, accomplishment, stability, and belonging. If I ignored CS pushed by my father to focus on whatever interested me at 16 (pot, gir…
It's neither good nor bad advice. It will depend on the kid. Some will respond like you, while some will respond like the commenter above you explains.
Re: A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science
#60Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe 5 years ago, I was in a similar place. I had a particularly embarrassing moment at work when it clicked that I just... didn't know the basics. I was, to use an overused term, "mathematically immature". So I made a commitment: I decided I would work through Khan Academy math for 1-hour a day for 1 year. I started with pre-K [1] (specifically counting) and watched every video and did every single exercise in orde…
What did you do after you completed the K-8?
I worked from the top of this page [1] downwards and ended after algebra 2.