ozanonay

Joined 18 years ago

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794
Submissions
62
Member since
Jun 10
https://csprimer.com
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Comment · 3 years ago
Bradfield founder here: thanks for the recommendation but it's really not true that "most of [the course material] comes from CS:APP". It's a great book—which is why I recommend it so strongly in teachyourselfcs.com—but we use it only as a supplementary resource, for one of the eight courses we teach.
Comment · 3 years ago
As the author of Teach Yourself CS I would definitely suggest against trying to fit this in a year! Maybe aim for CS:APP and 1-2 others, and if you have time for more that's a bonus. Most of these are books to work through, not "read".
Comment · 6 years ago
This guide has been posted to HN a number of times by others, typically with a very positive response.

I recently made a major update, in particular: strongly recommending _Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective_ and _Designing Data-Intensive Applications_; recommending _Crafting Interpreters_ over the Dragon Book for those new to compilers; updating a number of broken links (due to shutdown of Lagunita); and, adding a few secondary recommendations

Comment · 6 years ago
Hi there, I'm the author. Yes this list precisely constitutes the topics in computer science on which I believe a software engineer with an informal education should focus. It's based on my experience of having taught computer science to over 1,000 junior to mid-level engineers, mostly bootcamp grads, in person in small classes over the last 5 years.

I've been meaning to update it slightly, to recommend _Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective_ over P&H (although P&H is still excellent) as well as Martin Kleppmann's book _Designing Data-Intensive Applications_ for distributed systems.

Comment · 7 years ago
Congratulations, this is great! I'm glad you'll be reaching an underserved group.

I hope, though, that you'll be honest with your students about what your program will deliver.[1] While it's currently still possible for many non-programmers to achieve upward mobility just by learning to code, there's a huge skill gap between those who can cobble together a few libraries to make a website, and those who understand theory/systems well enough to build something novel.

While compensation levels for both groups are currently still comparable, the steadily increasing supply of bootcamp grads and self-taught engineers could result in a pronounced bimodal distribution in a matter of years. Some subset of folk will have the motivation and resources to make the jump;[2] others may end up in end-user programming roles that pay poorly or aren't fulfilling.

Somebody entering your program should have a realistic view of what it takes to reach the parts of our industry that they hope to find themselves in. If they know that Modern Labor is step 0, and see themselves on a long road of learning and growth, they're likely to do very well!

[1] I wouldn't have worried about this, except that I've seen some bootcamps tell their students that they should consider themselves "senior" upon graduation, and that their skills are comparable or superior to graduates of top computer science programs.

[2] I run https://bradfieldcs.com and maintain https://teachyourselfcs.com, both of which aim to help such folk make the jump. As much as I try, many people aren't interested or driven enough to start, let alone persist for the years that it takes.

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