Why You SHOULD NOT Take Harvard CS50!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 19 มิ.ย. 2024
- Lots of people suggest taking Harvard's CS50 course if you're learning how to code. Though it's good, I don't think it's necessary for everyone.
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Great video. I don´t agree with you, but you show alternatives and explains everything in a good and comprehensive way. Maybe for a web developer is not necesary to undestand the basics and learn C, but if you want to develop your career in more complex computing paths you definitely are going to need those roots. Thanks for the video, keep on with the good work!!
I actually really appreciate this comment - thanks for seeing my perspective. Always good to have positive discourse and multiple options
Perfectly said!
Thank you!
I don't agree with him as well. If you don't have enaught time, just watch it in x2, thats what i do, its very fun
I know so many people new to coding and I'm tired of people on TH-cam making videos about certificates that aren't worth it, what certs won't get them a job, and why employers won't hire you. This is getting old. Anything a human being can learn online is worth it!!!! TH-cam is full of dream killers disguised as professionals who know it all. This should be a new policy on TH-cam.
Amen, well said. What the duck does It even mean that "It's not worth"????
CS50 is so good bro .. my friend went from 0 programming knowledge to game developer in 6 months with CS50 .. Dr Malan makes it so exciting and easy to learn
Nice that’s awesome and glad they did!
I started with C in cs50 and I kind of surprised myself cause I could re-make most of the things I did in C using JS, and I did that after less than 6 hours looking into the documentation which is also taught through cs50manual. I strongly believe that if a learner take the cs50 course seriously even just til week 3 or before tidemen, he/she can be equipped with enough skill to transition to any language easily. cs50 is just that good.
Been there....Few years ago i've finished CS50; entire course, including final project. Besides CS50 i've finished around 20 different courses, not only on edx, and my experience is: CS50 is the best i have seen. I enjoyed every moment of it. David's lectures are inspiring and his energy and dedication is just addictive. Course is unbelievably good prepared: lectures, projects, learning environment, materials, tasks, help...
It is surely not easy - it will test your limits for sure, but what you got there, you will not get anywhere else. It is fun, it is inspirational, and you will learn a lot.
I think it is the best course to start with computer scince and i highly recommend it.
What would you recommend after cs50
@@brar4452 computer science is an academic discipline spanning across large number of disciplines. It's not even a tree with a lot of branches - it's entire forest.
It depends on your interests or desired career path, which field to examine.
So, pick a tree, then a branch.
If you're serious about cs, consider getting real academic degree.
@@brar4452 cs50p and then cs50 w
have you taken ztm complete web developer course?
Is it free or paid
What you are saying is crazy and a total burn to Dr Malan. Where else are you going get the opportunity to master 3 different in-demand programming languages in one single course? CS50 gets you in the mind of independent learning--which is fundamental to winning in Computer Science. Where else are you going to be exposed to solid both computer science theory and software engineering in a single course? I just totally disagree with this video. If you think it does not go deep enough consider that MIT's Course 6 will make you a programming and Python master but you will not be prepared for application development. CS50 is different.
I think it’s a good course and touches on topics! I don’t think you’ll be a master of 3 languages after this one course
@@fullstackmd I don't think people are going into CS50 to master them. It's a rigorous introduction course that can be really beneficial to aspiring programmers and even people that just want to understand it. For myself, I had no aspirations to be a software engineer or anything of that nature. I did however plan to work in the tech industry and knew that I would always be working with engineers. CS50, along with a couple other courses, really helped me understand the way engineers approach problems and how the finished product may look; which I think was extremely beneficial.
@@fullstackmd if you know one language well, it's easy to learn other languages too.Dumbass TH-camr.Try to make good content and positive content instead of criticizing about other TH-camr.Do you know how much students has CS50's lecture has helped in learning.You make nothing positive content and still bitching about others good content.shame on you.Remember CS50 is a beginner course
In short man there is no one who can explain programming in such practical way as David does and for free...no one can match their budget so just go with it.
This course is a good introduction to computer science, but it doesn't make you a "master" by any means. You don't even get the homework he gives to people who are actually in the class.
The idea of CS50 is to expose you to different concepts in programming it doesn’t dive deep into C so much though and after 6 lectures it goes to Python and then other things.
The problem with CS50 imho is that assignments are much harder than building blocks in lectures and they don’t help you to exercise before giving the assignments so this is really stops my progress and makes it slow to go through the course
Yup totally agree that it’s there to give you a broad understanding. I just think it’s good to get an initial idea of how the internet works and the use a different resource to go deep. That way - even if assignments are hard - you’re at least focused on a specific language
@@fullstackmd what resource did you choose as your primary course?
