If there are only four of us...

[aranthe]

...I think we'd be safe making our own rules and setting our own pace. If you've read the comments to the last post, you know where each of the others stands. I've watched and read through the lecture 8 material and finished PS4, but I don't mind back-tracking if that's beneficial to everyone.

So...what say you all? Would you like to back up to an earlier lesson and take it at a more relaxed pace? If so, where would you like to start? From the beginning, or pick up at lecture 2, as everyone seems to have watched the first one? If you'd rather not back up, would you be willing to wait until everyone can catch up?

Re: pacing, how would you like to proceed? The current schedule is based on one lecture per week. We could do one every two weeks, which would work out to approximately one problem set per month. Would that be better?

One last thing: We might be able to help each other better if it's clear what each person hopes to get out of the course and if/where you may need specific help.

To alleviate the shyness factor, I'll begin: I wanted to follow this for three reasons: to pick up Python; to get a feel for the MIT OpenCourseware (because I want to take some others); and to see what sort of topics I might want or need to include—and exclude—from a programming concepts course I'm developing for non-programmers. As for help, I'm okay so far, though I've had to dredge up some math I haven't used in a while.

How 'bout you?

Comments

[dragonfly]

I seem to be the one who's farthest behind, since I've only seen the first lecture. If we started at lesson three, I wouldn't have too hard of a catchup to do. I think owl might be waiting for us to catchup, but it would be right on the right place for mousagetes, wouldn't it?

[owl]

I could actually do with a bit of a wait; work is just about to get very busy for a few weeks.

[dragonfly]

As for what I wanted to get out of this:

I wanted to try MIT's Open Courses and I wanted to get my feet wet with some programming.

Number five

[dcdevotee]

I, too, have only watched the first lecture and then stalled, but am still sporadically reading. Partly due to an unexpected house move, partly due to having to wipe my computer and reinstall the OS, so I don't have the Python stuff set up any more. Mostly because I am trying to finish my degree. And so this is something I just want to do for fun.

I have no experience of programming except for playing with BASIC as a kid (my degree's in biology), but I'm interested in bioinformatics and the route into that seems to be through computer science. So I'm here for fun and to see if programming is something I would like to pursue.

I'm likely to be stalled for a little while until my house settles down a bit, but I absolutely don't want to prevent anyone else from moving forward. Just happy to know there are people to call on in times of trouble!

[hermitsoul]

I missed the last post, but I'm trying to hang in there. I've seen up to the third lecture, but I'll admit I'm struggling a bit and wouldn't mind slowing down. The math part is also a struggle - it's been a long time since my last algebra class.

As for what I want from the course, well, mostly I'm looking to familiarize myself with Python and programming in general. Eventually it would be nice to have a solid foundation to build on if I decide to take it further.

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[(Anonymous)]

Posts like this brighten up my day. Thanks for tkinag the time.

[owl]

I'm doing this to learn Python, and to re-familiarise myself with some basic computer science concepts (my CS is largely self-taught).

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[(Anonymous)]

There's a terrific amount of knowldege in this article!

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[(Anonymous)]

Here is another cool idea my wife and I both use gmail and our real calndear's are linked for most personal events but not for any work events. It would be cool if we could give each other permission to add some events (birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, etc) directly on one another's calndear.Also, I assume this is already on your list but if I could take an email and convert it to a calndear entry..that would be slick.

[quartzpebble]

I wanted to learn to program in Python and to get an Intro to CS class from a different perspective from the one I'd had already. My degree's in chemistry but I want to move to some techier field and current programming skills seem like a good idea.

I've watched up through the lecture on recursion (lecture 5?) and am still stuck on PS3. I'd like to start up again in a little while (am trying to settle some life-stuff right now).

[aranthe]

Hi! I'll be through with my first teaching session next week; hopefully, the second won't be as full as this one, so I'll be free to help if you're still unsure about it by the time we get to PS3.

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[(Anonymous)]

That's the best aneswr of all time! JMHO