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GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

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Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#131

Post by manquer »

temp8964 wrote: post #124
madhadron wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The question, then, is why not have the state university build the tests and write the textbooks? Then you fund the actual creation once and can straightforwardly fund updates and alterations as needed.

State universities are not good at doing either. There are not enough psychometricians or test writers or textbook writers in psychology or curriculum and instruction departments. State government is not better at doing things than big companies. Hope your solution is not to ask the government to do everything.

You think testing companies keep all the psychometricians/text book writers on payroll ?

Many of the big tests are developed within an academic setting with university/public funding then licensed out. Almost every book is written by university professor then published by pearson or others.

State government does not outsource writing the tax code or the other regulations to companies why is tests any different ?

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#132

Post by temp8964 »

manquer wrote: post #125
temp8964 wrote: post #118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am not sure what you are talking about. There are several testing companies, Pearson is not the only one. And states have a selection process and technical review process done by outside psychometricians. Yes. There are places where tests were developed by the government agencies, which are not professionals. Mostly their tests lack psychometric regorious, not comparable across years. I'm not sure what you meant "p…

I very clearly said pearson and others in the space. If reviews can be done by psychometricians, why test building cannot ? There are many many qualified professionals affiliated with major universities- several of them owned by the state. Is it difficult to imagine them developing the tests? Many of these same professionals consult with testing companies for building the tests, so it is not like these companies have…

You are just imagine things as an outsider. Testing companies not only have the best psychometricians and they have many many psychometricians and stasticians work for them.

Yes. University professors do consulting works. How do they have the capacity to build a product as professional companies do? ...

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#133

Post by dragonwriter »

temp8964 wrote: post #127
truth_ wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is that not clear from my comment? Whether standardized tests are good or bad is a whole other debate. The point here is- they lobby to get standardized tests mandated where they were not, then they lobby snd push their tests for statewide use very hard. All school districts have to buy test questions and other infrastructure from them only. And only Pearson certified teachers can evaluate those copies. And every ste…

You apparently don't know what you are talking about. No. Testing companies do not lobby to get standardized tests mandated where they were not. The federal government mandates this as a requirement for federal money. Districts do not pay for the state test or buy test questions from Pearson...

> Testing companies do not lobby to get standardized tests mandated where they were not.

Yes, they do.

> The federal government mandates this as a requirement for federal money.

Sure, some mandates come from the federal government; others are from state governments, and still others from local governments.

Guess who lobbies legislators making those decisions, especially at the federal level, but also at the state level, and sometimes, especially for larger jurisdictions, at the local level?

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#134

Post by Dylan16807 »

the8472 wrote: post #104
visarga wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is not what is happening in reality. How can you explain this kind of events: > SoundCloud takes down D.J. Detweiler's 'remix' of John Cage's "4'33" for copyright infringement. > White Noise Video on YouTube Hit By Five Copyright Claims Not to mention that almost all classical music pieces recorded by students are under risk of being DMCA'ed for being so similar to copyrighted recordings. Classical music has m…

Please consider a quote in its entirety. Takedown mills losing the ability to file claims is not what is happening in reality. Scorched earth (against takedown abuse) is not happening in reality. The first sentence is merely a setup of the scenario, the last two are the conclusion (which doesn't happen, at least not often enough to discourage the behavior).

Yes, the hypothetical punishment is not currently happening in reality. You definitely misread the first comment.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#135

Post by 8ytecoder »

gravypod wrote: post #65
truth_ wrote: post #12

Not totally unrelated: Pearson is a piece of trash company. They sell very overpriced textbooks and always use DRM in online copies. They lobby for standardized tests in states and get them mandated. Students are put through them. And guess who provides the certificate required by teachers to evaluate those exam copies? Yes, Pearson. And they make a ton of money. Please watch this talk for more context (even if you d…

In college we had to use them. It was a financial burden on myself. $100/course essentially. Our school mandated that we take homeworks using Pearson's online system. This means if you found a used copy of the book it was essentially waste. You needed to have a one-time-use code (printed on the book) to do your homework. If you didn't, you'd essentially fail the class. Also, the system was buggy. The entire thing is…

Why is education like this in the US? Is it the teachers who willingly allow students to spend so much unnecessarily? Is it the admins? Do they get paid to do this stuff?