The complementary CS50 notes help fill in gaps the lectures may not have covered.
as a European I struggled with it for a looong time: the lectures don't cover a lot, they just tell you the basic concepts. US college courses in general force you to use additional reading resources (which are often not free), which gave me quite some headache in the past, because I thought everything needed is covered within the lectures. But, in my opinion, most things become quite easy if you do the reading properly (and spend a fair amount of time on the topic).
@@dangriffiths7125 where to find those notes?
You don't have to learn CS50x but it's really worth it.
If you are just starting out I suggest try The Odin Project first.
Because CS50 is kinda hard for people who know nothing (I was like that when I starting out, I gave up and do bootcamp).
After complete a TOP I take on CS50 is much easier it only take me a month to complete it.
Learn all the stuff in CS50x if you can believe me C, SQL, Python,...etc. Is really worth it, it help you have strong fundamental.
TL'DR: Learn CS50x not CS50p with only python after have some coding experience if you want to have a strong foundation.
I’m doing TOP now!
What's TOP?
@@omkarnanda8274 The Odin Project !
Thanks for your comment, I have started CS50, but I am really struggling with, as I know nothing about computer, I don't even know how to submit a project. Just found the odin project, I believe it will suit better for me now. :)
@@ferreis9181 where did you find Odin project? I also know nothing about computers and was looking into CS50
just started learning coding about 3 weeks back and cs50 was my start. it was a great refresher on what i learned at school and broadened my understanding about the work that will be expected of me in the future. lectures are great to follow along even while doing something else and not too demanding, david malan is an excellent teacher.
if any one wants to start coding with 0 idea what its about ignore this video and start with cs50. watch it while you do your current job or school work and you'll have a high level understanding of everything related to coding so you're not lost when you start a more serious course.
Totally not saying it’s not worth it. If you know 0 about coding then I think the basic 1-2 videos of this course are good. But the other fundamentals can be learned via a dedicated course to whatever language you want to learn
Can i go with cs50x?
@@truth8690 yes but only think of it as a jumping off point. You need to practice coding and that's something cs50 misses out on as it is fast paced. My advice would be start with cs50 and when they show example programs try to replicate them so you better understand the concepts. Also join another course for python as it's easy to start with and try to replicate the programs using your own logic
@@rishabbhattachaya6676 ok
I finished my final project for this course. Despite having 5 years of programming experience as a full-stack/devops engineer, I found the course challenging. It's not suitable for beginners and will definitely challenge your skills, even if you have prior programming experience.
I think you video highlights exactly what is wrong with today's developers. Today's developers feel they only need to know the tools to create the results needed without understanding what fundamentally they are doing. This is why modern software is full of exploits, because the inner workings of all modern coding is based on what you refer to as "unnecessary concepts". And this is why developers have become a dime a dozen. If you learn the fundamentals, you will build better software. I have worked with many development teams creating custom software and it is always the same thing - no understanding of how things really work.
the problem I find with a lot of this "learn to code" stuff is that it's really vague. The elephant in the room is WHY learn to code. What are YOU planning to do with it. And it seems like no one is emphasizing just how important that is to figure out and as early as possible for a beginner. It's the field that tells you what skills make sense / how those are used and more. The sooner you choose a field, the more time you can spend focusing on that area. In addition, in the long run, it will be easier to market your skillset. You won't have the generalist problem, where you've been spread so thin skill-wise that you don't have a focus. Companies hire specific people. Try to find a "general" programmer job, you'll see what I mean.
Another thing I find is that there's not a fair representation of every profession that applies programming. There's no easy fix to this either. It just seems like every where you look, it's another web developer influencer trying to get you interested in that field. What about firmware developers? game developers? system administrators? automated testers? data scientists? data engineers? anyone else who programs for their job? You don't hear from these people much. And so it can seem like to a beginner who maybe tries at web development, if they don't like it, well they're just screwed right? lol. NO of course not. There are other fields, but the web developers rule youtube "learn to code" culture & you're going to have to try harder to find other content about different fields. Idk it's just a little frustrating.
In addition to the above, there's a close coupling of "tech tools" ~ "career" on youtube. This is problematic for a few reasons. I'll give you an example, I knew how to program, but I attempted at making a machine learning project. Truth was, there was so much stuff I would've benefitted from looking back, before I chose to do this project. Because pretty much everything I was doing revolved around 2 things: how well I understood the data & how well I understood statistics. The programming was very light. It was basically me just using a bunch of libraries that already have stuff built out so you don't need to reinvent the wheel. So imagine, for a second, that you're able to program just about whatever & actually 'do' the tasks that need to be done. BUT you don't know WHY they need to be done, you don't know WHAT action makes sense WHEN. So, more or less, the whole time I was just guessing. I had no background understanding of machine learning models - that's a big problem lol. I had no real foundation with statistics - another strike! And I didn't know what the data meant - oooo 3 strikes you're out.
