7 ms·

Stanford class on Information Theory

132 points by huherto 15y ago

atmz 15y ago
While we're on the subject, I found this a very good source of material on the topic, if you don't want to wait 'til March: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/InfoTheory/ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/InfoTheory/ No video lectures, though..
- njs12345 15y ago
  http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1112/InfoTheory/ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1112/InfoTheory/ is a bit more recent and should be pretty similiar :)
hwiechers 15y ago
I noticed that this one starts in March 2012. Since the others start in Jan and seem to last about 10 weeks (AFAIK), they'll probably be complete before this one starts. Keep that in mind if you've already signed up for others.
- Adaptive 15y ago
  This is actually a super useful note, thanks. I saw the headline and thought "another interesting course that starts in January, no way" since the others all start in Jan. Upvote!
  - bchjam 15y ago
    the Lean Launchpad course is the only one I've seen so far that says it's starting in February.
    - haakon 15y ago
      The SAAS course also starts in February.
_mrc 15y ago
It would be interesting if Stanford suggested some path through these courses. I'm in the middle of AI class (loving it), and I wonder what the overlap is with the PGM or game theory classes - would they have been better to have done first (given a time machine)? And I wonder, how much more than the probability I've picked up from the ai-class is required as a prerequisite for the infotheory class?
- huherto 15y ago
  I am taking AI and ML. I would like to take game theory or pgm. But, I think I will start with analysis and design of algorithms. In my mind that should help me take the other classes later on. What do other people think?
  - tensor 15y ago
    Algorithms are core CS and I would definitely recommend taking them prior to other courses. The best way to know what to take first is to take a look at course prerequisites and the program tracks: http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/ProgramSheets.shtml http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/ProgramSheets.shtml
- tsunamifury 15y ago
  I've sat in on the GT lectures at Stanford and I would definitely make sure I had a solid background in logic and statistics. Other than that, you can start from scratch there. Its an extremely interesting course btw.
sravfeyn 15y ago
Is it just me that doesn't like these stanford offerings? I find it very, 'to the point' kind of teaching, AI and ML. I prefer to watch Profs teach to a live audience. They normally fill a sense of energy in live classes. The style of teaching in lumps of 5-6 mins on youtube is very boring. And also the assignments here lack a serious effort compared to their original offerings. I started my learning way back with http://www.cs50.net http://www.cs50.net. I thought it would be great watching ai-class.org, but it isn't. Anyway, I found a very good AI course from UC-Berkeley (CS188). It's a streaming of live class sessions and is very interesting. And the assignments are top-notch as they are original class room psets. It would be great if the videos are sessions to live audience.
- dlo 15y ago
  Here are the classroom lectures for ML. http://classx.stanford.edu/ClassX/system/users/web/pg/view_subject.php?subject=CS229_FALL_2011_2012&cxm=1 http://classx.stanford.edu/ClassX/system/users/web/pg/view_s...
  - dlo 15y ago
    Also, the classroom lectures for the upcoming algorithms course are already up. http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/CoursePage.php?course=IntroToAlgorithms http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/CoursePage.php?...
  - sravfeyn 15y ago
    Thank you !Is there the original AI class too?
  - NnamdiJr 15y ago
    Thanks a lot for the link. Good way to review and compare with online class.
- ot 15y ago
  I didn't like Ng's course on ML too much, it is very good if you just want to implement the algorithms, but it gives no insight on why they work. I enjoyed far more Tom Mitchell's lectures, they gave me a much better understanding of the algorithms described: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml There are some comments on HN about it http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3199718 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3199718
2121221 15y ago
Wow, it has started. Please please please more EE courses. I was begging for a signals & system course. This is close.
romaniv 15y ago
Is there some website that tries to keep track of these online classes across universities? Seems like it would be useful.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- tryitnow 15y ago
  It would also be really nice for such a site to have a place for collecting tips, comments, feedback, like what I am reading here on HN. I've learned a lot in just the past five minutes that will be useful for picking which (if any) courses to take in January. It would be nice to see all these comments in one place, especially for people who don't read HN.
  - romaniv 15y ago
    There is a Reddit group to discuss these classes: http://www.reddit.com/r/OnlineEducation http://www.reddit.com/r/OnlineEducation
- ntoshev 15y ago
  The courses from different universities vary drastically in quality. I don't mean the professors are not good, I mean the online versions are often include incomplete materials and I haven't seen other classes that take advantage of the medium like Stanford: with integrated quizzes and automatically scored programming assignments. I've seen slides from MIT's OCW that say "This slide is removed for copyright reasons" in half the slides of a particular lesson - they are just not helpful.
jamesjyu 15y ago
I was hoping this would be led by Thomas Cover. I took his class back in Stanford many years ago, and found it to be one of the most enlightening. He wrote the classic text on information theory -- a very well written textbook that actually keeps you interested: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Information-Theory-Thomas-Cover/dp/0471062596 http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Information-Theory-Thomas-Cov...
- beagle3 15y ago
  Tsachy's an excellent researcher and an excellent teacher. A long time ago in a universe far away, we used to sit together taking classes (perhaps even Information Theory was one of them - I don't really remember) I haven't seen him teach in 13 or 14 years now, but I'm sure he only got better at it, and highly recommend taking this course if you are interested in Information Theory. (come back and downvote me in 4 months if you disagree)
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

132 points by huherto 15y ago

atmz 15y ago

While we're on the subject, I found this a very good source of material on the topic, if you don't want to wait 'til March: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/InfoTheory/ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/0910/InfoTheory/ No video lectures, though..

njs12345 15y ago
http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1112/InfoTheory/ http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/teaching/1112/InfoTheory/ is a bit more recent and should be pretty similiar :)

hwiechers 15y ago

I noticed that this one starts in March 2012. Since the others start in Jan and seem to last about 10 weeks (AFAIK), they'll probably be complete before this one starts. Keep that in mind if you've already signed up for others.

