medianet

Monday, June 23, 2014

Free Harvard and MIT Education

While waiting for my CFP exam mark, I am experimenting with EdX.  EdX is a free online learning service (MOOC) from Harvard and MIT.  I am currently signed up for intro to Computers and programming in Python.  My last programming in earnest was done in the 80's and things have changed a lot since then, so why not start at the beginning with an intro class?  Luckily, the lectures have this neat "speed-up" mode where the lecture runs at 1.5 or 2X speed but is still completely intelligible.

The course itself is well done, with good videos, learning features, good pace, and good exercises.  Python seems to be the modern equivalent of BASIC - an easy to learn interpreted language.  So far, we have coded "Hello World" but I went crazy and printed "I am Retired".

This seems a lot more constructive than playing Candy Crush, doing Facebook, or watching Youtube videos of Russian Car Crashes.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Comments are not moderated prior to posting. Mark