[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What are some of the best university courses...
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Ask HN: What are some of the best university courses available
online for free?
The course topics can be anything.
Author : curious16
Score : 249 points
Date : 2023-04-12 07:15 UTC (15 hours ago)
| lamontcg wrote:
| Anyone found a good course on matrix calculus? The OCW course
| doesn't have any videos:
|
| https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-s096-matrix-calculus-for-mach...
| asicsp wrote:
| University of Helsinki provides free courses on Python, Java,
| Data Analysis and so on: https://www.mooc.fi/en/
| avinassh wrote:
| Intro to Database Systems by Andy Pavlo -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oeYBdghaIjc&list=PLSE8ODhjZX...
|
| MIT 6.824 Distributed Systems by Robert Morris -
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQP8WApzIQQ&list=PLrw6a1wE39...
| pcthrowaway wrote:
| Syllabus and coursework for the database course:
| https://15445.courses.cs.cmu.edu/fall2022/schedule.html
|
| It looks really good
| 6ak74rfy wrote:
| I can absolutely vouch for the 2nd course which is on
| distributed systems - it's a gem. It also has lab exercises
| which are high quality stuff too.
| fifilura wrote:
| It looks interesting and relevant!
|
| Edit: link to course planning and labs
| https://pdos.csail.mit.edu/6.824/schedule.html
| lofatdairy wrote:
| More humanities than STEM but I'm a fan of damn near anything out
| of Yale's open courses. Personal recommendations are the
| Introduction to the Theory of Literature w/ Prof. Fry and the
| recent course on Ukrainian history. Both are fairly intro level
| in terms of structure but the details and depth don't suffer too
| badly for it. There's more interesting stuff like a class on
| Dante's Divine comedy so it really is mostly just a question of
| navigating the video library.
| photochemsyn wrote:
| Herb Gross's ultra-classic old-school chalkboard delivery of
| "Calculus of Complex Variables, Differential Equations, and
| Linear Algebra" should not be missed:
|
| https://youtu.be/BOx8LRyr8mU
|
| It turns out he also produced a complete series on the precursor
| material, "Single Variable Calculus" as well, which I only just
| now discovered:
|
| https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/res-18-006-calculus-revisited-si...
|
| This professor has a great delivery and a ton of enthusiasm for
| the subject material, (but you can't just watch it, to absorb it
| you have to take notes, maybe recreate the examples in Python or
| something).
| frob wrote:
| That cold open joke is amazing. I miss MIT.
| frob wrote:
| Also, that is the best definition of the real numbers I have
| seen so far
| Tepix wrote:
| The Science of the Solar System (Planetary Astronomy)
|
| by Caltech Professor Mike "plutokiller" Brown
|
| https://www.coursera.org/learn/solar-system
|
| I really liked this course. Here's the blurb:
|
| _Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the
| solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics,
| chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from
| Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside
| our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood
| and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level
| assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but
| the majority of the concepts and lectures can be understood
| without these prerequisites. The quizzes and final exam are
| designed to make you think critically about the material you have
| learned rather than to simply make you memorize facts. The class
| is expected to be challenging but rewarding._
|
| It is also taught at Caltech, see
| https://mikebrown.caltech.edu/teaching/science-solar-system
| [deleted]
| [deleted]
| AntoniusBlock wrote:
| Cryptography I by Dan Boneh (Stanford University)
|
| Programming Languages by Dan Grossman (University of Washington)
|
| Both are on Coursera.
| DavidPiper wrote:
| Big +1 to Cryptography I. I didn't finish it completely, but
| the first ~half satisfied my curiosity about the theory I
| wanted to know, without getting to a lot of the practical
| details that I don't need to remember day-to-day.
|
| Dan and Victor also wrote a course book:
| http://toc.cryptobook.us/
| lucretian wrote:
| Justice
|
| https://pll.harvard.edu/course/justice?delta=0
| jabroni_salad wrote:
| Negotiating Salary by the havard business school:
| https://pll.harvard.edu/course/negotiating-salary
| bobosha wrote:
| edx.org,
|
| ocw.mit.edu
| [deleted]
| tlhenvironment wrote:
| This one is really amazing: Introduction to the Hebrew Bible by
| Christine Heyes, learnt so much!
|
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNeyuvTEbD-Ei0JdM...
| plaguepilled wrote:
| Frederic Schuller's course of Gravity and Light, covering General
| Relativity. It has a few tactical gaps but it will give you
| everything you could ever practically need.
