[HN Gopher] How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive ...
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How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive Edition
Author : l8rlump
Score : 149 points
Date : 2024-05-31 03:58 UTC (19 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (levjj.github.io)
(TXT) w3m dump (levjj.github.io)
| pnut wrote:
| The table of contents makes me feel like the book title should be
| "How to use a computer like a scientist" - computer science
| already has a meaning which is quite different.
| azangru wrote:
| > The table of contents makes me feel like the book title
| should be "How to use a computer like a scientist"
|
| I can understand the reluctance about computer science; but
| what about the table of contents made you think scientists?
| netdevnet wrote:
| And science also has a meaning which has nothing to do with
| programming. What makes you think that most scientists use
| computers in this way?
| yencabulator wrote:
| More like "Introduction to Python Programming".
| asicsp wrote:
| Seems like just copied from runestone site:
| https://runestone.academy/ns/books/published/thinkcspy/index...
|
| See also: https://allendowney.github.io/ThinkPython/
| emayljames wrote:
| "About this Project
|
| This interactive book is a product of the Runestone Interactive
| Project at Luther College, led by Brad Miller and David Ranum.
| There have been many contributors to the project"
| v3ss0n wrote:
| Very old and outdate, and plagiarize
| mstkllah wrote:
| What is it plagiarized from?
| netdevnet wrote:
| Totally unrelated but did anyone check the author's CV? He has
| had multiple intern dev roles even though he had at least 5 years
| of previous dev experience
| Jtsummers wrote:
| Per his CV he was getting a masters and a PhD at the time.
| Graduate students often take internships, it's a way of getting
| funding, extra experience, or just to earn some money while not
| committing to a full-time position.
|
| Also, I don't think he's the author of this, his name is not in
| the list of authors. This seems to be a mirror, perhaps with
| some customization for his class. Probably from his time
| teaching the intro to Python course (also on his CV) at UCSC.
| Brosper wrote:
| What is this? I think people just upvote it because it looks old
| and must be something good.
| le-mark wrote:
| Slightly off topic, but does anyone have experience using the
| book this is based on to teach or learn programming? If so what
| was your experience like? What was good or bad about it for
| example?
| kingkongjaffa wrote:
| Its really more of an entry level Python book than really
| teaching you how to think like a computer scientist imo.
| wk_end wrote:
| It doesn't really teach CS or anything, but I'd say it does
| teach "how to think about programming like a computer
| scientist". Few entry-level "practical programming" textbooks
| are going to address - even at a cursory level - formal
| languages, recursion, mutability and immutability, issues
| surrounding aliasing, HtDP-esque design recipes, composition,
| and so on.
|
| Even if it's not the best (to paraphrase Churchill: let the
| clever ones have SICP as an honour and HtDP as a treat), it's
| probably how I'd introduce the "average" student to CS.
| davidthewatson wrote:
| Yes.
|
| I have read the book in at least two programming languages.
|
| I'm a huge fan of Downey for lowering the entry bar to solid
| logic and reason around computer science, particularly when
| introducing Python to novice learners outside traditional
| collegiate computer science programs.
|
| For this reason, I've recommended the book to friends who teach
| or have kids.
|
| What's great about Downey is that he brings together concise
| and clear writing with unimpeachable correctness, a quality
| that was missing from my computer science education, where the
| curriculum was set in stone and was decades old and written by
| someone without Downey's gifts.
|
| The fact that this jupyter stack runs on a five year old
| android phone without issue is a bonus!
| skytwosea wrote:
| I used the Runestone book How To Think Like A Computer
| Scientist (I don't see any difference between the linked book
| and the Runestone one); completed the full book front to back,
| and have a deep appreciation for it.
|
| I didn't have any interest at all in programming or computers
| until my mid-30s, when a colleague in grad school showed me
| some Python tricks that completely replaced a set of absolutely
| hideous Excel spreadsheets. My interest was sparked, but I
| struggled - there was some kind of mental barrier I just
| couldn't hop over in order to make sense of programming
| language syntax. This book got me over that hump and sent me on
| my way. Several years later, I've switched careers and work
| with Python professionally, and in my spare/hobby time I work
| on a variety of C, Rust, and Zig projects.
|
| What I liked: there is no barrier to entry. For a person with
| only the most basic/cursory understanding of, and no real
| interest in, computers, this was huge: no need to install, get
| an editor set up, no need to understand anything about the
| shell, PATH issues, or how to run a script or work with
| environments or anything like that. All of that came later. I
| liked the CodeLens diagrams a lot, the visualization was
| critical to that 'aha!' moment. I think the book is well
| organized; the flow from chapter to chapter, concept to
| concept, made a lot of sense to me. Overall, the book gave me a
| sense of 'making progress', challenging me while keeping things
| light and fun and interesting.
|
| I don't have any complaints. This book got me to the point
| where I was just skilled enough to automate basic and useful
| things, and interested enough to start diving in properly and
| learn how computers really work. Since completing it, I've been
| learning pretty much nonstop.
| javier_e06 wrote:
| The site:
|
| levjj.github.io
|
| is trying to scan open ports in system. (Blocked by Port
| Authority add-on in Firefox)
|
| That is not thinking like a Computer Scientist.
| pkage wrote:
| Looks like it's trying to use Runestone[0] (a textbook
| authoring tool) to get the number of online students but the
| server url is improperly configured to point at localhost
| (hence the port scan trigger).
|
| [0]
| https://runestoneserverascholer.readthedocs.io/en/latest/ind...
| novaleaf wrote:
| Took a look at Port Authority... it's permissions require
| access to all data on all websites. Trading one risk for
| another (bigger) one? It's understandable why such access is
| needed, but really too bad for privacy.
| DaSHacka wrote:
| Port Authority is open source
|
| https://github.com/ACK-J/Port_Authority
| hiccuphippo wrote:
| Can UBlockOrigin do the same as port authority if I add
| blocks for localhost and local ips?
| huygens6363 wrote:
| How to think like a programmer*
| dang wrote:
| Related:
|
| _Think Python, 3rd Edition_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39392881 - Feb 2024 (125
| comments)
|
| _Think Python 2e_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35421096 - April 2023 (30
| comments)
|
| _Intro to programming with Python - How to Think Like a Computer
| Scientist_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=24932497 - Oct
| 2020 (1 comment)
|
| _How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Interactive Edition_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12639320 - Oct 2016 (17
| comments)
|
| _How to Think Like a Computer Scientist: Learning with Python
| 2nd Edition (2012)_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7887541 - June 2014 (16
| comments)
|
| _How to Think Like a Computer Scientist - Interactive Edition
| 2.0_ - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6175920 - Aug 2013 (1
| comment)
|
| _How to Think Like a Computer Scientist_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1749646 - Oct 2010 (6
| comments)
|
| _How To Think Like A Computer Scientist_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1624833 - Aug 2010 (1
| comment)
|
| _Think Python: How to Think Like a Computer Scientist_ -
| https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1586000 - Aug 2010 (9
| comments)
| chuckadams wrote:
| Based on a really old edition before it was renamed "Think
| Python" eons ago. The "interactivity" is pretty much quiz
| questions that test that you read the chapter at all. Looks like
| it has some pythontutor integration too, but not much. Layout
| feels like they gave up on the CSS halfway through.
|
| You're better off going here instead, interactive or no:
| https://allendowney.github.io/ThinkPython/
| Jtsummers wrote:
| The third edition (at your link) is interactive, each chapter
| is available as a Jupyter notebook. Though to run it on Google
| Colab (where it is available by default, but you can download
| it) you do have to log into a Google account.
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