So idk, think about these things next time you tune into youtube, beginners. Choose a field. Make sure you know why you're choosing it. And do so independently of what people on the internet tell you to pursue. And if that field is not web development, it's fine, but you're going to need to try harder to find good resources for it. In addition, don't get trapped in the "tool" mindset. Tools are great, but they are not the field. There is more information to the field than there is with the tools. The reason why tools are pushed so heavily here is because it's an easy target and in all actuality tools are easier to learn than theory.
Wow thanks for the thoughtful response! Lots of good stuff in here and I think you’re right - the why is definitely important and should be looked at (I talk about this in another video) and also agree that web dev runs TH-cam - I also know this cause I have a data background initially and there is a very small niche of data science TH-camrs
But yeah appreciate your feedback and your options and hope others read it as well and take something away like I did
@@fullstackmd I appreciate you reading all that haha. It wasn't directed at you really, i'm not sure why tbh i just unleashed all that info here haha. Sorry about that. But I think it needed to be said. My hope is that some person whose in those early stages & just feeling lost on all this, reads that. So they can get some kind of perspective of the landscape here & common pitfalls to watch out for.
Your comments is a golden piece of advice.
@@theydontexist thanks a lot man. I appreciate it. It's live & learn, been at it for years now.
@@TheFootballPlaya Hey, I'm new to this. Can you give me examples of the why you're referring to?
Always remember that is only his opinion. Don't take it too personal! Keep in the magic way of self learning and be grateful when is free knowledge and give you freedom.
Thank you for uploading such a video. I'm currently going through the second lecture and all the gusto and interest I had in coding got flushed down the toilet when the learning curve shot through the roof after the first problem set. After listening and reading other posts, now I don't feel so bad and I see other options. I keep thinking things are going to be linear LOL!
i don't care about CS50, but this mentality of "you don't need to understand how things work on the low level" and "focus on the language you need like python or javascript" ... this type of advice is the worst!! If you truly believe what you re saying, then that's a problem! And if you re doing it just to get more views because most people like cs50, then at least provide good arguments!
I think it depends what you mean by low level - also I did say that the initial 1-2 lectures are very helpful for learning how computers work in general. In the end it depends on what your goal is - mine is to know enough to build fun stuff. I’m not trying to be a professional engineer so I’m doing what’s best for those goals
@@fullstackmd Aha! You're definitely free to do whatever suits you and makes you happy and that's perfectly fine! But did you mention this in your video? When beginners come across looking for guidance and help from others on youtube and they see your video, will they understand that this advice is for those who just want to have fun and build small fun stuff, and not for those looking to become professional software engineers?
Good points...but the wonderful, energetic lectures that David Malan delivers are just great. Yes, the class requires that the TA's are part of the 'program'....but, as a newbie I enjoyed the challenge. Yes, the lectures alone do not prepare you completely for the problem sets, and that's not so cool (especially for younger students), but, all in all, the fact that it's free and inspirational is really great.
Definitely a great lecturer!
I love these videos because if there's one thing I get out of them, it's the comments. Every video going against cs50s has comments filled with people defending it and how great it is which kinda just tells me all I need to know.
Yeah. I spent a lot of time watching and learning from other sources then was like, I've heard a lot about this CS50 thing. I regret not watching it sooner. Even after already learning in uni.
I appreciate this perspective. Ive completed CS50 2019 and loved it but I can definitely understand how its not necessarily for everyone's learning style and goal. Nowadays, we are lucky to have a plethora of options on how to study coding. Definitely a great insight.
Appreciate your input! Yes definitely a great course but maybe not for everyone based on their goals!
Don't listen to this guy just do the course!
If that’s what’s right for you go for it!
Currently im 16 and unable to attend school(personal reasons) with alot of free time, imo CS50 is really fitting for me so i can land a job in the future with the necessary skills.
Dr.Malan is de goat
good points and kinda valid, thanks for this
I am actually about to start preparing a presentation for my cs50p final project and I am quite surprised that this video came into my recommended list.
I have done BS in Computer Science and during my 3 years at the university, I absolutely hated my degree, every semester and every day felt like a burden. I continuously tried getting out of the program. And then just before my final year, I came across the new live lecture promo of cs50x course, that were yet to be recorded live on zoom. And it changed my life!
Even if you are a beginner or someone who knows basics, please ignore this video. cs50 challenges you, not only in terms of knowledge but also in terms of self confidence. And that journey of getting out of your shell, or solving new challenges (problem sets) is WORTH all your time!
TH-cam should really look into their recommendation algorithm, this is the last genre of videos I am interested in.
Hi I would like to add some points as I'm finding myself unable to agree with some of your points.
