Coursera.org

[PauloMorfeo]

I'm enjoying classes on coursera.org

All(?) the classes are free (gratis) and are online.
The ones I've seen so far are only video lectures with some quizzes, and other supportive things like forums.
You have the option of paying in order to apply for a certification of completion.

I'm having a blast with the 2 classes I'm focusing on right now:
https://www.coursera.org/course/emergenceoflife
(memorable that lecture by a theoretical physicist - reminds me of The Big Bang Theory - and did a very good job)

Emergence of Life

How did life emerge on Earth? How have life and Earth co-evolved through geological time? Is life elsewhere in the universe? Take a look through the 4-billion-year history of life on Earth through the lens of the modern Tree of Life!

https://www.coursera.org/course/thinkagain

Think Again: How to Reason and Argue

Reasoning is important. This course will teach you how to do it well. You will learn how to understand and assess arguments by other people and how to construct good arguments of your own about whatever matters to you.

And there's so many more broadly interesting courses like:
Learning how to learn
The brain and space
Visual Perception and the Brain

Or even technical courses like:
Cryptography

[gajop]

Would be cool if there was a course about games/graphics on coursera/udacity or any similar learning platform. I'd probably take it to get some additional formal education on the subject

[PauloMorfeo]

Did you search the courses page for those kinds of things..? I found lots about "game theory" (though that's mostly about economics), some stuff about games (as in really "games" or art) and lots of stuff about AI.

Ex:
https://www.coursera.org/course/digitalmedia

Creative Programming for Digital Media & Mobile Apps

For anyone who would like to apply their technical skills to creative work ranging from video games to art installations to interactive music, and also for artists who would like to use programming in their artistic practice.

[PicassoCT]

actually game theory can be applied to almost any field where there is competition..
it was applied in the cold war..
many are not very fond of it, as its view of every instinct and thought as just a interest-automaton violates there worldview.
Then, if you abandon enlightenment every time its gonna hurt - why join in the first place?

[smoth]

"theory" HA!

Idea guys are awesome, we have such a shortage!

[zwzsg]

Game theory means stuff like prisoner's dilemma and the like. It is about probabilities and how to make decision against or with other people. It has nothing to do with video games.

[PicassoCT]

Not any longer.. i have a building, were the team that did the pre-last damage has to pay a constant stream of money, while it exists.. thus, leading to a difficult decision among allies.

Gametheory can get in game..

[PauloMorfeo]

Wow , week 3 of The Emergence of Life, gorgeous babe giving some of the lectures .
I like gorgeous women. I like cult women. I love inteligent women! She's 2 for 3 right now, with good prospects for 3/3.

[gajop]

Game theory is math. AI is more general, and I already know a lot about it anyhow.
It looks like there is some beginner game programming course that might be worth checking out.

[smoth]

I really need to brush up on OO, Design patterns and design methodologies. Do they have anything like that?

[PauloMorfeo]

I really need to brush up on OO, Design patterns and design methodologies. Do they have anything like that?

Not exactly sure what you need (which might be different from what you *think* you need - which I also not 100% clear), but with a very quick search these might be of interest:

Algorithmic Thinking (Part 1)
https://www.coursera.org/course/algorithmicthink1

Code Yourself! An Introduction to Programming
https://www.coursera.org/course/codeyourself

Beginning Game Programming with C#
https://www.coursera.org/course/gameprogramming

Analysis of Algorithms
https://www.coursera.org/course/aofa

Algorithms, Part I
https://www.coursera.org/course/algs4partI

Programming for Everybody (Python)
https://www.coursera.org/course/pythonlearn

Algorithms: Design and Analysis, Part 1
https://www.coursera.org/course/algo

Functional Programming Principles in Scala
(mentions specifically "object-oriented programming", though that is such common practice that many other courses probably include it without even mentioning)
https://www.coursera.org/course/progfun

Pattern-Oriented Software Architectures for Concurrent and Networked Software
https://www.coursera.org/course/posasoftware

[gajop]

I really need to brush up on OO, Design patterns and design methodologies. Do they have anything like that?

Not exactly sure what you need (which might be different from what you *think* you need - which I also not 100% clear), but with a very quick search these might be of interest:

It's pretty clear what he wants, and only the last link might actually be it.
And there actually doesn't seem to be anything like that on either coursera or udacity. All courses seem to be only intro software engineering or too specific (android/mobile/web programming + AI/data mining/machine learning etc).
Closest that I found (which still seems wrong when reading the syllabus) are:
https://www.coursera.org/course/programdesign
https://www.udacity.com/course/cs212

For smoth I'd rather recommend reading a book like this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_Patterns , or just use the wikipedia links on that page that seem to cover pretty much all you need. More specific design patterns will depend on the area of interest.
Although still just basic stuff, this has a list of game-specific design patterns: http://gameprogrammingpatterns.com/contents.html (someone linked that on this forum already, but I still recommend it myself).
There are probably networking/graphics/crypto/etc-specific design patterns as well, but you'd need to check that up.

