Stanford
2 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2009–2026
49:47 · 2.6M views · Jul 3, 2008
First lecture of Stanford's CS106A Programming Methodology by Mehran Sahami, giving a course overview and starting on programming. The course teaches software engineering principles using Java.
HN suggests it as a free lecture for beginners that eases them into writing readable, reusable code.
3 comments from Hacker News
Yeah, there were 2 golden ages: 1- When this internet thing came out 2- When this covid thing came out On the first era, here's a Java lecture from Stanford, if it's too basic for you, it still has historical value, iirc it's something like Java 6. And it also reinforces the basics. this video It's a bit harder to follow along with online materials since you have to use the Internet Archive, and download older compilers or use options to target older versions, but it's all the more fun for it.
Python is fantastic but Learning Python might be a bit steep for someone who's not familiar with programming at all. Strangely, I think this youtube lecture series from Stanford is fantastic. this video It's java but the lecturer eases you into the most important concepts with an understanding of how to engineer readable, reusable code. So watch it free. Then buy Learning Python. If there is an equivalent python learning video on youtube, I haven't found it.
Ok I see what you're saying. But if you have learned something through practice, can't you validate it by researching / googling it? See what people are saying on stackoverflow, in blog posts, in books etc.? Also many university film and publish their lectures on youtube, i.e. Stanford Software Engineering course: this video > But after years of good performance reviews, successful projects, and promotions, I started to finally allow myself to believe that I knew what I was doing. Back to your original post, this kind of learning is FAR more valuable than anything you will learn in university. You have learned through practice and experience. I have probably interviewed at at ~20 different companies in the last 6 years and never once have I been asked a single question about my university degree, literally never. Nobody cares about them. They know that its the experience that counts, not the degree (though I'm not saying degrees are worthless either). In my experience I would say around 40% of the software developers I have worked with either do not have a degree at all or have a degree in a completed unrelated subject (i.e. Philosophy). The idea that one developer would discount another developer's idea because he doesn't have a degree in computer science is actually laughable. Though I'm only saying all of that in order to tell you that a degree is not the answer to your imposter syndrome. The answer is to educate yourself, read books, experiment with different technologies an