IPipodopt·Dec 30, 2020
In Computer Science textbooks that are freely available onlineossu
computer-science
HTML2015–2025
ossu / computer-science
computer-science
🎓 Path to a free self-taught education in Computer Science!
81Distinct people
92Mentions
1Explicit recommenders
211KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
🎓 Path to a free self-taught education in Computer Science!
GitHub
Where it is used
- Active Courses University (ACU) — Active Courses University uses the OSSU/computer-science curriculum to organize its categories and channels, mapping topics and course-specific channels to OSSU’s structure. Source
What people are saying
Whenever i have someone ask me where to get started on CS - i give them a few options tiered to try and ensure some stickiness/higher utility for them specifically. ~Some…
seven4 used a recommendation phrase. One indexed comment matches. This is a phrase match, not a verdict.
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Also in these discussions
- jwasham/coding-interview-university · linked in 3 of the same discussions
Mentioned in the same Hacker News threads. That is not proof they are substitutes.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 8–Nov 15 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/15/2026, 4:01:40 AM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year92 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2015-10-04 02:17:57 UTC to 2025-09-21 10:29:23 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 7 | 0 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 7 | 3 | 4 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 17 | 5 | 12 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 10 | 2 | 8 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 12 | 3 | 9 |
| 2022 | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 1 | 3 |
| 2023 | 2023-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 11 | 1 | 10 |
| 2024 | 2024-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 0 | 6 |
| 2025 | 2025-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2026-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 1 | 1 |
What Hacker News says
10 sourcesIn the same vein: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
In Computer Science textbooks that are freely available onlineColleges and universities are corrupt dinosaur institutions that indoctrinate students in subjects that working devs basically never use, like calculus, Java, and recursion. COVID can't kill them off fast enough. People like Haseeb Qureshi[1] amply demonstrate that you don't need a fancy degree to break into the top echelons of FAANG. It's 2020, not 1920: just do a bootcamp, self-study using one of the free open-source curricula,[2] and projects/a high-quality portfolio are all you actually need!
[1] https://haseebq.com/how-to-break-into-tech-job-hunting-and-i...
[2] https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
In UC Berkeley inappropriately admitted students as favors to donorsDamn, I always felt like a failure for not going into medicine or lawyer and now I feel like I may have chosen the right path. I did well in school but didn't have the 13 years for medicine or the $300,000 for law school... instead I got my little Computer Science bachelors.
If you're early on in your career, I'd recommend the free only Computer Science degree (DIY route -> https://github.com/ossu/computer-science) and eventually getting a Master's if you want to go into management (or alternatively just load up on certs)
In On finally learning to program at the age of 40See teachyourselfcs [0] and OSSU [1]
[0] https://teachyourselfcs.com/
[1] https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
In Ask HN: CS degree equivalent from MIT or Harvard with online classes, for free?Whenever i have someone ask me where to get started on CS - i give them a few options tiered to try and ensure some stickiness/higher utility for them specifically.
~Some Existing Touch Point With CS
Teachyourselfcs.com is definitely in the conversation - in general I recommend it to friends who have a pre-existing "gateway" to the field (software engineer or otherwise). The page talks about progressing from "type 2" to "type 1" software engineer - a deeper understanding affording a richer career/experience.
~Relatively Fresh - but have strong intent
For people who are more "virgin" and fresh but are willing to put in the work - I recommend OSSU ("open source curriculum") - and i've found for whatever reason that structure has let them gradient in with more success. (https://github.com/ossu/computer-science)
~Intrigued/Engaged - but inten
Read the rest
t is still nascent
For people who have a fleeting interest but don't necessarily have the time or intensity about their interest i usually recommend a starter python course - 90% of these people will fall off the path unless there is a more permeable access-point to the space that offers a positive feedback loop. The university of Michigan has some engaging options.
The curriculum from Open Source Society University at https://github.com/ossu/computer-science lists those:
- https://www.edx.org/course/compilers
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDcmCgguL9rxPoVn2ykUF...
In Ask HN: Online Compiler Courses?Ask HN: Crowd-sourced educational resources recommendations?
As a college student (MSc Computer Science) I often encounter the situation that I am sitting in lectures that suck. The content is very interesting, but it is presented in a very bad or boring way. Most professors are not really interested in providing the best education possible (they want to do research) and therefore their performance and material (and recommended books, papers etc.) are moderate at best [0].
As a solution I head out to YouTube [1, 2], Goodreads, HN threads [3], GitHub pages [4,5] and MOOCs, Medium posts, Google [6] etc. to find alternative material to learn from. While there are some indications of quality/learnability (comment sentiment, ratings) it is still hard to judge which material is best. I want to find the material that best suits my learning needs so I can learn more efficient and effective (and thus more).
Read the rest
I was wondering whether a crowd computing platform (for learners, by learners) could help to collaboratively select and judge material. After searching for a topic there is some sort of rating (up/down votes) and difficulty classification {easy, intermediate, expert} to help you easily find the material that suits you best as a learner. Material can be anything from books, lectures, papers, webpages to complete MOOCs and pages of universities offering their courses for free [8].
Any thoughts on this?
[0] - https://www.ratemyprofessors.com/
[1] - https://www.youtube.com/user/eaterbc/
[2] - https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD63A284B7615313A
[3] - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15398550
[4] - https://github.com/josephmisiti/awesome-machine-learning/blob/master/books.md
[5] - https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
[6] - https://seeing-theory.brown.edu/
[7] - https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/education/cs2013_web_final.pdf
[8] - https://stanford.edu/~shervine/teaching/cs-229/refresher-probabilities-statistics
If you're disciplined enough, you can use this awesome resource https://github.com/ossu/computer-science
In Ask HN: Programming Guidance?Ask HN: Recommending Reading List for Psychology
Hi.
I am looking to get started with Psychology in a manner similar to an undergraduate student majoring in Psychology.
I have tried searching HN for good posts on the subject but I haven't found very many. I am looking for something that is similar to OSSU: https://github.com/ossu/computer-science.
Thanks.
1 points · Open discussion