WingNews logo WingNews GitHub [2]

randomnumber53's comments

randomnumber53 | 10 years ago | on: CS for All

> Before we move to CS for all, can we at least solve the problem of Computer Literacy for all!?

I see no reason that they can't be tackled concurrently!

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Prof. Sussman's Reading List

I'm a current HS senior who took a Theory of Computation class the year prior, and I got a few chapters into QCSD before realizing that I needed to learn some more about complexity theory before I read that book. I'm planning on trying again once the summer begins.

Now I'm about half-way through Godel, Esher, Bach, and I have to say that GEB and QCSD feel similar, with an overlap not only in theme but also in genre and style.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Ask HN: How much do you remember from books you read only once?

I am a mildly dyslexic. I have excellent reading comprehension, but I read about a standard deviation slower than the average reader.

Thus, I don't think I've ever read a book "only once," since in order to understand much of anything, I always end up reading each page paragraph, sentence, or word until I understand it before I progress.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: How To Think About Chess

I am also an expert player, and agree with most of what was said, but I do think I should point out that this player's style is not the only strategy ("My strategy is usually to throw lots of pieces at their king and hope they die or I can win some material"). Personally, I prefer more closed/quite games, so most of my thinking (even in the middle game) is about how to achieve a favorable endgame, and win from there.

EDIT: I dislike studying openings too, (I started playing 1. g3 to avoid theory while still getting into some fun positions)

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: How To Think About Chess

I play chess "seriously" (expert level) and am about a gold/platinum league Starcraft II player, and the games do show a surprising amount of similarity. Both show the most variance in the midgame, begin in identical formations (where memorizing openings is common), and converge to endgames that have somewhat less variance than midgames.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: How To Think About Chess

This type of training game is more often used to practice a certain structure that arises from a specific opening, and thus is a type of practice used more towards the higher levels of play (International Master+).

The thing is, if two amateurs are playing, neither of whom deeply know openings, then the starting position (or 4-5 moves in) is essentially new territory, like what might arise for a Grandmaster 15-30 moves into the game. Does this make sense?

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Why My MOOC Is Not Built on Video

My favorite thing about the MITx MOOCs are that they have really well-designed, carefully-devised problem sets, which I think might be the most important factor of a great class.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don't Apply to Elite Schools

It is interesting that people are talking about the Ivies, not "elite colleges" in general. The article defines a high achiever as "anyone who gets a 29 or better on the ACT or a combined 1,300 on the SAT." At most elite schools (Ivies + MIT, Caltech, Stanford, etc.) a 30 ACT score would be rather below average.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don't Apply to Elite Schools

Most colleges are moving towards need-blind admissions too, debunking the common complaint that they don't admit low-income students because they'd rather admit students who can pay.

It is also important to note that these types of policies are more common the more elite a university is.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don't Apply to Elite Schools

Okay, but you could use that logic to claim (possibly validly, though I don't think so) that nobody should care about the Ivies because they only make up a fraction of schools (.08% times 5 = .4% of admissions, according to your data). This is not a sound argument, though, since very few of the 5 million students admitted to universities in the US would be competitive applicants at the Ivies. The pool of competitive applicants is much, much smaller.

"To address most of the responses below. I'm implying that even if all appropriate students applied for these programs, as the article suggests, it wouldn't make a difference because some tiny fraction of them would be admitted."

The article doesn't suggest that every student should apply, just that many academically qualified students are missing an opportunity to apply (even if that opportunity only results in a ~10% chance of acceptance, that's still a missed opportunity).

EDIT: Formatting.

randomnumber53 | 11 years ago | on: Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don't Apply to Elite Schools

It disappoints me that so many commentators on the NPR site infer from the title--"Why Many Smart, Low-Income Students Don't Apply To Elite Schools"--that the article is essentially bashing "big fancy private college[s]" for being overpriced and not-worth-it.

In contrary, it author/article is trying to find and explain why the above misconception exists.

And it seems as though the people this article would most help don't even read it.

page 1
more