[smoth]

I have design patterns, the clean coder etc. They are on my list but I find design patterns to be a fairly dry book. Way less fun than the agile book or mythic man month.

I guess the real thing is getting back into OO design mentality. I might try and pickup java as that seems to emphasize OO. I dunno, is it really all the different from C#? All my code in C# uses objects but I feel I use them as a convience rather than really appreciating them or truely understanding them beyond a tool rather than an over arching concept or whatever. I feel like a waterfall developer who picks and chooses pieces of agile utilizing scrums but only brings in pieces of the concept where it suits me. You know the classic, out of nails, I'll hammer in a screw mentality?

[PauloMorfeo]

... I might try and pickup java as that seems to emphasize OO. I dunno, is it really all the different from C#? ...

Pretty much no practical difference for the layman and the amateurs, even considering just the sub-grouping of OOP. C# has some improvements over Java (proper "foreach", delegates, a much better web-tier, the best IDE: Visual Studio, ...) and a few degradations (no longer multi-platform, no possible enforcing of exception handling, a possibly unacceptable EULA, ...).


The .NET platform is relatively new (2002), more recent than standard Computer Science courses which already had OOP classes in place. At the time of their inception, Java was the best option to teach students OOP programming (*), and I think that's why it is so established academically as the language of choice for most OOP classes.

* Ex: teaching OOP in C++ overly complicates the teaching of the intended core (OOP) with things like pointers/references, direct memory access, weird syntaxes, completely retarded .cpp/.h/#include file complications, smaller Standard Library without easy access to drawing a simple game etc etc etc.


Throughout my life I learned a huge ton through introspection - looking at my own code and thinking about it. Still, at some point, we really need to be exposed to new ground-breaking ideas we would never think about ourselves to plant the seeds that will grow strong when we get back into the fields of introspection. But, no matter what, the seeds of knowledge will always grow stronger if you're the one nursing the seeds' growth (**).

** There's a difference between knowing the path and walking the path - Morpheus

[dimm]

Can any of these courses can be audiobooked? Like while driving?

[PauloMorfeo]

I just finished the course emergence of life and, damm, what a wonderful journey. I liked it so much that I took the time to find the email address of the main professor and write to him to thank them:

Hi,

I'm writing to thank you and all those involved for the course I just attended: "Emergence of Life".

Even though I already knew the basics, it was still an absolutely amazing journey and I look back with pleasure at the time I spent.

Memorable moments:
- The chinchila, the cute bunny rabbits and the weasels - it was just too cute (Carly's very cute too but the weasels were cuter);
- The theoretical physicist Sheldon Cooper / Barry Kripke (I actually also really liked his lectures);
- But, most of all, I absolutely loved the journey through time. I feel I experienced and lived .. the greatest story ever told.

So, once again, I hope this email reaches you, thanks for an absolutely awesome journey of life.

Can any of these courses can be audiobooked? Like while driving?

Honestly, I cannot recommend you any such thing but for obvious reasons - humans can't concentrate on more than one task at a time.

If you're concentrated on driving, the course will never be more than just a mumbling on the background - radio would do a better job at entertaining you.

If you're actually «listening» to what's being said, which requires attention to follow, your driving will never be controlled by more than the autopilot - as soon as anything unexpected happens, the concious brain will not «be there».

[dimm]

I do plenty audiobook reading while i drive.

[PauloMorfeo]

Then, if you're really sure you want to risk that, I can talk about the 3 courses I've been attending to:

https://www.coursera.org/course/visualpercepbrain
This course is a lot about visuals, so forget about it. Additionally, this course was so boringly lectured, so unstructured, so unconcise, that I unrolled from it. It sucks, in my opinion. A good reminder of why I hated University both times I attended it.

https://www.coursera.org/course/thinkagain
Some of the lectures require close attention to the video to look at phrases and analyse and study them. Most are ok if you just listen. This course requires lots of mental focus, so it's extra-dangerous to focus on while driving.

https://www.coursera.org/course/emergenceoflife
Probably your best bet. Most lectures are fine to just listen. You'll miss some graphics with timescales, drawings of conceptualizations of extinct living beings, and definitely all fossiles in the lectures by Carly Miller.

Mind you - even though the course is absolutely agnostic and «non-evangelistical», you'll find it very offensive if you think that the earth is 3,500yo because the bible (or whatever) says so and anything else that hints differently is just offensive.