3 ms·

While I agree with the content of this in general, I find books to be burdensome and would not like a course centered around them. I think a series of well craf

While I agree with the content of this in general, I find books to be burdensome and would not like a course centered around them. I think a series of well crafted video lectures are a better medium for some people, myself included. I also find that I can learn everything I need to in my Software Engineering program via a series of pointed google searches much quicker than reading a text. Most courses have 1 or more $100 books which are "required" but I haven't bought them in years. What I /would/ like, is sample problems with solutions ;)

pcmonk 10y ago
I think this depends a lot on the particular courses. For example, I nearly always want a textbook in an upper division math class, because they're so heavy on theory, and the concepts are very dense. It's useful to see it all written out on a few pages, and be able to refer to it easily. In most of my engineering classes, well done lectures work well because the concepts can be explained more clearly, and I'm a lot more likely to actually learn the material while it's being explained (because the material is not as dense). Similarly, google searches are sometimes useful as supplementary reference for math classes, but are much more helpful in programming courses. In the more theoretical upper-division software engineering courses (theoretical computer science, AI, etc.), I find that google does not perform all that well, at least compared to other programming classes.
Fomite 10y ago
In contrast (because people have different learning styles) I get almost nothing out of video lectures, and vastly prefer having books. One of the things holding me back from learning Julia is the current dearth of quality books.
- tnecniv 10y ago
  The language docs are pretty well written and accessible.
detaro 10y ago
> I think a series of well crafted video lectures are a better medium for some people, myself included. In a traditional course, isn't that what the (physical) lecture is for?
mwcampbell 10y ago
On your suggestion about video lectures, remember that text is accessible to some people for whom video is not, particularly blind people and deaf people.

pcmonk 10y ago

I think this depends a lot on the particular courses. For example, I nearly always want a textbook in an upper division math class, because they're so heavy on theory, and the concepts are very dense. It's useful to see it all written out on a few pages, and be able to refer to it easily. In most of my engineering classes, well done lectures work well because the concepts can be explained more clearly, and I'm a lot more likely to actually learn the material while it's being explained (because the material is not as dense). Similarly, google searches are sometimes useful as supplementary reference for math classes, but are much more helpful in programming courses. In the more theoretical upper-division software engineering courses (theoretical computer science, AI, etc.), I find that google does not perform all that well, at least compared to other programming classes.

Fomite 10y ago

In contrast (because people have different learning styles) I get almost nothing out of video lectures, and vastly prefer having books. One of the things holding me back from learning Julia is the current dearth of quality books.

tnecniv 10y ago
The language docs are pretty well written and accessible.

detaro 10y ago

> I think a series of well crafted video lectures are a better medium for some people, myself included. In a traditional course, isn't that what the (physical) lecture is for?

mwcampbell 10y ago

On your suggestion about video lectures, remember that text is accessible to some people for whom video is not, particularly blind people and deaf people.