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Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020)

by truly on 11/26/21, 8:43 PM with 52 comments

• by dang on 11/26/21, 9:43 PM

  Past related threads:

  Ask HN: Thoughts on teachyourselfcs.com? - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23731364 - July 2020 (1 comment)

  Teach Yourself Computer Science - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23588896 - June 2020 (265 comments)

  Teach Yourself CS Updated - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23054988 - May 2020 (1 comment)

  Teach Yourself Computer Science (2020 update) - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23045295 - May 2020 (1 comment)

  Teach Yourself Computer Science - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17581589 - July 2018 (81 comments)

  Teach yourself computer science - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17332944 - June 2018 (1 comment)

  Teach Yourself Computer Science - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13862284 - March 2017 (237 comments)

• by magpi3 on 11/27/21, 1:45 AM

  Love this website, and love how there are more and more resources for auto-didacts.

  For anyone who wants to learn how to draw, check out drawabox: https://www.drawabox.com. The guy started out just wanted to share the basics and now I think he makes a living through that site.

  EDIT: I should also add that I know drawabox is off topic, but it is IMO a great example of where education might be going. Carefully constructed resources and advice for self-motivated learners, and a patreon to support it. The people at teachyourselfcs.com can learn from this site.

• by at_compile_time on 11/27/21, 12:13 AM

  I'm a self-taught programmer and I've been looking at this curriculum longingly for a while now. I've been working up the courage to quit a cushy but unfulfilling job to study CS full-time (also math and physics, but that's just for fun).

  I fell in love with programming after I started working, and have spent the last 7 years automating everything I can in my job. I'm confident in my ability to solve problems, but I'm missing a solid understanding of the fundamentals.

  I already have a BS in Materials Engineering, and I have mixed feelings about returning to university. Tuition has doubled since I graduated, and I'm perfectly capable of teaching myself. The authors of teachyourselfcs.com have some strong opinions on CS masters degrees, though I would consider it if I found a topic that really called out to me AFTER I had built those fundamentals.

  I have plenty of savings, but I'm worried that my effort will be wasted if it doesn't come with an exclusive piece of paper at the end. Will it be an obstacle, or am I worried over nothing?

• by musicale on 11/26/21, 11:01 PM

  I think the advice to avoid an MSCS should be taken with a grain of salt, particularly if you have an undergrad degree in CS and/or already know the material on this page.

  While it is true that programs are cash cows and there is both potential debt and opportunity cost, you can learn a lot if you pick the right courses, such as well-taught graduate systems courses with a serious project component.

  I have often wished that software I've seen, both commercial and open source, had been written by people who had a better understanding of computer systems, especially operating systems, databases, distributed systems, etc..

• by emodendroket on 11/26/21, 9:33 PM

  It's cool that there are more of these around; I remember I just kind of went to a few universities' CS program Web sites, looked at what courses you'd take to get the major and what books they used, and went from there.

• by asdadsdad on 11/27/21, 2:23 AM

  Timeless quote from Bodik, from the article:

  "Don’t be a boilerplate programmer. Instead, build tools for users and other programmers. Take historical note of textile and steel industries: do you want to build machines and tools, or do you want to operate those machines?"

  gReaT resource.

• by micahbule on 11/27/21, 12:39 AM

  A good course/resource to go on a full and serious dive to CS:

  https://github.com/ossu/computer-science

• by musicale on 11/26/21, 11:01 PM

  I think the advice to avoid an MSCS should be taken with a grain of salt.

  You can learn a lot in a well-taught graduate systems course with a serious project component.

• by JavaBatman on 11/27/21, 3:13 AM

  I did my undergrad in Economics but I want to transition to software engineering. But idk what stack to choose or what projects to work on. I also can't afford to leave my job to do a bootcamp either. So I'm stuck and it sucks.

• by 2OEH8eoCRo0 on 11/26/21, 10:33 PM

  Eerie. I was just browsing this site minutes ago. Good all-around guide but I wonder if it could use an update to include things like machine learning, cryptography, or safety-critical software.

• by pkdpic on 11/27/21, 3:37 AM

  Ive been teaching at a top bootcamp for a while now and really enjoying it, in large part because we get a lot of lateral freedom to spend time going deeper on computer science topics and get a lot of excuses to do so with our current CS-heavy curriculum.

  I just wanted to say this is exactly the kind of welcoming, positive resource that made the software industry feel so welcoming when I came back to it after a decade long hiatus. Its not perfect but it really seems like its never been so easy to find the resources you need to become not just a proficient developer but a fully engaged software engineer.

  I'll be forwarding this to all my past, present and future graduates. Thank you for posting and for all the work that went into assembling this. :^)

  Also if anyone has any other good resources for helping to shape new minds in the industry and make responsible / capable engineers please let me know!

• by aero-glide2 on 11/27/21, 1:27 AM

  There's a discord group for this which isn't very active https://jointeachyourselfcs.carrd.co/ Maybe we could make it active :)

• by ginger2016 on 11/27/21, 9:07 PM

  Is this blocked in India? I can’t access

  The website has been blocked as per order of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under IT Act, 2000.

• by fellellor on 11/27/21, 4:52 AM

  Is there any place where you can discuss the textbook problems in this course?

• by szemy2 on 11/27/21, 5:23 PM

  Are there any good similar sites for learning botanics?

• by _wldu on 11/27/21, 12:57 AM

  I would argue that if you really understand binary search, then you understand half of CS Theory. You can apply that to DP, graphs, networks, etc. and solve most problems efficiently.

• by moffkalast on 11/27/21, 12:08 AM

  Computer science is overrated.

  Computer engineering on the other hand... much more practical ;)