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Hacker News comments are assigned reading for UC Berkeley CS 10 course
- greenyoda 9y agoIn particular, the syllabus links to this HN discussion: Algorithms Are Great and All, but They Can Also Ruin Lives (wired.com) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8630311 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8630311
- lifthrasiir 9y ago...that is thankfully three years ago, modest enough (compared to what HN has become in recent years sigh) and no longer open for further comments.
- code5fun 9y agoDone, where do I get my degree
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- ericzawo 9y agoI always like to joke to people that if they want to learn something, anything at all, all they have to do is take a free class at YouTube university. I’ll have to add HN comments to my joke! (And yes, as a former tech worker with no professional coding experience can vouch I’ve learned a TON here.)
- oblio 9y agoJust make sure you don't mix them up, I don't wish learning from YouTube comments even on my worst enemies.
- amrrs 9y agoThat'd have become the latest version Microsoft Tay!
- malloryerik 9y agoAlthough today, well, yeah you can pretty much learn anything online and with ebooks if you have the focus and drive.
- tempodox 9y agoMaking HN comments assigned reading without also adding http://n-gate.com http://n-gate.com would sound quite irresponsible, if it were more than the one specific thread the article refers to.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- briandear 9y agoObligatory upvote. I actually had never heard of n-gate and now, I feel, as if I can waste time more efficiently and humorously than ever before. I agree though, n-gate ought to be required reading!
- tempodox 9y agoYep, I always enjoy the fresh bucket of cold water it delivers to my face. And it often highlights facets that get left out.
- tzahola 9y agoWow, this is fucking great!!! thx
- sundvor 9y agoThis Internet thanks you for the reminder!
- pknerd 9y agois it me or others also see that CAPTCHA and "loading" thing on main page?
- sidcool 9y agoThis is an added responsibility for us. We will make it worth.
- greenpresident 9y agoI am thoroughly impressed by the number of people involved in this class. I teach a class at a large European research university and it is the professor plus two TAs, nobody else. That is a difference tuition and funding can make. You get what you pay for. Edit: forgot to mention that there are 460 students registered for the exam. They wonder why we don’t have them write papers...
- briandear 9y agoWhat's ironic about your statement is that there are many in the US that clamor for "free" university education for "everyone" -- citing how it's done in Europe. However, like everything, there are tradeoffs and unintended consequences that go beyond the simplistic thoughts of the politically and economically naïve. The University of California system, in my amateur opinion is extremely good. In fact, the state university systems in most US states are all of pretty good quality. I spent a bit of time living near the University of Avignon (France) and, compared to a typical American community college, I was very suprised at how deficient the French university was. In France, university is "free" but as you said, you get what you pay for. Of course, there are exceptional European universities and there are terrible American universities, but overall, American university systems seem to be much better than the equivalent in "free" university countries.
- yodsanklai 9y ago> I spent a bit of time living near the University of Avignon (France) and, compared to a typical American community college, I was very suprised at how deficient the French university was. There are two co-existing systems in France. Universities and "Grandes Ecoles". The latter are more selective and usually have more fundings.
- wolfgke 9y ago> Of course, there are exceptional European universities and there are terrible American universities, but overall, American university systems seem to be much better than the equivalent in "free" university countries. I personally think that the typical German university is better than the typical US one, but it is a very different system: In Germany you are very much on your own when you are studying. This teaches you a lot about self-discipline, which employers love. On the other hand, if you are a person who needs a lot of handholding, German universities are probably not for you. In my opinion being able to study mostly for free is more than worth the lack of handholding, but as I said: This system is not for everybody.
- arthurofbabylon 9y agoThis getting upvoted and rising toward the top of HN reminds me of Hesse writing about academic/intellectual elites and winning the Nobel prize for it. Magister Ludi wasn’t his best novel, but it was the one that felt most self-gratifying for the voting body. Humans tend to regard as ‘right’/of-value/impressive that which validates their own perspective, sometimes shamelessly.
- stanislavb 9y agoYou are right, yet, I believe there's a lot of wisdom and value in the comments here. Quite often I tend to read the commends before the articles/posts themselves.
- w8w00rd 9y agoreminds me of this: http://danluu.com/hn-comments/ http://danluu.com/hn-comments/
- jxub 9y agoI think, in a meta sense, that this comment feels also really gratifying to read, there goes my upvote.
- robin_reala 9y agoOut of interest (and having only read Siddhartha and The Glass-Bead Game), what would you say was his best novel?
- tempodox 9y agoWhich reminds me of the Devil's Dictionary's definition of admiration: Admiration, n. Our polite recognition of another’s resemblance to ourselves.
- finnthehuman 9y agoSee also "oscar bait" >Oscar bait films are theatrical, a word which here means “keeps reminding you that you’re [in] the audience.” So don’t be fooled when the panegyrics pour out over a Spielberg flick about a dog that sniffed out its owner’s cancer and then flew to D.C. to campaign for healthcare reform. The actors are side characters, background dancers. The hero is the camera. It’s the one with the character growth, guilt and redemption, it’s the one for whom the score sings. Which means the hero is…
- PacketPaul 9y agoThey are using snap! an apparent derivative of Scratch. Seriously? The course sounds exactly like my six graders middle school course. Well the six graders did read Hacker News, so I guess that is what makes it a College Level EE course (eyes roll).
- extra88 9y agoScratch is a good introduction to programming concepts, regardless of age. How fortunate for your sixth grader; if such courses were common in earlier grades, a course like this could start with more challenging material. This is not an EE class, it's an intro CS class, one that's not for those with prior knowledge who know they'll choose CS as a major. This kind of course can get new people interested, those who didn't think they'd like or could do CS. Even if they don't major in it, by taking this one course, they know more about an important part of what makes our world work. CS50 at Harvard College [0] is also a very large, popular course that gets more people interested in CS as a major but is also useful to those who don't take another class. It also starts with Scratch though it switches to other languages very quickly and appears more challenging overall than this course. [0] https://cs50.harvard.edu https://cs50.harvard.edu