I completely agree with you that cs50 is not the course that you should take if you're focussing on job hunting and don't have much time. But you can't completely discard the fact that for a beginner there are very less courses like this which helps in building the interest in this field. Yeah doing this is not going to help you land your job (most probably). But it will surely help you in getting the motivation to explore more in this field as it can help you love computer science. And for me thats an important thing. Hope you're getting my point
Totally agree! And that’s why I mentioned that it’s a great course and for the right person it works well. I also think it’s played a huge role in spreading the idea of coding like you mentioned. My only point was that it may not be necessary to do the whole course but rather the first 1-2 lectures before moving to more targeted learning (eg a course on just JS or React). But you’re right in that it’s done a good job at getting more people into coding!
CS50 look a good start. After everyone is free to choose its own path.
But starting with C is generally not a bad idea.
Whatever works for each person is good! Just my thoughts and preferences!
I finished the course while working full time while having a wife and kids. You just don't have enough discipline to do it.
Everyone’s different! Wasn’t about discipline but rather what my goals are
@@fullstackmd yeah, but your title isn't, "Why I shouldn't take CS50!"
@getsunova8894 🤣🤣 that should have been the title indeed.
😂😂 exactly. But like he said it’s TH-cam after all. And honestly me coming down to the comments of this video has helped me alot so thank you for the video even tho when I’m done with cs50 I will like disagree with you 😎
Hey I respect your opinion and I understand that since cs50 is gaining more popularity, creating a video in contradictory can also make you famous as people are naturally faultfinder and it gets notice right then. But I would like to give my point of view as a non-technical programmer rather a teacher but enrolled with cs50s scratch, cs50t or understanding technology and finished those. While halfway to cs50x currently at Lecture 6 DNA, one of the psets at Week6. When it introduced python programming I signed up to cs50p which is Python itself so I can understand better and compared it with MITx Computational thinking with Python to fill-in the gaps in between. With all of that self learning I can say that David and cs50 team does a great job and very cool initiative of making this course available to the world. It is helpful for those who want to learn programming and create some projects in the future and don't have the courage to ask programmers who aren't in our level. They have done an absolutely amazing for teaching us the introductory to programming and lectures might be quite long if you don't have time to watch so. If you are programmer but still want to take cs50 you can skip lectures and work on Labs and psets with no big deal . And make a cool final project that resonates with you. As a teacher we have two kinds of students while the two may not have the same learning pace we have to meet them halfway. If the course is too easy for you, you'll get bored and if it's too difficult, you'll get frustrated so what they did is to arrange difficulty level that the more you progress the material gets sophisticated. If you are on a job hunt in that field cs50 won't give your papers to employers I dont mean it literally. So your hopes of getting a job shouldn't depend on cs50 but to university course wherein it will give you more exposure to the field.
Great points and this makes a lot of sense! I do think they do a great job and have made it available to the masses. It just wasn’t what I personally needed given my schedule. That said - I have started the CS50 web dev course and that had been exactly what I needed!
@@fullstackmd CS50 web dev with js and py? how is that course since you started it 5 months ago?
is it worth it?
Plenty of people have found a job after CS50 and even without CS50 and University Degree. Uni Degree in CS is redundant coz programming can all be picked up by anyone. I met a 16 year old child doing work for a company in NYC and getting paid prob a lot more than yourself.
Just a clickbait video from someone who's just getting into the space and talking like they've been a software engineer for 10 years lol.
Haha not trying to claim I’m an expert! I think it’s actually super important to hear from beginners!
@@fullstackmd Nah, some of youtubers are so cringe. You made the video because of the clickbait title. You don't have near enough experience to be officering advice lol.
Everybody always wants to go straight to coding. The problem is that true programming really requires an understanding of the Science behind computers and that is what CS50 is bringing to the table. It's like trying to learn Spanish without a true understanding of the culture behind it. Can you mechanically learn a language? Yes, but to be truly immersed and artful at it will require a deeper understanding of the underlying principles/concepts? That is why so many give up on their goal to program. That's my 2 cents anyway. :)
Makes sense but if your goal is to do specific things then I think you can go about it different
This course is an important step for me. I felt adequately challenged and instead of giving up, I solved the problems. For the first time since studying how to code, I feel like I have the confidence to tackle actual problems and take my learning to the next step.
My S.O. is does research in language acquisition and is a language teacher. One of the things that they found is that classroom instruction does very little in actually teaching you how to speak a language. In languages you have syntax, vocabulary, and of course being able to speak/read/understand the language in everyday context. I theorize that this also applies to coding as well. People get so caught up in learning that they forget to actually utilize the thing that they learn. In actuality, I can come up with a code that I want to write and go to a site like W3 schools and figure out how the specific things I want to do work. Javascript is my 4th language at this point (in which I am proficient), and the other languages I do not have any specific course or teacher. I simply did what I wanted to do.
This makes a lot of sense - thank you for sharing that!
