A show about computer science and computer science education by Charlie Harrington and Oz Nova.
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25 recent
May 17, 2025Episode 2550 min
E25: There is only one Beej Jorgensen
Brian "Beej Jorgensen" Hall joins Oz and Charlie to dive into the joy and art of learning computer science. It's all here - achieving flow, "How to Solve It" by Polya, self-publishing guides/books on the web, Beej's take on AI and coding, and, of course, the origin of the "Beej Jorgensen" moniker. Shownotes:Beej's website: https://beej.us/Beej's guide to learning computer science: https://beej.us/guide/bglcs/Hacker News post on Charlie's short story about a giant diamond asteroid
April 1, 2025Episode 2451 min
E24: When is binge learning better than consistency?
Oz and Charlie vibe-chat their way through respective Mathacademy experiences + reviews, leading to a discussion of "binge learning" vs more-structured, consistent learning / time-tracking. Also, Oz shares that he's currently reading a math textbook with this incredible sentence in its introduction: "I consider the mathematical treatment of these problems to be among the chief glories of Western civilization, and I hope you agree."Shownotes:mathacademy.comcsprimer.com
January 20, 2025Episode 2348 min
E23: MathAcademy and the efficient pursuit of mastery
There's something about MathAcademy that just works for learning math (for both kids and adults - ask Reddit!), and we're chatting with Justin Skycak - Chief Quant & Director of Analytics at MathAcademy - to try to figure it out.Shownotes:justinmath.com -- Justin's personal websitemathacademy.com3blue1brownCell biology by the numbersExecuteProgramStar Trek 2009The Math Academy Way -- Math Academy's working draft book, authored by Justin, which answers the following questions: What techniques exist to maximize student learning and talent development, particularly in the context of math? Why are these techniques so impactful, and if they are indeed so impactful, then why are they so often absent from traditional classrooms? How does Math Academy leverage these techniques?Math Academy Origin Story, 2014-20 -- from Sandy & Jason's perspective, with a focus on how the original in-school program and early software came to beMath Academy Origin Story, 2019-23 -- from Justin's perspective, with a focus on teaching in that school program and getting the algorithms in place to turn it into a fully automated systemNews Articles about Math Academy's original in-school programOz on XCharlie on XOz's websiteCharlie's website
November 14, 2024Episode 221 hr 1 min
E22: Building HR software for dying on Mars?
Ammar Mian is a software engineer and the co-founder of startup health tech company Malla - and another former student of Oz's and Bradfield School of Computer Science! Many software engineers daydream about starting their own company one day, so we've got Ammar on the show this week to give us the goods. Is it still fun? Can you still get into flow? Are you still coding? Does Oz want to die on Mars? All this and more!Shownotes:MallaThe WigglesThe Six Levels of Interaction with a SystemZone of proximal developmentRed-bellied black snakeReentry [book] - more recent history of SpaceXRed Mars [book] - Kim Stanley Robinson
November 8, 2024Episode 2157 min
E21: Make the easy things harder (with Madison Kanna)
Madison Kanna is a lifelong learner and self-taught programmer who learns in public, and Madison joins Oz and Charlie to share tactics for getting things done (with their learning goals) - and the importance of having fun along the way when learning computer science.ShownotesMadison Kanna's siteThe Cost of Forsaking CFlow - Mihaly CsikszentmihalyiRyan Holiday - Don't Talk about Writing a Novel
October 4, 2024Episode 2054 min
E20: Jason Benn's path to ML engineering
Jason Benn is an ML engineer and truly the epitome of a lifelong learner (Cal Newport even wrote about Jason in one of his books on learning!). Oz and Charlie catch up with Jason on his current self-directed ML sabbatical - which he's corralled into a co-working cohort called mleclub.com (similar to Recurse Center but with an ML / AI focus). We discuss the tactical, strategic, and emotional side to effective self-directed learning, and close out with a new segment tentatively called "Would you read the top article on Hacker News right now?".ShownotesMinerva University [book] So Good They Can't Ignore You - Cal Newport[book] Why Greatness Cannot Be Planned - Kenneth O. O. Stanley, Joel LehmanJason Benn's website MLE Club
August 13, 2024Episode 1943 min
E19: When failure is not an option
Does your summer roadtrip across America include Saturn V Rockets, self-driving cars, dinosaur bones, and maybe Kittyhawk? Well, then you might be Oz and family! Charlie and Oz catch up on Oz's grand tour of America's inspiring hubs of ambition and technology, with plenty of detouring into the wonderful book genre of video game memoirs.Shownotes[book] Failure Is Not An Option - Gene Kranz[book] Skunkworks - Ben Rich[book] The Wright Brothers - David McCullough[book] Masters of Doom - David Kushner[documentary] Indie Game the Movie[book] Sid Meier's Memoir!: A Life in Computer Games[book] The Making of Prince of Persia - Jordan Mechner[book] Tomorrow, Tomorrow, Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin[song] "This song wrote itself" - Charlie's song about self-driving cars, performed in a self-driving car Hack Club's "Blot" pen plotter Hack Club
February 23, 2024Episode 1850 min
E18: Do you love programming as much as Thorsten Ball does?
Programming is the best! We're chatting with Thorsten Ball (self-published author of Writing an Interpreter in Go and Writing a Compiler in Go) about all of our mutual favorite topics: learning new stuff, great textbooks, writing, and why bugs are actually great (a gift, even!).ShownotesWriting an Interpreter in Go (Thorsten's book): Writing a Compiler in Go (Thorsten's book) The Dragon Book (compilers)Thorsten's newsletter: Thorsten's website Zed.dev Sourcegraph
January 18, 2024Episode 1759 min
E17: 1000 Hours Away From Being Exceptional
Zach Latta is the founder of Hack Club (hackclub.com). Zach's a high school dropout who's now helped 30k high school students around the world start their own coding clubs. He also helped build the much-beloved "yo" texting app in 2014. This is a fun conversation about coding in school, being a kid, the importance of friendship in learning, and realizing that you can make awesome stuff with awesome people in this world.Shownotes:Hack Club László Polgár Yo App: Neopets Putting the You in CPU Pizza Hut BOOK-IT Program
January 11, 2024Episode 1651 min
E16: What if textbooks were actually fun?
Oz and Charlie brainstorm their "Stripe Press for kids" publishing idea! Shownotes:Klutz PressCharlie's blog post about Klutz PressHacker News discussion about Charlie's Klutz Press blogLittle Schemer: https://mitpress.mit.edu/978026256099...Abstract Algebra: A Student Friendly Approach: https://www.amazon.com/Abstract-Algeb...Computer Systems: A Programmer's Perspective: https://www.amazon.com/Computer-Syste...Intel CeleronThe Diamond AgeQuantum CountyExecute Program Mitsumasa AnnoOz's Requests for Collaboration
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