pmb

16 ms·

151.
by pmb 16y ago
"As technology improves, we should expect higher quality teachers for less cost" --- if and only if we know how to use technology to increase instruction quality. I contend that we have almost no idea about that. He is right to blame all o
152.
by pmb 16y ago
It's a chrome bug. Or a Chrome/Java/OSX combo bug. The game plays fine in Safari or FF.
153.
by pmb 16y ago
I agree: A PhD is too painful to complete one for non-work reasons. I defended 12 months ago, but I really like teaching at the college level, so I stuck it out. If you don't need one, you almost certainly don't want one. They don't teac
154.
by pmb 16y ago
Accept the defaults. Or, at least, get so that you can use a computer within 5 minutes of being given the default configuration. It makes your life so much easier. A more general form of this is: choose your battles.
155.
by pmb 16y ago
You misunderstand me. I am not saying that Indian Universities properly prepare you for a lifetime of success. I am saying that it is certain you can get the mathematical knowledge you want from them. As to whether that is the career y
156.
by pmb 16y ago
Don't sell Indian universities short. It is very hard to get a job in mathematics, which means that even at "bad" universities the mathematics faculty can be quite good.
157.
by pmb 16y ago
You want to go take a proof-based college math class. Or sit in on one. Or find videos of one. It is hard to guarantee that a course will be like that, unless its name is either "Analysis" or "Abstract Algebra". Don't sell Indian univer
158.
by pmb 16y ago
9876543210!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
159.
by pmb 16y ago
Cyberwar? I still don't understand what that would be. Dueling TCP stacks? Bluetooth snipers? DDOS? The word gets used as if it's well defined, but I have never heard a non-metaphorical description. "A war fought in cyberspace"? That
160.
by pmb 16y ago
Thank you for that. Getting linked to a Cosma Shalizi article is always good for an hour of brain stretching, and that one is particularly wonderful.
161.
by pmb 16y ago
This is definitely a strongly-typed-language situation.
162.
by pmb 16y ago
Anyone can post to the ArXiv. So now wait a few weeks. One test: does his algorithm work for bipartite graphs? Another test: his algorithm uses real numbers. This is sketchy, as real numbers can't actually be represented in a computer.
163.
by pmb 17y ago
He said "summer" job. 10 weeks * 40 hours/week * $12/hour = $4800 And that's if you can get a $12/hour job in the current economy. Working halftime certainly can make a little dent in your debt, but it also makes it hard to take a full lo
164.
by pmb 17y ago
Because slow programmers don't program first. They program last, and do "big design up front" on paper. This is because the cost of a bad idea is hours wasted, and despite the logical coherence of various "expected value" arguments, stude
165.
by pmb 17y ago
Something is wrong with your logic, both because I can't follow it and because it contradicts all the "anecdata" I have collected during my career.
166.
by pmb 17y ago
That's true. But it (generally) doesn't let you discard your wrong ideas quickly, which is where the approach I was trying to describe gets most of its benefit. What you describe is much more akin to a waterfall model with a bunch of pseu
167.
by pmb 17y ago
It applies to all levels, actually. Seniors have this problem too, not just CS1 students.
168.
by pmb 17y ago
Hi Matt! No worries. Thanks for posting this to HN! It's always nice to feel like I am not just shouting into the void, but it feels too self-promoting and vaguely spammy to post my own stuff. So I've been very glad that people (both he
169.
by pmb 17y ago
Also that they refuse to experiment by trying out ideas which may or may not work. Instead, they bang their heads and don't type a lick until they have found what they regard as "the" solution. Which is often not even "a" solution, but be
170.
by pmb 17y ago
Yes! That is the kind of speed and skill to which I was referring. The ability to use code as a medium for thought and exploration rather than just viewing it as a final product.
171.
by pmb 17y ago
What I was getting at was that increased speed in coding has nonlinear effects n your time-to-solution and that students should code sooner --- before they have the solution in hand --- rather than waiting until they think they know the rig
172.
by pmb 17y ago
It's not just prom teaching CS1, it's also from teaching algorithms and OS and every other course I've taught. A willingness and ability to code fast and fail fast is universally applicable and useful.
173.
by pmb 17y ago
Olin is designed to be challenging, and your fellow students are all going be selected from the top tier. This means that you have a 50% chance of being worse than the median (and probably the mean, too). You may need to learn how to lear
174.
by pmb 18y ago
SMS takes place on the control channel and not the data channel, which has a far more limited bandwidth. This means that SMS messages have to be queued up with control messages, and that a flood of SMS messages can disrupt all cell service
175.
by pmb 18y ago
Because the tasks that we ask the computer to do increase as our ability to handle more complex problems increases. I can ROCK almost any programming assignment and task of 20+ years ago given today's languages and hardware. But the probl
176.
by pmb 18y ago
If they are "one program", a distinction which seems clear but ends up being a judgement call, then no, you can not do this. If they are separate programs, then yes, you can do this. Plugins seem to be okay as well, but are a gray area.
177.
by pmb 19y ago
Trust your employees to act like adults.