It would be interesting if Stanford suggested some path through these courses.
I'm in the middle of AI class (loving it), and I wonder what the overlap is with the PGM or game theory classes - would they have been better to have done first (given a time machine)?
And I wonder, how much more than the probability I've picked up from the ai-class is required as a prerequisite for the infotheory class?
I don't think literate programming is obsolete, nor has it been superseded by "modern source code documentation".
LP means treating a program as a piece of literature. A literate program is free from the structure of conventional source code layout; this is different to simply documenting source code.
I don't claim LP is a hot topic, but I think to say it's obsolete is to misunderstand the concept.
Fair call. I intended to say the same thing with my comment, but I should have been clearer (rather than appearing to encourage a flame war). Sorry 'bout that.
Depending on the goals of the learner, something with immediate visual feedback is nice. Logo/turtle graphics or Smalltalk would be good for this.
While you're not going to write my-first-blog in Logo, it's something my 5 year old can get her head around. And it's the thin edge of the lisp wedge :)
I feel sad for anyone who refers to emacs and vim as dinosaurs. I feel sadder for anyone unfamiliar with emacs and vim dismissing because they're old tools, and missing out.
(c) absolutely - compare with Drawing Pad, where you can purchase colouring books in app. It has a config option to hide the IAP store, which avoids all the awkward questions.
I don't mind purchasing additional content in a premium app. If the app is good value by itself then additional sets for $3 a pop is fine. But I don't want my kids to see this option - as far as they are concerned, the app has what it has, and extra books appear magically from time to time.
If you're thinking of patenting your software, think about how useful it would be if you had to license absolutely everything you take for granted - algorithms, data structures, compiler optimisations, I/O mechanisms.
Patents were intended to encourage and reward creativity. When they're being used to stifle it, it's time to abolish them.