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#136

Post by manquer »

temp8964 wrote: post #132
manquer wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I very clearly said pearson and others in the space. If reviews can be done by psychometricians, why test building cannot ? There are many many qualified professionals affiliated with major universities- several of them owned by the state. Is it difficult to imagine them developing the tests? Many of these same professionals consult with testing companies for building the tests, so it is not like these companies have…

You are just imagine things as an outsider. Testing companies not only have the best psychometricians and they have many many psychometricians and stasticians work for them. Yes. University professors do consulting works. How do they have the capacity to build a product as professional companies do? ...

I am no outsider, I have spent last 10 years partnering/ integrating with testing companies . I have seen tests built and marketed and sold.

All tests have frameworks underlying them , do you know how long it takes to establish a framework ? How many peer reviewed papers that have to published, and time it takes to shape the opinion of the ecosystem to make it acceptable? Without a established validity and equity nobody is going to buy the test, why would they risk it to get sued?

You think companies go through the full journey of years and take all the risk? in most cases they only come in the latter stages and commercialize and adapt it.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#137

Post by minnehaha »

Operyl wrote: post #67
st_goliath wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Internet Investigator Haha... that's a brilliant euphemism for "profession Google user". Or maybe we could call it "serial scrapist"? Of all the silly titles I tried to come up with, this sure hadn't crossed my mind yet. And it has a catchy ring to it too. "Internet Investigator" got to be somewhere up there between "Adult Software Engineer" (middle ground between "Junior" and "Senior") and "Server Captain/Commodor…

It literally is the name of the company, haha. https://theinternetinvestigators.com/

Actually, "Internet investigator" is the person's job title, not the company name. The person listed the title like he is an employee or contractor representing Pearson. Anyone 'claiming' to represent them could have sent it.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#138

Post by temp8964 »

manquer wrote: post #131
temp8964 wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

State universities are not good at doing either. There are not enough psychometricians or test writers or textbook writers in psychology or curriculum and instruction departments. State government is not better at doing things than big companies. Hope your solution is not to ask the government to do everything.

You think testing companies keep all the psychometricians/text book writers on payroll ? Many of the big tests are developed within an academic setting with university/public funding then licensed out. Almost every book is written by university professor then published by pearson or others. State government does not outsource writing the tax code or the other regulations to companies why is tests any different ?

You can't tell the difference between a prototype and product. OK. Lets go to the basics. Do you at least understand the state standardized tests are commonly given to grade 3 to grade 10 students on three subjects (English, Math, Science)? That's 24 tests (a few grades could share the same test, but that's complicate). Most state universities don't even have 12 psychometricians. Lol. Of course the reality is much more complicated than 24. You are just imagining things with no understanding of the scale of the complexity of the reality.

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#139

Post by [deleted] »

harikb wrote: post #44
patmorgan23 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plugging open source text books. There are many high quality option out there that are openly licensed. Openstax is a project by Rice University that has textbooks for most gen ed courses. openstax.org/

Thanks for the link. Didn’t know. Btw, this is why they lobby for state mandates. A single teacher cannot make an exception Situation in private school is not better. A prominent private high school in Bay Area, made me run around like a crazy man scavenging used books from all over the place because the recommended books were out of stock. They won’t publish the exact book name until after classes begin in August an…

[deleted]

Re: GitHub repository for Sedgewick's Algorithms is taken down

#140

Post by smolder »

harikb wrote: post #44
patmorgan23 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Plugging open source text books. There are many high quality option out there that are openly licensed. Openstax is a project by Rice University that has textbooks for most gen ed courses. openstax.org/

Thanks for the link. Didn’t know. Btw, this is why they lobby for state mandates. A single teacher cannot make an exception Situation in private school is not better. A prominent private high school in Bay Area, made me run around like a crazy man scavenging used books from all over the place because the recommended books were out of stock. They won’t publish the exact book name until after classes begin in August an…

I know of a company that had a pretty large set of creative commons licensed learning materials they put together, along with tools to customize lesson plans and rearrange/edit material, make online quizzes, etc. It was offered as a good low cost digital replacement to traditional textbooks, aimed at colleges. Follett, the #1 textbook distributor (which interestingly has common roots with Barnes and Noble) bought the company. Shortly thereafter, the product mentioned was discontinued. The professors that had adopted it, I assume, were somewhat inconvenienced.
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