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Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

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Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#11

Post by milesstevenson »

MaxGabriel wrote: post #5
milesstevenson wrote: post #4

I almost feel as if it isn't fair. My university offers none of these things at the undergraduate level -- compilers isn't even offered at all. Although I am an advocate of this paradigm shift taking place, and am happy to be alive during a time where radical changes to education are surely to be made, these courses being offered make me really have second thoughts about putting all my time towards my university's su…

Take udacity/coursera courses during the summer instead?

I wish. Unfortunately I can't skip summers while trying to get a double degree, if I want to finish in any reasonable time -- or before scholarship money runs dry for that matter.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#12

Post by ramkalari »

lunchladydoris wrote: post #2

When these courses started coming out I was very excited. Now that there are so many of them, I find myself being interested in too many and being paralyzed by excessive choice, to the point that I've gone back to good old books for my self-learning.

It boils down to choosing the top 2 courses. It's difficult to do beyond that if you have a day job. One can still score high on the exams but you will have very little time left to reflect on the material.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#13

Post by Cofor »

lunchladydoris wrote: post #2

When these courses started coming out I was very excited. Now that there are so many of them, I find myself being interested in too many and being paralyzed by excessive choice, to the point that I've gone back to good old books for my self-learning.

I'm feeling the exact same way. Fortunately, the fact that you can download the videos help to be dedicated to one course at a time.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#15

Post by barfoomoo »

dhawalhs wrote: post #9
barfoomoo wrote: post #6

Any opinion on Udacity's compiler classes versus Coursera's? There is a gap of one week between them, so we can try both and choose the one that suits us, but still, any gut feel?

I feel like Udacity's compiler class would be more practical and more entry level as compared to Coursera. Its target audience are the people who finished the recently concluded CS101 course. Coursera's version would be more theoretical, thorough and closer to a Stanford level undergraduate class. Coursera's version has midterms as well exams. So I feel like it would be around 10 weeks long as compared to 7 weeks for…

Thanks for chipping in. I am leaning towards the Coursera one after reading your comment.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#16

Post by MaxGabriel »

barfoomoo wrote: post #6

Any opinion on Udacity's compiler classes versus Coursera's? There is a gap of one week between them, so we can try both and choose the one that suits us, but still, any gut feel?

I'm not experienced much on implementation differences between compilers and interpreters, but Coursera seems like a compilers course versus Udacity's interpreter.

I personally much prefer Udacity's format--short videos (30 seconds to ~7 minutes) with a question after most of them, and then an explanation video. The Coursera courses I've seen have 15 minute videos/1 question, so I don't find myself retaining the material as well.

Moreover, Udacity (atleast for CS373) asks programming questions as quizzes, so you have more exposure to the programming rather than just the theory.

I don't know if this will be as bad for a compilers class, but CS373 definitely let a lot of the math be magic versus Coursera's Machine Learning class.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#19

Post by carlsednaoui »

MaxGabriel wrote: post #17

I will also add that if you're finding scheduling conflicts to be a problem with finishing homework, Udacity is offering CS101 and CS373 without homework deadlines. http://www.udacity-forums.com/cs373/questions/34839/we-are-l...

Another thing to keep in mind is to avoid "over registering" by trying to do too many courses - some courses are rather intensive/ time consuming.

Re: Free online CS courses from Udactiy & Coursera starting over the next 2 weeks

#20

Post by marlek »

Are there any repercussions on choosing more courses and then dropping some after a couple of weeks? I guess it will be hard following more than two with college semester coming to an end, but I like at least 4 or 5 of these online courses and I'd like to see how some of them are going for a few weeks
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