from Hacker News

Stanford University Free Class: Design and Analysis of Algorithms I

by ziyadb on 11/20/11, 1:00 AM with 53 comments

  • by pcestrada on 11/20/11, 2:36 AM

    I'm stunned... I've already signed up for ML, was thinking crypto, and now this? Some people dream of winning the lottery, I would be happy for a 6 month sabbatical from my full time job to immerse myself in these classes. I've currently taking the AI class and a enjoy it immensely. I feel the my 'bag of programming tools' has grown exponentially with all the stuff I'm learning.
  • by plinkplonk on 11/20/11, 3:21 AM

    The ideal situation is that other Universities get into the game, so we can pick and choose courses from specific professors - one course from MIT and another from Stanford and so on.

    Another thing I'd like to see is this idea expanding beyond CS to, say, Math and Physics. Within CS it would be great to see courses on Compilers, Operating Systems and so on. Yes I am greedy :p (and the courses are addictive!)

  • by johnfn on 11/20/11, 2:39 AM

    I'm a Stanford student, and I can tell you that Roughgarden is one of the best lecturers at Stanford. If you're thinking about taking a class, I would highly recommend this one. Plus, the material is awesome.
  • by sjmulder on 11/20/11, 2:34 AM

    I’m seriously considering taking half a year off to work on several of these classes, supported by a part time job. There’s just so much in there that we never properly treated at uni (bachelor level).
  • by alexanderberman on 11/20/11, 1:59 AM

    Wow, the amazing classes just keep on coming! Stanford is really doing a phenomenal thing by making all of these classes free to the public!
  • by mrleinad on 11/20/11, 2:27 AM

    They´re like pokemon. Gotta have them all!
  • by beagledude on 11/20/11, 5:32 AM

    Honestly, I'm more excited about these classes from Stanford than Christmas. This is the one I've been waiting for, thanks Santa!
  • by innocentques on 11/20/11, 5:00 AM

    I am amazed that Stanford is taking this idea and running with it. Khan Academy established the need and feasibility of the parallel education system. It is much better than the other types of open course ware. I am beginning to think there are going to be a lot more. And I am desperately wishing for some electrical engineering classes.
  • by almost_usual on 11/20/11, 2:16 AM

    This guy is a great lecturer, I'm working through his CS161 videos right now.

    You can get a sample of what his lectures will probably be like here http://openclassroom.stanford.edu/MainFolder/CoursePage.php?...

  • by zura on 11/20/11, 9:10 AM

    Great! Now I'm waiting for the Compilers class.
  • by gnonsense on 11/20/11, 4:25 PM

    What are the expectations for someone who signs up for a course? Are there ramifications if one does not complete the material? I want to sign up for this, but I have three other college classes to take at the same time (with extracurriculars), and I'm not positive I could keep up for the entire semester.
  • by joeyespo on 11/20/11, 3:36 AM

    Is there a central place to get a list of all the classes? (Aside from the bottom of these individual pages)
  • by corey on 11/20/11, 2:48 AM

    I'm currently loving Jennifer Widom's DB class, and I'm excited about this and ML next quarter.

    I really hope this phenomenon spreads outside of their CS department; I'd love it if there were some pure math classes(like real analysis and abstract algebra) in this format.

  • by rodh257 on 11/20/11, 3:47 AM

    This may have been answered in one of the many other threads on these, but are they going to run these regularly? There's so many I want to do but I don't have time to do them all at once. Have they said that they will run them later next year?
  • by tnip on 11/20/11, 2:11 AM

    I'm pretty amped about this, to be honest. Gives me a way to take an Algorithms class a semester early, and it serves as a good kick in the rear too! (Well, hopefully not so much the latter - just excited to be able to take the class!)
  • by alanav on 11/20/11, 4:28 AM

    Like he said: "the key class to ace the technical interviews." So true.
  • by roxtar on 11/20/11, 3:36 AM

    I am guessing there are three more classes to come. That way the rows showing the classes, at the bottom of each class page, will be nice and symmetrical.