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Great Ideas in Theoretical Computer Science

84 points by tete 14y ago

yfr 14y ago
The name of this course is amusingly similar to one offered at CMU, "Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science", the content seems similar as well. Perhaps MIT was inspired by it? [1]: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-251/ http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-251/
- MaysonL 14y ago
  Check the dates: the MIT course is "As taught in 2008".
  - peyton 14y ago
    CMU's "Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science" (formerly known as "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist") dates back to at least 2003 and possibly earlier. It's fairly infamous. It would not be surprising if MIT's drew inspiration from it, nor would it be wrong if it did.
- jchonphoenix 14y ago
  The course is copied from CMU's. I have a friend who TAed the first iteration of the MIT course and was a former 251 ta @ CMU. The goal of the mit course was to offer their students the same experience as CMU's class because it was highly successful and they relied heavily on my friend's experiences as a ta at cmu to build the course. In general, I view this as a good thing. Universities should take the best material they can find and offer them to students even if it's not original.
- jchonphoenix 14y ago
  The course is copied from CMU's. I have a friend who TAed the first iteration of the MIT course and was a former 251 ta @ CMU. The goal of the mit course was to offer their students the same experience as CMU's class because it was highly successful and they relied heavily on my friend's experiences as a tax at cmu to build the course. In general, I view this as a good thing. Universities should take the best material they can find and offer them to students even if it's not original.
- codehero 14y ago
  This was one of the greatest courses I took at CMU, when Dr Stephen Rudich lectured. The course's fame derived not only from the challenging material, but all the stories and magic tricks Dr Rudich would perform. It's not clear from the MIT course description if the latter is included.
contingencies 14y ago
Thanks for posting. As a self-trained hacker, it's nice sometimes to get read up on broadly-applicable theories in computer science from a current university pedagogy perspective.

84 points by tete 14y ago

yfr 14y ago

The name of this course is amusingly similar to one offered at CMU, "Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science", the content seems similar as well. Perhaps MIT was inspired by it? [1]: http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-251/ http://www.andrew.cmu.edu/course/15-251/

MaysonL 14y ago
Check the dates: the MIT course is "As taught in 2008".
- peyton 14y ago
  CMU's "Great Theoretical Ideas in Computer Science" (formerly known as "How to Think Like a Computer Scientist") dates back to at least 2003 and possibly earlier. It's fairly infamous. It would not be surprising if MIT's drew inspiration from it, nor would it be wrong if it did.
jchonphoenix 14y ago
The course is copied from CMU's. I have a friend who TAed the first iteration of the MIT course and was a former 251 ta @ CMU. The goal of the mit course was to offer their students the same experience as CMU's class because it was highly successful and they relied heavily on my friend's experiences as a ta at cmu to build the course. In general, I view this as a good thing. Universities should take the best material they can find and offer them to students even if it's not original.
jchonphoenix 14y ago
The course is copied from CMU's. I have a friend who TAed the first iteration of the MIT course and was a former 251 ta @ CMU. The goal of the mit course was to offer their students the same experience as CMU's class because it was highly successful and they relied heavily on my friend's experiences as a tax at cmu to build the course. In general, I view this as a good thing. Universities should take the best material they can find and offer them to students even if it's not original.
codehero 14y ago
This was one of the greatest courses I took at CMU, when Dr Stephen Rudich lectured. The course's fame derived not only from the challenging material, but all the stories and magic tricks Dr Rudich would perform. It's not clear from the MIT course description if the latter is included.

contingencies 14y ago

Thanks for posting. As a self-trained hacker, it's nice sometimes to get read up on broadly-applicable theories in computer science from a current university pedagogy perspective.