I have a question about learning Computer Science if someone could help (OSSU)

[dawezz]

Im 14 years old and in the future I want to study computer science, I have found the OSSU course, it would be a good start?


Thanks

 

[PeroK]

Im 14 years old and in the future I want to study computer science, I have found the OSSU course, it would be a good start?

Looks good!

 

[FactChecker]

You should be aware that the OSSU course is not accredited as a university course. It might be a good way to learn CS but it might not be as official as you will want.

 

[sysprog]

This book was part of my learning: http://www.cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/Minsky.pdf

Other books in the Prentice-Hall Series, and other books at the library in QA 75 and QA 76, were good too $-$ especially (author/originator of $\TeX$) Professor Don Knuth's The Art of Computer Programming $-$ available at: https://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~knuth/taocp.html $\leftarrow$ (that's rather advanced).

 

[DaveC426913]

This book was part of my learning: http://www.cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/Minsky.pdf

Umm. That book was first published when state-of-the-art was this:

 

[sysprog]

Umm. That book was first published when state-of-the-art was this:
View attachment 301103

True, but the foundational concepts in computer science elucidated by MIT Professor Marvin Minsky in that book and others remain valid, even for today's much more advanced technology.

 

[jtbell]

Umm. That book was first published when state-of-the-art was this:
View attachment 301103

I started my research as a physics graduate student writing FORTRAN code for one of those, but that was 45 years ago.

 

[DaveC426913]

I started my research as a physics graduate student writing FORTRAN code for one of those, but that was 45 years ago.

40 years ago, in Grade 11, I was writing FORTRAN on punch cards and taking the subway downtown to the university on a Sunday to put my program in the stack for the mainframe.

 

[symbolipoint]

40 years ago, in Grade 11, I was writing FORTRAN on punch cards and taking the subway downtown to the university on a Sunday to put my program in the stack for the mainframe.

Forty years ago, and in grade 11 ? An indication maybe that modern technology was expensive back then.

 

[DaveC426913]

Forty years ago, and in grade 11 ? An indication maybe that modern technology was expensive back then.

You mean, why did I have to go downtown to find a punch card processor in 1980?
Yeah, I think by the time I graduated, they'd started putting in actual PCs in my HS.

 

[symbolipoint]

You mean, why did I have to go downtown to find a punch card processor in 1980?
Yeah, I think by the time I graduated, they'd started putting in actual PCs in my HS.

This makes me a little curious what were the transition years range?

 

[berkeman]

This makes me a little curious what were the transition years range?

When I was a freshman in university in Northern California around 1975-76, my FORTRAN class used the same punched cards and a reader to load the programs into the (big Burroughs B6700) mainframe. By the end of that school year in 1976 they started to have some shared terminals where you could type your programs in and save them to print out at the mainframe.

 

[DaveC426913]

This makes me a little curious what were the transition years range?

Of me? Or of the computers?

 

[symbolipoint]

Of me? Or of the computers?

I meant, of the computers; the technology and the practices; using the cards or using digital(?) computers.

 

[valenumr]

Umm. That book was first published when state-of-the-art was this:
View attachment 301103

So was: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming

A lot has changed, but the fundamentals, not a lot. I wish I could grok quantum computing though. That's the leap right now.

 

[valenumr]

So was: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Art_of_Computer_Programming

A lot has changed, but the fundamentals, not a lot. I wish I could grok quantum computing though. That's the leap right now.

I apologize for missing the context. Knuth was mentioned, but I skimmed passed it. He is exceptionally good at fundamentals, but there have been a lot of incremental changes since.

We put men on the moon in that era with that technology, and it is still highly relevant today.

 

[Delta2]

The mathematical theory behind computer software is the same for the last 60-70 years. It is just the technology that allows to build smaller, faster, more reliable computer, but based on the same theory. Of course the theory about the hardware changed a lot the last 60-70 years.

For example, the quick sort algorithm is known from the 1950s and has complexity $O(nlogn)$. However this same algorithm can run up to 1000000 faster if run on a modern computer than on a computer of the 1960s because each of the nlogn steps of the algorithm takes smaller time in modern computers. But it is the same number of steps in both cases.

P.S I reckon the basic theory about computer hardware hasn't changed a lot either. Just the theory regarding the technology on how to make smaller transistors with faster frequency. In sort Larger scale of integration and faster frequency is what is essentially different in a modern computer than that of the 60s.