I'd -love- to take a Python course from Zed but this site makes me uneasy about following through. Not enough information and the site simply doesn't look professional enough to be sending in payments of $200+. The 404 on the follow up course is a big red flag too.
-- "Find courses you're interested in from our course list. After you've selected a course, we'll send you more information about our Web-based learning system. "
I kinda want to know before signing up, selecting, and/or paying what your Web-based learning system is about. From what I can see on the site, there will be some directed readings, evaluated assignments, and a place to do Q&A. Those are nice benefits but I'm looking for a quality teacher to pay that premium. I'd like to know if there is audio/video lectures, what the required texts are, etc. Unfortunately there is no FAQ and the only obvious way to ask is the "Contact Us" link which takes you to a generic feedback page.
Some of our courses include pre-recorded screencast videos. I am teaching the CodeLesson PHP course right now and I use a few videos in my course. I don't know if Zed is planning on using any in his course but I don't think so. If we ever offer Introduction to Oil Painting we'll probably do a lot more videos for that course.
Philosophically, we are avoiding the notion of live video formats for a couple of reasons. First, there are products that exist to do live video today (Skype, etc.). But more importantly, the big benefit of an online course is that because the course has no set meeting time, students and instructors can time-shift (this is the same benefit of email versus talking on the phone). With live video, you lose that. That isn't to say that live interactions in our courses aren't an option (you're still free to pick up the phone), they just aren't a differentiator for us.
Because our courses are instructor-led, you're going to get answers to your questions, which is something that pre-recorded videos can't really provide.
Thanks for the reply. I'll follow-up later to see what Zed's plans are. I agree that getting instructor Q&A is valuable and that live video is tricky to schedule. I'd be happy with screencasts since there is an opportunity for Q&A later.
It might be a personal thing, but I learn much better when I can see the teacher and follow along with them. My best teachers have always been my most passionate teachers, and I think many of us either know of Zed's reputation or have had first-hand experience with it.
Zed giving readings, assignments, and feedback: worth the money.
Zed getting all up in your business, taking you down a notch or two, and building you back up again: priceless.
You're right and I did see it, so I shouldn't have said there wasn't one. I was looking at the course page and desperately wanting some questions answered so I threw my hands up and said "where's the FAQ!". I would have preferred a bit more info in the Site FAQ, but it definitely did answer a handful of my questions.
Anyways, now that you're here, do you guys do video lectures/interaction of any sort? I think that would persuade me to follow through~
Mark Pilgrim's http://diveintopython.org/ is a good continuation to this book if you're interested in learning Python. It's also free, and there's a more recent version for Python 3 at http://diveintopython3.org/
The grandparent comment links version 0.1 of the book, get the current version (0.5 as of now) from the book's website at http://learnpythonthehardway.org/
(I found that out in the process of attempting to report an error in version 0.1 - it's already fixed in 0.5, and 0.5 is 4x longer.)
What's up with this being an introductory course to Python? Shouldn't the experts be giving expert level instruction?
I understand the desire of programmers to start from ground zero, but come on. The internet is full of easy beginner tutorials. Bookstores are full of intermediate materials.
But there is a shortage of expert advice from experienced professionals. Let's see some of that!
You assume every experience professional knows everything. :) There's no shame in taking an introductory course, even if you're a super genius in some other area.
One thing that surprised us about our first CodeLesson course is that it was populated by a few startup CEOs, some of whom had coded in college, others who were learning to code for the first time.
While I agree, in general, with your statements/sentiments, such logic will keep us perpetually in a loop of beginner's mechanics. You advance knowledge and skill by challenging yourself - you don't do it by repeating beginner's materials.
i disagree. i've been coding for quite a while now, and am now just picking up emacs. the only way for me to begin is to start with basic/simple tutorials (e.g. peepcode, emacs starter kit, etc.). for an experienced programmer trying to learn python, i'd imagine zed would be an amazing fit since he could possibly customize/direct his vast knowledge specific to the user.
though i agree with the idea that there are very few resources geared toward expert/advanced users. i'm not sure how flexible the course material would be in this case tho.
Well damn, maybe I'll do one. Hell I'd get together with people in SF or wherever for free and show them how to do stuff. It'd be an awesome bad ass way for me to get feedback on what needs to happen to make Mongrel2 awesome.
i second that. not just mongrel2, even ruby, jazz guitar, etc.
i think being able to get feedback from someone like zed allows one to QUICKLY and EFFICIENTLY get to the meat and heart of ideas and concepts. whereas in my experience with other instructors you're sometimes wondering in the back of your mind whether the person actually knows what they are talking about.
it's similar to being able to study directly with a zen master. except in this case it's not zen, it's zed.
Someone knows about a similar site offering (or someone willing to offer through codelesson.com) a good software engineering course? I'll be up for that.
Little can be inferred from the link, but I am 100% sure that Zed makes an awesome teacher for anyone who's considering taking the class. Just hit him up on Twitter or e-mail, and I'm sure he'll oblige.
Basically, I'll be setting up the first 26 lessons for class A, then the remaining 26 for class B. The purpose of the course is that you get my time to help you through the book and grade you on your progress.
It's actually pretty simple and should be a ton of fun.
This course is a great idea. Will you do a ruby class next? In saying that, I am mostly joking. However a C class would be pretty sweet, especially since it's hard to learn how to write C correctly, efficiently and securely.
i'm curious as to what sort of pedagogical approach zed will be taking with this course. i know zed's personal preference is to pick up a book and just go thru all the exercises in it (e.g. mickey baker's jazz guitar).
will he be doing anything different from traditional student/instructor methods? curious as to what zed's personal take on this is as well.
I'm really not into taking "courses" online when there's already lots of free non-interactive textual/reference/tutorial content already online, and offline in the form of books. And for a really great interactive resource, there's this thing called the Python REPL.
That said, I do think people should do what they love, and try to monetize the doing of what they love, so more power to him in this endeavor.
Some people need a little kick start to the self-learning process. I've taught classes like this, and it's really amazing how a week of instructor-driven exploration can improve people's programming skills!
Sometimes, getting started all seems a little overwhelming. Having someone show you everything and hold your hand can give you the context you need to really understand what's going on. Once you have context and understanding, the rest is easy.
many people learn many different ways. once you've attempted to try and teach/show people, you'll hopefully see this first hand. there is no such thing as a single pedagogy that applies to everyone with the same effectiveness.
everyone is always at a different level, and people pick things up at different speeds as well. i learned to snowboard in less than 8 hours. yet i've gone off and on with ruby/rails for over a year and still can't get the hang of it with any fluency. different strokes for arnold and willis.
Same here, but then people like me and you are rare in the real world. Other folks, for lack of confidence or direction, need someone to point them in in the right way so they get started.
-- "Find courses you're interested in from our course list. After you've selected a course, we'll send you more information about our Web-based learning system. "
I kinda want to know before signing up, selecting, and/or paying what your Web-based learning system is about. From what I can see on the site, there will be some directed readings, evaluated assignments, and a place to do Q&A. Those are nice benefits but I'm looking for a quality teacher to pay that premium. I'd like to know if there is audio/video lectures, what the required texts are, etc. Unfortunately there is no FAQ and the only obvious way to ask is the "Contact Us" link which takes you to a generic feedback page.