The course is great but you have to take with other materials especially reading materials . i see it like that very good lecture you take after you've gone through the textbooks or slides and the lecturer is able to put you through and help you understand the course better.
i personally, i am taking the introduction to python and the web development course. i have taken other courses prior to this and really this is the first time i can say i am confident with what i know and how to apply which is very important. i highly recommend you source for reading materials before taking the course. lastly the lecturer is amazing lectures like he is talking to kids so its really comforting.
Agree! And yes the web dev course was much more direct too which I liked
Can you please suggest some reading materials । that'd help a lot 🥺
when a afro person tells u their really sure about something u should be really sceptical lmfao
@@ikillwithyourtruthholdagai2000
What are you trying to say? Also, it is they are ,they’re and skeptical
For Me I think you should let the HR lady decide for you either to hire you with CS50 or turn you down, but not this idea for not doing CS50. Very soon I will start the course.
It’s helpful but also lots of other ways to go about learning!
I am from non cs background i studied java and i have a confussion on is this is a right time to take cs 50 full course but after watching ur video i clear i am only going to see the first lecture thanks for saving my precious time bro👍
Glad it helped!
Hi there, I actually have the opposite perspective. Let me explain. Over the past few years I have learnt programming (python, JS) and even made a few projects just as a hobby. I'm now doing CS50 because I realised it is actually a *more* efficient way of learning the fundamentals rather than picking up parts of a concept in chunks along the way. I.e. Often when you learn by doing, you try to cut corners and then don't know what you're doing further down the road. It is this vigorous understanding that allows you the freedom to think creatively. The irony of what you're saying is actually that the course is highly focused and wastes very little time. It's also very debatable whether knowledge of C is useful or not in higher level languages because these concepts are not academic - you should probably know about memory management, stack, heap etc. Python becomes very inefficient if you misuse it.
Yes, C had a lot of concepts which are not too relevant to other languages but actually it has more in common with other languages than not, so it's not wasted time even if you end up programing only in python.
Totally agree also that you retain more by actually coding something for yourself and that is a valid criticism. But it's very difficult to do that right at the beginning.
I totally understand your frustration about the amount of time that course takes but truth learning this stuff does take time - there's no life hack that's gonna substitute sitting down and thinking about this stuff / coding.
I think overall you're probably right - webdev just do Odin. But if you think you might be interested in anything else, you don't know until you get some exposure which cs50 gets you.
One last point, many non-Cs grads feel inferior to Cs grads so this at least gives people some small confidence that they know roughly what a CS degree entails and aren't missing anything.
T
"Thank you for expressing your opinion clearly and showing the reality. This way, you've helped us save time."
This video and the points in it are valid, looks at the pros and the cons. However, I do have an issue with the click baity title. "I think it's a great course, but perhaps not for everyone". Absolutely fair, but this statement collides irreconcilably with the title stating "why you SHOULD NOT take CS50". The thumbnail image is also pretty obnoxious, considering the actual views in the video.
Haha this is still TH-cam - thank you!
The Odin pragram and free code camp.
How did you create that profile picture? It looks nice
I drew it in an app called Procreate!
I am pro web developer for aboutn eight years. Now I am learning Rust, Elixir/OTP/Beam/Erlang + backend .. maybe its time to try cs50 again. Before it wasnt for me cause I really needed to give time in web tech and it was too basic also, interested if I learn something new in advanced lessons 🎉 .. it was fun to watch, I loved one year intero music ❤ (dunno which year now)
Edit: I've found it, it was 2021 .. amazing mood in that intro
My dude i‘m not the brightest so i can tell you sincerely that free knowledge about stuff you are interested in but have no clue about is awesome.
I definitely agree! Odin project which I switched to is also free!
Personally I think CS50 is mandatory if you want to become a real programmer, not only a coder. Learn how to program, not how to code. If you know the math and the programming concepts, it will take you weeks to learn a specific language syntax and particularities. Otherwise it will take you months or years and you'll have hard times to understand why your program doesn't work properly.
Depends on what your goals are! Mine aren’t to get in the weeds of computer science but to build fun stuff (not looking to get hired as an engineer)
great video!
Thanks!
Jazakallahukhair ✨
I think this course is the best course for pre programming learners.
It’s definitely good!
Hey everyone - looks like the video that was exported wasn't the HD version so I'm sorry for the video quality! Will definitely fix that in the upcoming videos to make it more crispy!
you should be apologizing for uploading such a terrible take
Wow! This is the best video quality I ever saw, is this actual 8k?!
Haha was an early upload so I got the export settings wrong but figured them out in future videos
I gotta disagree here but you do make a fair point on how the course is taylored. I started learning Python but I found out that the course teaches you how to program and does lay some foundations of CS in general, but it misses the mark. Of course, the course that I am using focuses more on developing practical skills and not so much on CS per se.
I do want to learn the basis of CS, while also learning Python, and also while having a full time job, AND also learn a couple of other things on the side. Having said that, personally, taking one or two hours a day to do the lectures and then duke it out on the Problem Set exercises, I feel it works for me.
