Between the Brackets #1 : Practice vs. Lectures

Between the Brackets is a new thing I'm starting on this blog. It's a series where we have discussions over the non-technical things in coding, my experiences, in general, coding and chill.

So let's get to the point. Which helps you more in improving your coding skills? A lot of practice, or watching lectures, from sources like Coursera or YouTube or MIT OCW?

I, so far have relied on sheer practice, and reading up things based on the questions I faced, as an when I feel I need to read it. This has definitely improved my coding skills, and indeed that's what my friends and seniors encouraged me do.

So we started this Team Resurgence thing, tri-weekly tournaments, discussions, and reading on demand. But it slowly fizzled out. Participation dropped from 10 to 3-4 people. Later, we simply stopped.

So its been a bit. A month. A very transformative month indeed. After two whole months of solving tournaments every other day, I got burnt. It was inevitable. I decided to double down a bit.

Recently, I started a course on Data Structures from UC San Diego on Coursera. I'm done with week one, and it's a breath of fresh air. One important lesson I have learnt is that coding is very hard if you do it only through trial and error. And while there are dozens of YouTube channels which can seem very appealing, they are often incomplete, since most such YouTubers are also employed (those who make coding videos) in a 9 to 5, so they do not make their videos "complete". After the amount of trial and error based learning I did, this course felt way better and had less hand holding for the basics. I already knew most basics already, so it was less annoying.

Now, about platforms like GeeksForGeeks. I find these platforms to be very cookbook style, and indeed they are useful, but I don't recommend this platform as a place for first time learners. I mean, you might find quick code and documentation if you forget something, but the explanations are very brief, and the accompanying video also is not very good. So I use GeeksForGeeks to figure out what to learn, or to refresh memory.

Now we come to MIT OCW.

MIT OCW is a great place to learn. I have done Multivariable Calculus from OCW and it helped me get the highest grade in the MA1101 course we have here at IIT Madras.

So naturally my first instinct was to start MIT 6.006 Discrete maths for CS. And that course was so hard that it made me quit it multiple times for weeks. I feel, specially in India, the Engineering admission exams are heavily trick based and focus on Calculus and Geometry, and less on Algebra and Combinatorics. So having trained so hard on continuous mathematics, it might take a while to start activating your discrete math spider sense.

Yes, I said spider sense. Concepts like induction and combinatorics require you to recognize patterns and try to propose solutions based heavily on past experiences. So beginners have to learn to not feel bad about being completely lost. I know, it sucks. But suck it up. Suck up the knowledge you gain by failing repeatedly. (I think I'm being a bit overly positive and hypocritical when I say this. I'm no expert, and I definitely feel really dumb sometimes while solving these. Also, I haven't yet mastered that art of not feeling bad about being lost. The point is we have to embrace this together, dear reader.)

So coming back to courses. I feel we must have a balance of the two. And auditing courses on Coursera and EdX is definitely better than relying on YouTube and MIT OCW. I'm going to have to stick to this course, and not leave it midway. In general, experiment. Pick and choose which course/channel you prefer. Your choice may not be mainstream, but if it works for you, go ahead and do it.

And that's what is Between the Brackets this week.