|
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFeEvEPtX_0S6vxxiiNPrJbLu...
| sampo wrote:
| Databases by prof. Widom, from Stanford. Currently the course is
| at edX, and split into 5 mini-courses. Everything in the course
| is well thought out and apparently polished and perfected over
| years of teaching practice and experience. There is nothing
| useless in the video lectures, and the course homework probes
| every topic from the lectures.
|
| https://online.stanford.edu/courses/soe-ydatabases-databases
|
| Songwriting, at Coursera, from Berklee College of Music. The guy
| just sits in a dark room, and explains the process of writing
| lyrics to songs. He just explains it very well.
|
| https://www.coursera.org/learn/songwriting-lyrics
| rjbwork wrote:
| Seconding Widom's course. It's a fantastic primer on databases.
| I did it during the first run, back in like 2011 or 2012 or so.
| I can't imagine it's gotten any less relevant in the
| intervening years.
| BSOhealth wrote:
| I probably owe much of my 10 year software eng career to
| Jennifer Widom's open courses on databases that I went through
| in 2011-2012. I was writing out unions and other queries on
| yellow notepads while working phones in tech support, devoured
| the courses, and really boosted my path.
| sn9 wrote:
| Thirding Widom's course!
|
| It's my go-to recommendation for anyone wanting a strong
| foundation in SQL.
| Suppz wrote:
| "Awakening from the meaning Crisis" by John Vervaeke
|
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLND1JCRq8Vuh3f0P5qjrSdb5e...
| iamgopal wrote:
| Some introduction for uninitiated?
| Suppz wrote:
| We are experiencing a mental health catastrophe. Anxiety
| disorders, sadness, and despair are on the rise, and suicide
| rates are rising across North America, parts of Europe, and
| other parts of the world. This mental health crisis is caused
| and exacerbated by problems in the environment and the
| political system, which are in turn entwined with a deeper
| cultural historical catastrophe that I refer to as "The
| Meaning Crisis." It is becoming increasingly ubiquitous in
| our daily lives. And there's a feeling of drowning in this
| old ocean of nonsense. And we need to figure out why this is
| the case. And what are we going to do about it?
|
| Mentioning a number of folks who have talked in ways that
| will supply us with the resources we require. We'll discuss
| ancient figures such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, as
| well as Jesus of Nazareth, Siddhartha Gautama, and the
| Buddha, as well as present significant figures. We'll discuss
| people like Carl Jung and Friedrich Nietzsche. We'll discuss
| Heidegger.
| Dkuku wrote:
| MIT: Alexander and Ava Amini http://introtodeeplearning.com/
| gamedna wrote:
| MIT's 16.687 - Private pilot ground school. If you want to become
| a private pilot or start your career, this is the place to begin.
| The professors are approachable and the content is comprehensive.
| https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/16-687-private-pilot-ground-scho...
| all of the videos for the lectures are available on Youtube -
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLUl4u3cNGP63cUdAG3v31...
| sss111 wrote:
| 5.111x Chemistry by Catherine Drennan on MiT OCW.
|
| CS3510 Algorithms Georgia Tech on Youtube.
| smiley1437 wrote:
| edx CS50
| wintermutestwin wrote:
| Yale's American Revolution by Joanne Freeman
|
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDA2BC5E785D495AB
|
| Her enthusiasm, depth of knowledge and breadth of perspective
| make for a contagious, enlightening and thought provoking
| learning experience.
| j_crick wrote:
| I really liked The Theoretical Minimum lectures on classical and
| quantum mechanics by Leonard Susskind (suggestion: google up the
| guy, he's cool) at Stanford. You can buy books, but the lectures
| are all free on YouTube.
|
| Classical mechanics playlist can be found here
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL47F408D36D4CF129 and then
| there's quantum mechanics available too, should be easily
| discoverable. And also there's just
| https://theoreticalminimum.com/
|
| Not sure if they qualify to be a "true" uni course though,
| because in this case nobody's gonna give you assignments and
| grades :)
| [deleted]
| beezlebroxxxxxx wrote:
| ViaScience also has a great playlist on the 'story' of quantum
| mechanics. I don't have much background in the field or physics
| in general, but the presentation and explanations in the series
| are (to the degree possible) followable and an incredible
| example of straight-forward, no frills, presentation with
| excellent visualizations. There are long digressions into the
| actual math and equations as well, though if you're just
| interested in the history you can skip those. Simply as a story
| of problem solving and imagination the story of quantum
| mechanics is fascinating in its own rite.