If you're on a hurry and want to avoid the conceptuals (and the skills needed to find a job ASAP), then you could skip CS50. You'll have to learn it, tho, one way or another.
There is one thing that really struck me while doing CS50, and this is the reason why it wouldn't be for anyone, imo.
It starts with Scratch and then does a jump towards C. As someone who has never touched an IDE and is recently starting to program, this feels like a gut punch. It made me realize that if you're going to Harvard, you are expected to run through these weekly lectures, the assignments and tests, without considering the other courses which most likely are just as demanding.
So it may be daunting at first, and if you need something more flexible, chances are you're better of going for another course. Having said that, I really am enjoying CS50 thus far.
so i jest can to start in it to learn the foundation of coding( the begin ) and stop after that and go to learn language i want like for web developer or Ai right ?
I find CS50 interesting but for now I'm focusing on what's going to land me a job the quickest and I want to go through the full course later.
Sounds like a good plan!
Are you looking for a job related to coding or cloud services? Or are you just going to work a regular job and take a course on the side?
@@NyneIX9 Learning while working a regular job now. I want to get trained up for the dev job.
@@JDMorris81 same here bro. It's very difficult to find time after job. Little by little learning daily
I think a better title could be "Why (maybe) You SHOULD NOT Take Harvard CS50!" because it would become much more friendly
(Sorry for the long text)
I'm still thinking about whether or not I'm going to take this course because I have several concerns, mainly whether the study base I had in my explored country (by the politicians themselves) is enough to at least get halfway through it.
This is a course that bears the weight of the name "Harvard" and if it were really easy or average then the percentage of candidates who managed to pass the tests and enter this university would be much, much higher. I don't expect the same ease from a course on the corner of the neighborhood"
I don't know if all the critics of the video started and finished the course to have a better basis for their respective opinions.
Even though I only agree with 30% of the content, I think this type of video is great for enhancing the debate and offering more points of view. I'm 30% better
I'm always suspicious of videos that just say good things about something without mentioning any cons (usually because they're sponsored).
this guy just wanna more attention
Yeah let’s take your advices they are better than a cours given by free from a famous university in the world and presented by a genius
What about the Harvard CS course that focuses specifically on Python only? Do you think that’s worthwhile?
I haven’t done that one specifically so can’t speak to it but I did also look at the web dev one that includes python and it is much focused imo
I agree with you.
Whilst I’m loathe to criticise CS50- it’s free, easily accessible, comprehensive and David is amazing etc I did find myself spending too much time looking for additional resources in order to complete the Psets.
Eg. Pset1 Credit is intense, going from writing ‘hello world’ to implementing the Luhm Algorithm in 2 hours isn’t a reasonable progression.
It needs to have an accompanying book or something, with many more smaller exercises helping to guide along the way.
Taking it for a while did honestly make me think I was kinda retarded because I didn’t ‘get it’ even after a couple of hours of thinking of how to solve the problems.
It’s only when I started to read comments like, “whoa- man just taught my whole semester in like 2 hours” did I realise to view the lectures as an overview of ‘what’ I need to learn rather than comprehensively teaching the material.
Anyway, thanks for making the vid! 👍🏼
Maybe if you gave yourself at least ten hours per problem set you would have felt a lot less overwhelmed, under pressure and unable to cope than the two hours you took.
You're right, the gap between what's taught and the problems/labs is a bit too much, I ended up accepting it was only getting worse each lecture, because IMO they do that on purpose, to foster self-taught learning in us, for students to go and read the forums, google, books.
I also didn't think a 2 hour video, then problem sets was the most engaging structure, the problems were but the gap between the first and the latter made it frustrating more times that I'd have liked.
I understand why this can be a struggle for people with 0 experience in software development but.. that's kind of what you do in the real world as well. If you don't understand a concept or how to do something, you check StackOverflow or Reddit, random YT videos etc. It is definitely challenging, but I find myself learning a lot more from that than something like FreeCodeCamp that holds your hand at every step.
For me personally, the biggest issue was what David mentioned: having to watch 2+ hour lectures before doing the PSET. If they chopped that up to 2 1-hour lectures with a problem tailored to each, it would've been a lot less frustrating.
What r you taking about 😂😂
Is that clickbait video for views??
Did you read the course name properly? It just says Introduction meaning its a CS basic or fundamental course not a CS Master course..
So it won't go deeper into individual programming language.. It only touch upon the fundamental building blocks of Computer Science.. If you want deeper into python then diveinto CS50 Python course...
I never saw such an excellent teacher in my life..
as a non cs person i lacked my computer science fundamentals even though i built ton of projects by myself in 6 months by learning 500+ hrs of javascript courses online..
