27 ms·

Ask HN: Holy grails of free, online courses?

86 points by tdoubleu 3y ago

I've recently gone through Karpathy's Zero-to-Hero course (https://karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero.html) and the content is just superb. What other courses like this exist?

smoldesu 3y ago
Not necessarily tech-related, but I consider Ableton's online music classes to be a brilliant gift to the online portion of humanity: https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ https://learningsynths.ableton.com/ https://learningsynths.ableton.com/
PaulHoule 3y ago
I like the Python course on HackerRank.
syndicatedjelly 3y ago
Dan Grossman’s Programming Language series on Coursera is one of the best courses I’ve taken at any level of education For guitarists, Paul Davids’ courses through his website are excellent
- beeburrt 3y ago
  Is that the one that uses Standard ML?
  - syndicatedjelly 3y ago
    Yep for part A. B and C use Ruby and Scheme I think
- deanmoriarty 3y ago
  Would you recommend this for a proficient programmer with a decade of experience in non functional languages?
  - Jtsummers 3y ago
    If you have any interest in functional programming and higher-order programming, or understanding the functional parts of languages you use now, then I'd say yes. At least as the course was structured a decade ago or whenever I took it. A lot of "non-functional" languages have functional influences. If you'd like to get a better idea of what those are and how they can be used more effectively and for higher-order programming, it would be a good course to take.
  - syndicatedjelly 3y ago
    In addition to what the other comment says, I found that his class drastically sped up my ability to pick up new programming languages. The class teaches an underlying "grammar" that's common to all programming languages, almost like a linguistic approach. I also learned a "meta-language" by which to speak about (and effectively Google/research) any programming languages.
beeburrt 3y ago
There's cs61a: https://cs61a.org/ https://cs61a.org/ (I'm doing the Denero version: https://cs61a.org/denero.html https://cs61a.org/denero.html) If you pass the command-line flag: `--local` you can run the tests without triggering the submission system. accompanying book: https://www.composingprograms.com/ https://www.composingprograms.com/ The moocs from University of Helsinki are really good. Here's the current Python one: https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ And there's their web dev course, called Full Stack Open: https://fullstackopen.com/en/ https://fullstackopen.com/en/ If learning web dev, you can't go wrong with The Odin Project: https://www.theodinproject.com/ https://www.theodinproject.com/
paeselhz 3y ago
Hastie and Tibshirani's class on Statistical Learning is a must for someone that wants to learn about ML. All of the classes are available here (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOzrYsAxzQyHb8n_RWNuS1e https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOzrYsAxzQy...) and the book recently got a Python version to complement the original R classes. https://www.statlearning.com/ https://www.statlearning.com/
__rito__ 3y ago
Here are some past Ask HN threads worth mentioning: 1. "Best Lecture Series": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34591291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34591291 2. "Top Coursera Courses": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25245125 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25245125 3. "Best MOOCs": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745042 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745042 4. "Coursera Courses": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826722 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826722 There are some great recommendations and some of them are among the best MOOCs that I have ever taken.
clockwork-dev 3y ago
Very fun watching this guy chat about probability. Statistics 110 Probability: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/stat110/youtube https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/stat110/youtube And this guy (Erik Demaine) is an absolute gem for introductory algorithms. Introduction to Algorithms: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-spring-2020/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms...
muzani 3y ago
edX had some absolutely amazing free courses that still is a part of me. They were really tough though
asicsp 3y ago
Big list of free programming books: * https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/books/free-programming-books-langs.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/boo... * https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/books/free-programming-books-subjects.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/boo... Online courses: https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/courses/free-courses-en.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/cou...
quickthrower2 3y ago
FastAI’s course seems good so far
- mstibbard 3y ago
  +1 for https://course.fast.ai/ https://course.fast.ai/
hostcontroller 3y ago
I can thoroughly recommend Execute Program [0] by Destroy All Software [0]: https://www.executeprogram.com/courses https://www.executeprogram.com/courses
the__alchemist 3y ago
MitX quantum mechanics series. And intro to Bio. And molecular bio. And, of course, Khan. A lot of the MitX couses from 2017-2020ish were outstanding.

