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

David Beazley – Programming Courses

dabeaz.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 40 posts

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#11

Post by 0xpgm »

al_borland wrote: post #6
g42gregory wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think this is actually AI: currently, there is a narrative (gradually dying out) that AI will replace software engineers and you don't need CS/Software Engineering education as a result. It's the "leaders" who listen to this. Will change back in 12 - 24 months.

Agreed, it seems like really short-term thinking. People still learn math, despite the calculator existing. Accounts still learn accounting, despite Excel and accounting software existing. If/when it does change in 12-24 months, I think companies need to take a serious look at the people in these “leadership” positions. If the quality of their thinking on big things like this is that bad, and so easily swayed by mark…

One annoying thing is how long it takes for things to sway back into equilibrium.

It's getting quite exhausting having to endure all these major events of the 21st century and their consequences - 9/11 and the Iraq war, the 2008 financial crisis, covid-19, and now AI.

But I guess it's better than all out war and conquest as was with most of human history.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#12

Post by pokstad »

Exoristos wrote: post #5

"It's sad, but true. The courses that I used to offer here have to come to end. ... Honestly, I thought I might be teaching these courses into my retirement, but the enrollment numbers don't lie. Since 2023, there has been a complete collapse in the market for continuing education." Personally, I'm finding this kind of story lately shocking and heartbreaking.

I kept coming back to his course listing to find some that were on site, but they were all online. I wanted to take my current team to the same onsite experience I had with Dave over 15 years ago. Classes taught in person are so much better.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#14

Post by santiagobasulto »

David's talks at PyCon are all amazing. My favorite is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4

Funny enough, a few months ago we decided to start a new project and we chose async Python. I had no clue how'd work so I decided to read the PEP and learn a bit more. Big was my surprise when I realized I "knew" all the fundamentals just by understanding how coroutines and generators worked low level, thanks to David's talks.

EDIT: His talks about the GIL are also super informative!

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#15

Post by threethirtytwo »

g42gregory wrote: post #3
jdw64 wrote: post #2

Seeing even these experienced professionals quit teaching programming, it seems like AI has had a big impact on the education market

I do not think this is actually AI: currently, there is a narrative (gradually dying out) that AI will replace software engineers and you don't need CS/Software Engineering education as a result. It's the "leaders" who listen to this. Will change back in 12 - 24 months.

Even before AI, plenty of people were self taught and didn’t get an “education.”

What I’ve found is that in the instances where I want to learn, ai teaches me now.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#16

Post by rossant »

g42gregory wrote: post #3
jdw64 wrote: post #2

Seeing even these experienced professionals quit teaching programming, it seems like AI has had a big impact on the education market

I do not think this is actually AI: currently, there is a narrative (gradually dying out) that AI will replace software engineers and you don't need CS/Software Engineering education as a result. It's the "leaders" who listen to this. Will change back in 12 - 24 months.

That's one way to see it. Can't we also imagine that more and more people now rely on AI rather than humans to learn programming (or more accurately learn vibe-coding)?

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#17

Post by diarrhea »

al_borland wrote: post #6
g42gregory wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do not think this is actually AI: currently, there is a narrative (gradually dying out) that AI will replace software engineers and you don't need CS/Software Engineering education as a result. It's the "leaders" who listen to this. Will change back in 12 - 24 months.

Agreed, it seems like really short-term thinking. People still learn math, despite the calculator existing. Accounts still learn accounting, despite Excel and accounting software existing. If/when it does change in 12-24 months, I think companies need to take a serious look at the people in these “leadership” positions. If the quality of their thinking on big things like this is that bad, and so easily swayed by mark…

> People still learn math, despite the calculator existing. Accounts still learn accounting, despite Excel and accounting software existing.

They do, but you need far fewer or none of the original workers whose full-time job this sort of stuff was.

Raw math does not matter, but what you do with it. Similarly, you could earn a (modest) living knowing nothing but raw HTML, JavaScript and a bit of browser tech not too long ago. That is no longer possible.

Programming and software engineering will be devalued. These occupations won't disappear overnight, but you will see compensation and growth stagnate until equilibrium is reached again. Currently, supply outstrips demand, and I do think it is structural, not just hype.

I'm certainly not creative enough, but I currently do not see demand picking up sufficiently; Gen Z is bearish on social media, VR was a bust, blockchain was a bust, software has already penetrated almost all walks of live and lines of work. There is no next big thing (Internet, ...) on the horizon, to unlock the next order of magnitude of demand. There is certainly more work to do still, but it very suddenly does not require the same headcount, but something like 5%-30% less. Lots of the remaining work will be around integrating LLMs into existing software, which does not sound exciting either.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#18

Post by avilay »

Sad to learn that future generations of programmers won’t benefit from learning from him directly. I took his SICP course a couple of years ago after numerous failed attempts at reading the book and even watching the MIT videos. David’s course was the first time the concepts really clicked.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#19

Post by globular-toast »

Exoristos wrote: post #5

"It's sad, but true. The courses that I used to offer here have to come to end. ... Honestly, I thought I might be teaching these courses into my retirement, but the enrollment numbers don't lie. Since 2023, there has been a complete collapse in the market for continuing education." Personally, I'm finding this kind of story lately shocking and heartbreaking.

Can we update the title? I was aware of Beazley's programming courses and didn't bother clicking until I read this comment.

Re: David Beazley – Programming Courses

#20

Post by globular-toast »

santiagobasulto wrote: post #14

David's talks at PyCon are all amazing. My favorite is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4 Funny enough, a few months ago we decided to start a new project and we chose async Python. I had no clue how'd work so I decided to read the PEP and learn a bit more. Big was my surprise when I realized I "knew" all the fundamentals just by understanding how coroutines and generators worked low level, thanks…

My favourite is lambda calculus in Python. It's something to save for a rainy day and follow along with. Great fun and really enlightening.
Post reply on HN