But still lacked cs fundamentals like what is bit and what is bytes? How computer stores internally etc.. like basic computer stuffs
so i feared to attend any job interviews since javascript programming course online eventhough its 50 hours course still won't it give you a basic computer science things like binaries digits
So if interviewer asked me what is javascript or built some extremely well designed websites then i can do it easily but if he asks what is binary then i won't answer it..
But now i know it.. So its a completely great courses for non cs students eventhough those have year of experience in programming..
Yup that’s what I said! The intro lectures are good to learn things like bytes and then you can move on to other things
Totally completely agree, if you live a full life already this course it’s not it at all
CS50 is just like any other face to face course in University, you still gonna learn anything on your own lol, didnt bother to finish it, its just like they will teach you the basics and you're on your own.
Sounds like you just want attention. I literally just finished it and I learned enough that my final project will have an actual value in a few months
Glad it worked well for you! I just don’t think it was the right class for me
You are wrong on many levels. Every engineer who takes his career serious must watch CS50, simply because it's inspires you to do great things.
In my days, the coursework was tied to bibliography and references, Universities used to disclose the Subjects, Teachers, Coursework and Books to be used and it was up to the student to enroll despite knowing the existing limitations of each Educational system
Nice!
Is it really that good for a noob who starts from scratch?
Depends on your goal!
Are you not aware there is a CS50 course version just for Python called CS50P which is an intro course that does not use C? You are best to look into it. It is a new course that was just developed, I'm not talking about the CS50W for web programming, CS50G, or CS50AI.
Yup I’m aware of that one! Currently looking at the web dev one. I know the basics of Python so don’t think I need it!
CS50 may be hard, but it's definitely doable. And it may have a lot of unnecessary stuff, but they are very worth it. I never used C after CS50, but it certainly helped me learn how to organize my code in a way JS never did.
That’s good!
It's a misleading video for starters...you really need to know a low level language accompanied by DSA which is most asked in job interviews..Also cs50 assignments are too good to get your mind into real world difficulties...
Depends on your goal! My goal isn’t to get a job
@@fullstackmd your goal is to bait algorithm for views right?
Did you finish cs50?
Just did the first few lectures then moved on to The Odin Project!
@@fullstackmd which weeks on cs50 did you do before you went to TOP?
Oh my god brother! You talk my language!
click bait
Oh no!
I am waiting for cs50 quantum computing
Really??? Huh...
Won't not knowing the basics would hurt your career? There is a reason why CS50 is so famous. It's engaging, full of learning in a fun way and yes it's not easy but guess what it makes you think autonomously.
Totally should know the basics! That’s why I think doing the first 1-2 lectures is good and then moving to a language specific course for more basics
In that case CS50P should be a good start.
Web dev one is good too
Watching this video as I’m in the exact situation you describe. I can afford a max of two hours per day and i want to learn python for automating and maybe machine learning.
Have you heard of CS50P? If yes, what are your thoughts ?
Is Freecode camp the best for me ?
I haven’t heard of that one but my general take is that the more specific courses are nice deep dives into a given topic but assume you have some background knowledge. I haven’t done them because mostly just trying to do my own projects
I think you missed the point of learning some C programming. Most higher level languages of today have some foundation in C so things like == vs =, typedefs, memory (stack/heap), etc are taught so then when learning newer languages such as JS or Python or C# or even Java, you understand not just the programming language but also WHY the programming language works the way it does. By starting with C, you can adapt to learning almost any language much easier than if you start with something like C#, Java or Kotlin, for example (or even JavaScript). You talk about foundational learning while discounting C which is just so very ironic for you to try to say. I disagree vehemently with what you're saying. C is probably the best foundation to have to get started in programming.
Totally understand and I get that! I think those things are just not as important to my goal with programming and I pick them up as I go!
@@fullstackmd I guess I see it a similar way as TDD. Yes, it can make development seem slower and take longer but, in the long run, it really doesn't because you're not backtracking in trying to figure something out that you are already aware of.
Is C the same thing as CSS?
They’re different! CSS is for styling a web page like fonts and colors and layout and C is an actual programming language (though I’ve never used it)
Joke is on you, I watch it for the introduction music
It’s a fire track
I'm in college and we doing Harvard /cs50 in class. I have a disagree with everything you say 😂 stop 🛑 watching TH-cam and pay for the full courses to get everything ®️🔥 💪
You are getting off cuts on TH-cam
Why pay? It’s free?
Lol promise I’m not
Just that the lecture is fast paced for a new learner especiallay if your first language is not English.
So what is right for me
the psets are hard dude I am not the kind of person that works hard but Ive seen a guy who got a job into a startup by just showing his cs50 diploma
True! My goal isn’t to get a job at a start up though so different goals!
I think what you said is/would be fair - if CS50 was a course aimed at teaching programming. It's not, and it doesn't claim to be. It's an introduction to Computer Science, which doesn't consist out of purely programming. They have introductory courses designed to teach you programming like CS50 Python. I think it's kinda unfair to make a video like this if you've only watched the first lecture + you're not well versed in the world of CS. CS50 is by far the best introductory course to CS, even compared to what most universities offer.