86 points by tdoubleu 3y ago

I've recently gone through Karpathy's Zero-to-Hero course (https://karpathy.ai/zero-to-hero.html) and the content is just superb. What other courses like this exist?

smoldesu 3y ago

Not necessarily tech-related, but I consider Ableton's online music classes to be a brilliant gift to the online portion of humanity: https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ https://learningmusic.ableton.com/ https://learningsynths.ableton.com/ https://learningsynths.ableton.com/

PaulHoule 3y ago

I like the Python course on HackerRank.

syndicatedjelly 3y ago

Dan Grossman’s Programming Language series on Coursera is one of the best courses I’ve taken at any level of education For guitarists, Paul Davids’ courses through his website are excellent

beeburrt 3y ago
Is that the one that uses Standard ML?
- syndicatedjelly 3y ago
  Yep for part A. B and C use Ruby and Scheme I think
deanmoriarty 3y ago
Would you recommend this for a proficient programmer with a decade of experience in non functional languages?
- Jtsummers 3y ago
  If you have any interest in functional programming and higher-order programming, or understanding the functional parts of languages you use now, then I'd say yes. At least as the course was structured a decade ago or whenever I took it. A lot of "non-functional" languages have functional influences. If you'd like to get a better idea of what those are and how they can be used more effectively and for higher-order programming, it would be a good course to take.
- syndicatedjelly 3y ago
  In addition to what the other comment says, I found that his class drastically sped up my ability to pick up new programming languages. The class teaches an underlying "grammar" that's common to all programming languages, almost like a linguistic approach. I also learned a "meta-language" by which to speak about (and effectively Google/research) any programming languages.

beeburrt 3y ago

There's cs61a: https://cs61a.org/ https://cs61a.org/ (I'm doing the Denero version: https://cs61a.org/denero.html https://cs61a.org/denero.html) If you pass the command-line flag: `--local` you can run the tests without triggering the submission system. accompanying book: https://www.composingprograms.com/ https://www.composingprograms.com/ The moocs from University of Helsinki are really good. Here's the current Python one: https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ https://programming-23.mooc.fi/ And there's their web dev course, called Full Stack Open: https://fullstackopen.com/en/ https://fullstackopen.com/en/ If learning web dev, you can't go wrong with The Odin Project: https://www.theodinproject.com/ https://www.theodinproject.com/

paeselhz 3y ago

Hastie and Tibshirani's class on Statistical Learning is a must for someone that wants to learn about ML. All of the classes are available here (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOzrYsAxzQyHb8n_RWNuS1e https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLoROMvodv4rOzrYsAxzQy...) and the book recently got a Python version to complement the original R classes. https://www.statlearning.com/ https://www.statlearning.com/

__rito__ 3y ago

Here are some past Ask HN threads worth mentioning: 1. "Best Lecture Series": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34591291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34591291 2. "Top Coursera Courses": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25245125 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25245125 3. "Best MOOCs": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745042 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745042 4. "Coursera Courses": https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826722 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826722 There are some great recommendations and some of them are among the best MOOCs that I have ever taken.

clockwork-dev 3y ago

Very fun watching this guy chat about probability. Statistics 110 Probability: https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/stat110/youtube https://projects.iq.harvard.edu/stat110/youtube And this guy (Erik Demaine) is an absolute gem for introductory algorithms. Introduction to Algorithms: https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms-spring-2020/ https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/6-006-introduction-to-algorithms...

muzani 3y ago

edX had some absolutely amazing free courses that still is a part of me. They were really tough though

asicsp 3y ago

Big list of free programming books: * https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/books/free-programming-books-langs.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/boo... * https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/books/free-programming-books-subjects.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/boo... Online courses: https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/courses/free-courses-en.html https://ebookfoundation.github.io/free-programming-books/cou...

quickthrower2 3y ago

FastAI’s course seems good so far

mstibbard 3y ago
+1 for https://course.fast.ai/ https://course.fast.ai/

hostcontroller 3y ago

I can thoroughly recommend Execute Program [0] by Destroy All Software [0]: https://www.executeprogram.com/courses https://www.executeprogram.com/courses

the__alchemist 3y ago

MitX quantum mechanics series. And intro to Bio. And molecular bio. And, of course, Khan. A lot of the MitX couses from 2017-2020ish were outstanding.