<story><title>A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science</title><url>https://github.com/Lesabotsy/bootcamp</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yt-sdb</author><text>Maybe 5 years ago, I was in a similar place. I had a particularly embarrassing moment at work when it clicked that I just... didn&amp;#x27;t know the basics. I was, to use an overused term, &amp;quot;mathematically immature&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;So I made a commitment: I decided I would work through Khan Academy math for 1-hour a day for 1 year. I started with pre-K [1] (specifically counting) and watched every video and did every single exercise in order. I focused on mastery. I didn&amp;#x27;t rush myself, and I did not continue until I felt completely confident in the material. I just did this for a year. I think I go through roughly algebra 2. In my mind, it is critical to combine explicit knowledge (watch videos) with tactic knowledge [2] (do exercises). For example, you need to understand what a logarithm is conceptually but you also just need to do problems to get a feel for it. So this is fundamentally different than learning-by-grazing or just reading a book.&lt;p&gt;I could go on and on, but let me just say that it changed my relationship to math in a deep way.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.khanacademy.org&amp;#x2F;math&amp;#x2F;k-8-grades&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.khanacademy.org&amp;#x2F;math&amp;#x2F;k-8-grades&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;commoncog.com&amp;#x2F;tacit-knowledge-is-a-real-thing&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;commoncog.com&amp;#x2F;tacit-knowledge-is-a-real-thing&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>hahhahanananana</author><text>&amp;gt; High School Mathematics&lt;p&gt;Whenever I try to catch up with maths (in Khan Academy and elsewhere), I always end up in an awkward state where I keep recursively researching less and less advanced subjects because of gaps of various sizes in my fundamental knowledge. It&amp;#x27;s incredibly demotivating.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>austinwatkins</author><text>I loved reading your comment. Your story is very similar to my own! A little over 8 years ago, I also started at the beginning of Khan Academy. Due to reasons related to my childhood, I had essentially no education growing up. When I was in my early twenties, I had only an elementary education. The highest level of math I knew was basic fraction arithmetic. I had never written an essay and I did not have a scientific understanding.&lt;p&gt;Having no education, I only did menial work for money. Yet in my early twenties, I was contemplating my lack of scholarship and realized I wanted to fill the holes in my education. I went to Khan Academy and, as you did, started with pre-K and worked my way linearly through up to pre-college math. Thankfully, I was soon laid off from my job, which was an opportunity to start attending community college.&lt;p&gt;I then transferred to a state school and double majored in applied math and computer science. Now I’m doing theoretical research as a PhD student in computer science.&lt;p&gt;The 8-year path from pre-K math to graduate-level math classes and now being published has been a journey. And I’m deeply grateful for resources like Khan Academy.&lt;p&gt;Deciding to commit to a daily study of math transformed my life.</text></comment>
<story><title>A guide for people who want to self-study the basics of computer science</title><url>https://github.com/Lesabotsy/bootcamp</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>yt-sdb</author><text>Maybe 5 years ago, I was in a similar place. I had a particularly embarrassing moment at work when it clicked that I just... didn&amp;#x27;t know the basics. I was, to use an overused term, &amp;quot;mathematically immature&amp;quot;.&lt;p&gt;So I made a commitment: I decided I would work through Khan Academy math for 1-hour a day for 1 year. I started with pre-K [1] (specifically counting) and watched every video and did every single exercise in order. I focused on mastery. I didn&amp;#x27;t rush myself, and I did not continue until I felt completely confident in the material. I just did this for a year. I think I go through roughly algebra 2. In my mind, it is critical to combine explicit knowledge (watch videos) with tactic knowledge [2] (do exercises). For example, you need to understand what a logarithm is conceptually but you also just need to do problems to get a feel for it. So this is fundamentally different than learning-by-grazing or just reading a book.&lt;p&gt;I could go on and on, but let me just say that it changed my relationship to math in a deep way.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.khanacademy.org&amp;#x2F;math&amp;#x2F;k-8-grades&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.khanacademy.org&amp;#x2F;math&amp;#x2F;k-8-grades&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;commoncog.com&amp;#x2F;tacit-knowledge-is-a-real-thing&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow noreferrer&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;commoncog.com&amp;#x2F;tacit-knowledge-is-a-real-thing&amp;#x2F;&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>hahhahanananana</author><text>&amp;gt; High School Mathematics&lt;p&gt;Whenever I try to catch up with maths (in Khan Academy and elsewhere), I always end up in an awkward state where I keep recursively researching less and less advanced subjects because of gaps of various sizes in my fundamental knowledge. It&amp;#x27;s incredibly demotivating.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>status200</author><text>This is inline with a Zen practice called &amp;quot;beginner&amp;#x27;s mind&amp;quot;, and is so useful in many areas, thank you for this inspiration.</text></comment>