Adaptive 15y ago
This is actually a super useful note, thanks. I saw the headline and thought "another interesting course that starts in January, no way" since the others all start in Jan. Upvote!
- bchjam 15y ago
  the Lean Launchpad course is the only one I've seen so far that says it's starting in February.
  - haakon 15y ago
    The SAAS course also starts in February.

_mrc 15y ago

It would be interesting if Stanford suggested some path through these courses. I'm in the middle of AI class (loving it), and I wonder what the overlap is with the PGM or game theory classes - would they have been better to have done first (given a time machine)? And I wonder, how much more than the probability I've picked up from the ai-class is required as a prerequisite for the infotheory class?

huherto 15y ago
I am taking AI and ML. I would like to take game theory or pgm. But, I think I will start with analysis and design of algorithms. In my mind that should help me take the other classes later on. What do other people think?
- tensor 15y ago
  Algorithms are core CS and I would definitely recommend taking them prior to other courses. The best way to know what to take first is to take a look at course prerequisites and the program tracks: http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/ProgramSheets.shtml http://cs.stanford.edu/degrees/undergrad/ProgramSheets.shtml
tsunamifury 15y ago
I've sat in on the GT lectures at Stanford and I would definitely make sure I had a solid background in logic and statistics. Other than that, you can start from scratch there. Its an extremely interesting course btw.

sravfeyn 15y ago

Is it just me that doesn't like these stanford offerings? I find it very, 'to the point' kind of teaching, AI and ML. I prefer to watch Profs teach to a live audience. They normally fill a sense of energy in live classes. The style of teaching in lumps of 5-6 mins on youtube is very boring. And also the assignments here lack a serious effort compared to their original offerings. I started my learning way back with http://www.cs50.net http://www.cs50.net. I thought it would be great watching ai-class.org, but it isn't. Anyway, I found a very good AI course from UC-Berkeley (CS188). It's a streaming of live class sessions and is very interesting. And the assignments are top-notch as they are original class room psets. It would be great if the videos are sessions to live audience.

dlo 15y ago
Here are the classroom lectures for ML. http://classx.stanford.edu/ClassX/system/users/web/pg/view_subject.php?subject=CS229_FALL_2011_2012&cxm=1 http://classx.stanford.edu/ClassX/system/users/web/pg/view_s...
- dlo 15y ago
  Also, the classroom lectures for the upcoming algorithms course are already up. http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/CoursePage.php?course=IntroToAlgorithms http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/CoursePage.php?...
- sravfeyn 15y ago
  Thank you !Is there the original AI class too?
- NnamdiJr 15y ago
  Thanks a lot for the link. Good way to review and compare with online class.
ot 15y ago
I didn't like Ng's course on ML too much, it is very good if you just want to implement the algorithms, but it gives no insight on why they work. I enjoyed far more Tom Mitchell's lectures, they gave me a much better understanding of the algorithms described: http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~tom/10701_sp11/lectures.shtml There are some comments on HN about it http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3199718 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3199718

2121221 15y ago

Wow, it has started. Please please please more EE courses. I was begging for a signals & system course. This is close.

romaniv 15y ago

Is there some website that tries to keep track of these online classes across universities? Seems like it would be useful.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
tryitnow 15y ago
It would also be really nice for such a site to have a place for collecting tips, comments, feedback, like what I am reading here on HN. I've learned a lot in just the past five minutes that will be useful for picking which (if any) courses to take in January. It would be nice to see all these comments in one place, especially for people who don't read HN.
- romaniv 15y ago
  There is a Reddit group to discuss these classes: http://www.reddit.com/r/OnlineEducation http://www.reddit.com/r/OnlineEducation
ntoshev 15y ago
The courses from different universities vary drastically in quality. I don't mean the professors are not good, I mean the online versions are often include incomplete materials and I haven't seen other classes that take advantage of the medium like Stanford: with integrated quizzes and automatically scored programming assignments. I've seen slides from MIT's OCW that say "This slide is removed for copyright reasons" in half the slides of a particular lesson - they are just not helpful.

jamesjyu 15y ago

I was hoping this would be led by Thomas Cover. I took his class back in Stanford many years ago, and found it to be one of the most enlightening. He wrote the classic text on information theory -- a very well written textbook that actually keeps you interested: http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Information-Theory-Thomas-Cover/dp/0471062596 http://www.amazon.com/Elements-Information-Theory-Thomas-Cov...

beagle3 15y ago
Tsachy's an excellent researcher and an excellent teacher. A long time ago in a universe far away, we used to sit together taking classes (perhaps even Information Theory was one of them - I don't really remember) I haven't seen him teach in 13 or 14 years now, but I'm sure he only got better at it, and highly recommend taking this course if you are interested in Information Theory. (come back and downvote me in 4 months if you disagree)

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]