Good point re programming vs comp sci - I think if you’re trying to learn the details of CS then it’s more helpful like you said but that’s not my goal and don’t imagine most people’s goal which is why I went a different route
There are many cs50 courses like cs50w cs50p and others the one you're talking about is cs50x if you want to learn one the go for other courses and yeah I'm not saying you're wrong by any means it's just incomplete information that you gave
I mention some of the other ones in my other videos! This is just the popular one everyone talks about that I’m mentioning here
@@fullstackmd I know that but you should have mentioned that in this video as many people don't know about other courses and the one you talked about in the video is for beginners in cs it's easy so that people who have never tried coding or have no knowledge about it can get into coding
Did I hear you right, that you didn't complete the course? (4:45) . Then why are you discarding it?
Not discarding it - just wasn’t for me and my goals
@@fullstackmd But you never did the course?
@@fullstackmd then why is your title "why YOU should not do cs50"?
you make me earn 24 hours. at least. thank you very very very much. great content. awesome and helpful review
These guys are definitely jealous or something but it's dumb i took cs50 and it was the out of all i have ever watch or even paid course especially Dr. David j malan , i even requested him and wish that he had his own TH-cam channel to learn more.
Besides all other philosophies you mentioned which by following them won't get you hired anywhere, probably everyone who thinks that in 2023 you just have to be "good enough" (in anything) will loose big time - in most aspects of life.
That’s the thing - my goal isn’t to get hired as a programmer!
But no one is actually hiring self learners without connections and either some other certs or gatekeeping pedigree.
Still lots of gatekeepers in industry with old mindset on hiring, not hiring for aptitude to learn new things but rather hiring for wrote knowledge from paying for regurgitated lecture material and getting a paper for that.
Didn’t pay crazy tuition or go into crazy debt to gain same knowledge like I had to, then you don’t deserve to get same high paying job like I have, etc.
Lot’s of closeted people with that mentality that makes all the effort less worthwhile.
My goal isn’t to get hired
It's all very confusing, I've seen Python experts say the same thing as well of it not being that good...
the title says "you shouldn't do it", implying it's a trap or smthg, and in the end, it's "you could do differently". As usual on yt
How can you become a programmer if you don't have the time to invest into learning computer science? I don't understand your logic. In my experience in computer science and software engineering, these concepts are very important unless you just want to start learning frameworks and watching tutorials, copying codes to build a project - but then you aint actually a programmer in the real sense.
Not trying to be a programmer!
and also why are you generalising cs50 " introduction to computer science" to all cs50 courses? did you know there is cs50 artificial intelligence, cs50 python, cs50 finances out there? from your comments I can tell you only heard about cs50's introduction to computer science. Well, if you are introducing yourself to computer science, be kind, introduce, and dont complain because of the lack of other higher level programming languages concepts.
Yup I’m aware of those and this video is specifically for the intro cs50 course. The web dev one is pretty good if you want to learn Django
So the final answer is you can`t get a job with cs50
Dude don’t listen to this guy if you want to learn well rounded. Also at every step you have essentially said “cs50 is great, but it’s too much to learn”
Yikes
Not too much to learn just don’t always need to go super in depth about everything for my goals
I don't know why i watch this video
Sorry it wasn’t helpful!
360p? :|
If you don't have time to commit, why are you learning to code? 😂
Why u shouldn’t hate on free stuff
No hate just an opinion!
C = waste of time = i close the video, adios (not) amigo
this is why yt shouldn't have removed the dislike count
Wait... at around 4:57 you say you only took the first lecture of CS50???? Not really qualified to judge then... CS50 isn't useful if you just want to be an HTML/CSS writer but even web dev. uses so many proper programming disciplines now (JS, Java, Python, ASP, PHP...), the value of CS50 isn't so much in learning the language but thinking in terms of problem solving, code efficiency, data structures and being aware of what's happening "under the hood" as Prof. Malan likes to say. Sure, some of it's a low level, but it's about foundational knowledge, rather than superficial (know only what you need).
So you're essentially reviewing a course that you didn't complete? And yeah CS50 is more about problem solving than a language so your views are completely valid if all you need is learning a language.
I started it and this isn’t a review just my thoughts on why I stopped and pivoted
Its the right course for someone who wants to know what coding is what function are rather than how they can be used in different programming languages
Since CS50 is highly popular and loved, this video decided to plug that into its title to get views. Your claims and opinions have no bases and evidence, plus the CS50 is touch by a PhD expert... You don't have the same credentials.
It’s a great course but I just wanted to give my opinion and perspective
@@fullstackmd when you make a public claim, people will give their opinions on your claim... We all agree on freedom of speech...