|
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL193BC0532FE7B02C
| sbuccini wrote:
| "The Making of Modern Ukraine" by Timothy Snyder:
| https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLh9mgdi4rNewfxO7LhBoz...
|
| As Prof. Snyder mentions in his introductory lecture, it is kind
| of wild that there are zero other classes, at any American
| university, focusing specifically on Ukraine given its importance
| in the current geopolitical climate.
|
| Prof. Snyder is a great lecturer and the dynamics that shape
| Ukraine are fascinating and useful for understanding European
| history more broadly.
| RugnirViking wrote:
| Big fan of steve brunton's control bootcamp series. Helped me
| through my control systems courses greatly
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pi7l8mMjYVE&list=PLMrJAkhIeN...
|
| Great for robotics, or anything where you need to control complex
| physical systems, from f1 cars to 3d characters in games
| jti107 wrote:
| can second this...also recommend his books
| ultrasounder wrote:
| Thanks for the recommendation
| jplatzek wrote:
| I am quite fond of the three molecular biology courses from MIT
| on edx [1][2][3]. Not only are the lectures great, but they also
| have spaced repetition built in. The exercises are often great
| counterfactual questions that encourage deep understanding.
|
| [1] https://www.edx.org/course/molecular-biology-part-1-dna-
| repl...
|
| [2] https://www.edx.org/course/molecular-biology-
| part-2-transcri...
|
| [3] https://www.edx.org/course/molecular-biology-part-3-rna-
| proc...
| phonescreen_man wrote:
| Edx should be promoted around the world as the greatest gift
| the internet delivered!
| Entinel wrote:
| It was before they sold it to 2U. Such a shame what it has
| turned into.
| agumonkey wrote:
| Thanks a lot, I was on a path to learn bio/med (there's a
| coursera bioinformatics minimooc too).
|
| Anybody in computational biology btw ? slack, irc.
| yawboakye wrote:
| gilbert strang's linear algebra
| https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL49CF3715CB9EF31D. he has a
| few other linear algebra themed courses on there. very good
| because (1) he's an incredible teacher, and (2) linear algebra is
| beautiful
| te_chris wrote:
| Came here to say this. Go through the actual course
| methodically though - readings, summaries, problems solutions.
| It's incredible. Miles ahead of coursera equiv.
|
| https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/18-06sc-linear-algebra-fall-2011...
| gamedna wrote:
| Having taken his class in person, I would like to second this.
| The man is a beautiful thinker and he presents linear algebra
| in a way that is extremely comprehensive and approachable.
| rodolphoarruda wrote:
| Human Behavior
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNnIGh9g6fA&list=PL848F2368C...
|
| Innovation https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/sts-081-innovation-
| systems-for-s...
| pkoird wrote:
| I simply cannot recommend Sapolsky enough! The man is
| wonderful. And not just his course, his books are deliciously
| insightful as well. My only gripe with him is that he speaks
| continuously without enough pauses. Probably a sign that he
| knows the materials like the back of his hands but I wish he'd
| take some time to rest and allow the mortals to catch up.
| animal_spirits wrote:
| I will thirdly recommend this course! Very fun and
| informative
| juujian wrote:
| I am quite a fan of Andrew Ng's courses on machine learning. Well
| made, improved over time as he got more experienced, and he is
| just a likable guy frankly.
| daviddaviddavid wrote:
| Jeremy Siskind's jazz piano courses taught out of Fullerton
| College.
|
| https://jeremysiskind.com/jazzclass/
|
| This is a bit of a cheat because these courses are not free
| ($50USD for California residents and around $400 for non-CA
| residents) but they are so good that I had to mention them.
|
| I am nearing the end of the Level II course and have learned so
| much stuff. They force you to do so many things that you
| otherwise would not do. Basically, ever week you have to post a
| video demonstrating what you learned from the previous week. And
| the video is in a public discussion forum with the other students
| so there is this incentive to do an extra good job. And he gives
| great feedback on your assignments.
| savorypiano wrote:
| Hey, I appreciate this post and gave a re-upvote.
|
| Is this course more about composition or performance? I realize
| jazz is about improv which is a skill I'd like to have.
