4 ms·

I come from the opposite side of the spectrum. I know nothing about UNIX/AWS/Shell and have no intimate or strong opinions on any of the tools. I am confused by

I come from the opposite side of the spectrum. I know nothing about UNIX/AWS/Shell and have no intimate or strong opinions on any of the tools. I am confused by basics such as how to make a special request for P2 access, since the set up video is out of date. The git cloning recommendations on the wiki is also confusing to me. I'd rather see a video on how to do the git cloning or step-by-step instructions (with pictures) on how to do this and what to expect if it has been properly done. I felt like some of the material is outdated and I find it not clear how to get around it. I ended up getting frustrated with the set up videos and git cloning instructions, so I skipped it in their entirety. I hope the future iterations of this class spell things out for beginners like me. Otherwise, I can't even begin the class since I don't know how to request access to P2, clone git, etc. I am not uneducated. I come from a pure mathematics background and don't know anything about this set up business. I can code, know theoretical CS, but when it comes to setting up the tools (along with the outdated material) I am utterly lost. At this point I'm just watching the videos. I can't actually do any of the coding stuff since I don't have the tools set up, but I like their top-down approach and am learning a lot despite these obstacles.

metafunctor 9y ago
Most of the time I also ended up just watching the videos, picked up the concepts I didn't yet know about, and experimented on them in my own way. I did perform all the Kaggle submissions, though, to kind of calibrate my level. I wonder how big the crowd between our two extremes is — the people who actually do run the commands exactly as explained in the videos? If the material is outdated, beginners cannot. Experts will do their own thing. How many people will follow the actual instructions?
jph00 9y ago
We (including the rest of the learning community) would love to help you - could you post on the forums the problems you are having and we'll try to help sort them out? If you've already posted, please at-mention me there so I don't miss it. It's a fine line between helping too much vs too little in lesson 1! For the next time we run part 1, we're thinking we'll have an optional weekend workshop to teach the necessary (non deep learning specific) software pieces - python, numpy, AWS, shell, etc. That would end up being a separate mini-MOOC I suspect. Based on the discussions on the forums it seems most students are between these two extremes, and largely follow the video advice, branching off sometimes where they need to do some additional research, or are already familiar with some alternative approach. Edit: actually thinking more about it - probably your best bet is to simply use http://crestle.com http://crestle.com . All the data, notebooks, and software is pre-installed, so you can start coding right away.
- _raoulcousins 9y ago
  If I'm understanding EC2 pricing, this looks a lot cheaper. What's the downside of using crestle instead of AWS for the course?
  - anurag 9y ago
    (I built Crestle.) The downside is you don't get as much control over your environment (you get a terminal in the browser, but no SSH or sudo access, for example). If you have the inclination and ability to manage your own instances, EC2 is more flexible.
    - praseodym 9y ago
      Just wondering: what kind of infrastructure are you running on? If I were to build something like this I'd probably run it atop of EC2 or GCE, so pricing would never be lower than them.
      - ErikBjare 9y ago
        If people aren't fully utilizing their instances, you can offer lower prices since you can have more than one user per underlying instance. Not sure that's how he does it, but it's one way.
      - anurag 9y ago
        It's running on EC2 and uses spot pricing which is much lower than $0.90/hour.
    - mcintyre1994 9y ago
      This looks great, can you give any idea of what your invite request queue looks like/how long I might be waiting?
      - anurag 9y ago
        You'll get an invite as soon as you sign up.

metafunctor 9y ago

Most of the time I also ended up just watching the videos, picked up the concepts I didn't yet know about, and experimented on them in my own way. I did perform all the Kaggle submissions, though, to kind of calibrate my level. I wonder how big the crowd between our two extremes is — the people who actually do run the commands exactly as explained in the videos? If the material is outdated, beginners cannot. Experts will do their own thing. How many people will follow the actual instructions?

jph00 9y ago

We (including the rest of the learning community) would love to help you - could you post on the forums the problems you are having and we'll try to help sort them out? If you've already posted, please at-mention me there so I don't miss it. It's a fine line between helping too much vs too little in lesson 1! For the next time we run part 1, we're thinking we'll have an optional weekend workshop to teach the necessary (non deep learning specific) software pieces - python, numpy, AWS, shell, etc. That would end up being a separate mini-MOOC I suspect. Based on the discussions on the forums it seems most students are between these two extremes, and largely follow the video advice, branching off sometimes where they need to do some additional research, or are already familiar with some alternative approach. Edit: actually thinking more about it - probably your best bet is to simply use http://crestle.com http://crestle.com . All the data, notebooks, and software is pre-installed, so you can start coding right away.

_raoulcousins 9y ago
If I'm understanding EC2 pricing, this looks a lot cheaper. What's the downside of using crestle instead of AWS for the course?
- anurag 9y ago
  (I built Crestle.) The downside is you don't get as much control over your environment (you get a terminal in the browser, but no SSH or sudo access, for example). If you have the inclination and ability to manage your own instances, EC2 is more flexible.
  - praseodym 9y ago
    Just wondering: what kind of infrastructure are you running on? If I were to build something like this I'd probably run it atop of EC2 or GCE, so pricing would never be lower than them.
    - ErikBjare 9y ago
      If people aren't fully utilizing their instances, you can offer lower prices since you can have more than one user per underlying instance. Not sure that's how he does it, but it's one way.
    - anurag 9y ago
      It's running on EC2 and uses spot pricing which is much lower than $0.90/hour.
  - mcintyre1994 9y ago
    This looks great, can you give any idea of what your invite request queue looks like/how long I might be waiting?
    - anurag 9y ago
      You'll get an invite as soon as you sign up.