| rg111 wrote:
| Related:
|
| 1. Ask HN: What's the best lecture series you've seen? -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=34591291
|
| 2. Ask HN: Recommend me a course on Coursera -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=22826722
|
| 3. Ask HN: What are the best MOOCs you've taken?
| -https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16745042
|
| 4. Ask HN: Top Coursera Courses? -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25245125
|
| Found some mind-expanding, really edifying courses in these
| thread.
|
| There's also a website dedicated to MOOCs, and some underrated
| gems are there: Class Central.
|
| There was a recent list in freeCodeCamp:
| https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/coursera-free-online-cours...
| weinzierl wrote:
| I've heard only the best things about Andrew Ng's machine
| learning course but never came around to do it. It is pretty old
| by now and with the dramatic development in recent times I wonder
| how relevant it still is?
| ap916 wrote:
| Apart from the programming exercises being in Matlab (which
| nobody uses for ML nowadays), the course is still solid. The
| theoretical concepts and math that the course covers are still
| relevant and provide a good foundation for someone starting
| out.
| Bostonian wrote:
| Now it uses Python:
| https://www.coursera.org/specializations/machine-learning-
| in...
| rahimnathwani wrote:
| That's not the course OP is talking about.
|
| The good news is that someone converted the matlab/octave
| exercise templates into numpy, and published them as
| jupyter notebooks that can work with the course's auto-
| grader: https://github.com/dibgerge/ml-coursera-python-
| assignments
| [deleted]
| michelpp wrote:
| MIT OCW Signals and Systems is excellent:
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xaaeop7gJ8&list=PLADC1A1B7F...
| isaacfrond wrote:
| Open Yale course on the philosophy of death is great.
|
| https://oyc.yale.edu/death/phil-176
| simonbarker87 wrote:
| Harvards CS50 course changed my life. It was the first course
| that got through to me about how to code. Without that course and
| the enthusiasm of Professor David Malan I wouldn't be where I am
| now and I'd be stuck falling back on an electrical engineering
| degree which bores me to tears.
|
| cs50.net
| dusted wrote:
| The one I've enjoyed watching more than once: Death with Shelly
| Kagan, Yale
|
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2J7wSuFRl8&list=PLEA18FAF1A...
| criddell wrote:
| I'm looking for a course that uses tools like WinDbg and ETW and
| memory dumps to diagnose crashes, hangs, etc... It would need to
| include an introduction to basic assembly language because
| without that you don't get very far with WinDbg.
|
| I'd like to learn about some of the stuff that Bruce Dawson talks
| about on his blog: https://randomascii.wordpress.com/
| SkipperCat wrote:
| I really enjoyed the free content on Udacity
| (https://www.udacity.com/). I'm not sure if it's "university" but
| their content was presented well and I came away learning new
| things about math, python and ML.
| miketery wrote:
| Cryptography I by Dan Boneh.
|
| https://www.coursera.org/learn/crypto (note even though it says
| crypto it is NOT related to blockchain crypto).
| criddell wrote:
| It is related, but only in the sense that crypto currencies are
| built on cryptography primitives.
| lcnPylGDnU4H9OF wrote:
| Adding to this, before "crypto" became a household term that
| meant, roughly, "blockchain stuff" it was instead a general
| term for "cryptography". It's what is (perhaps was) meant
| when people say not to "roll your own crypto"[0] because it's
| so easy to get wrong.
|
| [0] Since 2021 this phrase has been expanded to "roll your
| own crypto scam" and it's only used as an ethical statement.
| Don't "roll your own crypto scam" because it's wrong. (Okay,
| maybe this part is just a joke and people don't really say
| that. It's hard to say for sure.)
| gmreads wrote:
| Everything by MIT Open Course Ware
| maigret wrote:
| Financial Markets by Robert Shiller
| https://oyc.yale.edu/economics/econ-252
| TheAceOfHearts wrote:
| Andrej Karpathy has an introduction to AI series on YouTube that
| deserves an honorable mention.
| codemonkey-zeta wrote:
| All of Michael Sugrue's (former Princeton professor) lectures on
| YouTube are phenomenal. They single-handedly inspired me to study
| philosophy. His style is eloquent but off-the-cuff, he is so
| knowledgeable and ties together the history of philosophy so
| gracefully that all the lectures left me enraptured.
|
| Example: https://youtu.be/d-vcItYxM9U
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(page generated 2023-04-12 23:03 UTC)