The MIT Challenge is Complete

Summary

In this video, Scott concludes his year-long MIT Challenge, where he successfully completed MIT's 4-year Computer Science curriculum without attending classes. He shares insights into his learning journey, including mastering programming languages, working on complex projects, and studying advanced mathematics. Scott emphasizes the importance of setting specific goals, following a structured curriculum, and sharing progress publicly for accountability. Looking ahead, he plans to continue his education in computer science, particularly in artificial intelligence and web development, but first, he'll take a well-deserved vacation in Paris.

Takeaways

• 😀 Scott completed the MIT challenge: a self-imposed goal to learn MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in 12 months without attending any classes.
• 💻 Scott learned several programming languages, including Python, Java, Scheme, Assembly, and C++, and worked on various projects such as CPU design, Sudoku solver, instant messaging apps, and ray tracing applications.
• 📚 In addition to programming, Scott gained a deep understanding of mathematics, covering topics like calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, probability, and more.
• 🔍 The challenge helped Scott build fluency in the 'language' of math and science, allowing him to explore complex fields such as biology, physics, and computer science.
• 🛠 He emphasizes the importance of specific goals and missions in self-education, noting how having a clear, defined objective (like 'The MIT Challenge') helped maintain focus and motivation.
• 🎯 Scott suggests finding or building a curriculum for self-learning, as it can provide structure and reduce the overwhelming number of learning resources available online.
• 📢 Being public about his challenge, through his blog and videos, provided accountability and motivation, helping him stay committed to the process.
• 🎓 He encourages others to take on their own self-education challenges, focusing on exciting and specific goals, a structured curriculum, and public accountability.
• 🌍 Looking ahead, Scott plans to continue learning computer science, particularly in areas like Ruby on Rails for web development and artificial intelligence, a field he has only begun exploring.
• ✈️ After completing the MIT challenge, Scott plans to take a well-earned vacation to Paris to relax, speak French, and recharge.

Q & A

What was the main goal of the MIT challenge?

The main goal of the MIT challenge was to learn MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in 12 months without taking any formal classes.

What programming languages did the speaker learn during the challenge?

The speaker learned Python, Java, Scheme, Assembly, and C++ during the challenge.

Can you name some of the projects the speaker worked on during the challenge?

The speaker worked on several projects, including a complete CPU design, a Sudoku solver, an instant messaging application with both a client and server, and a ray tracing application handling glossy and matte surfaces, mirror reflections, and refraction.

Aside from programming, what other subjects did the speaker study during the MIT challenge?

The speaker studied various mathematical and computer science theory subjects, including calculus, vector calculus, differential equations, probability, Fourier analysis, number theory, linear algebra, and formal logic.

Why does the speaker believe learning mathematics is important for understanding other sciences?

The speaker believes mathematics is a universal language that helps understand complex problems and concepts in various scientific fields like biology, physics, chemistry, and psychology, even those unrelated to computer science.

What advice does the speaker give for starting a self-education challenge?

The speaker advises setting a specific and exciting mission, building or finding a structured curriculum, and being public about the challenge to stay motivated.

How did making the challenge public help the speaker stay motivated?

Being public about the challenge, through blogging and creating videos, provided accountability and made the experience feel more formal and real, similar to being in a school environment.

What did the speaker find most difficult about the MIT challenge?

One of the challenges was staying motivated during the long middle stretches of the project, where the work could sometimes be more demanding and harder to get through.

What are the speaker's plans after completing the MIT challenge?

The speaker plans to learn Ruby on Rails for web development, explore artificial intelligence further, and take a well-earned vacation in Paris.

What was the speaker's ultimate goal in doing the MIT challenge publicly?

The speaker wanted to demonstrate that it's possible to learn deeply and meaningfully without attending formal classes, inspiring others to pursue self-education.

Outlines

00:00

🎓 Completing the MIT Challenge: A Year of Intense Learning

The speaker reflects on the completion of their MIT Challenge, which involved learning MIT's four-year computer science curriculum in just 12 months without attending classes. They highlight the extensive programming knowledge gained, including languages like Python, Java, Scheme, Assembly, and C++. The speaker also worked on several complex projects, such as designing a CPU, building a Sudoku solver, and creating a ray tracing application. Beyond programming, they deepened their understanding of mathematics and computer science theory, tackling subjects like calculus, probability, Fourier analysis, and number theory. This challenge not only enhanced their programming skills but also provided a strong mathematical foundation applicable to other scientific fields, such as biology, physics, and chemistry.

05:00

🚀 Key Takeaways and Advice for Self-Education

The speaker shares three important lessons that contributed to the success of their self-education journey. First, they emphasize the importance of setting a clear and specific mission, like naming their project 'the MIT Challenge,' which helped maintain focus and motivation. Second, they advise creating or finding a curriculum to avoid feeling overwhelmed by the abundance of resources available. MIT's online curriculum was instrumental for their studies. Lastly, they highlight the value of making one's learning journey public to foster accountability and maintain motivation, much like the role a formal school environment plays in keeping students on track.

Keywords

💡MIT Challenge

The 'MIT Challenge' refers to the speaker's personal goal of completing the entire MIT computer science curriculum in 12 months without attending formal classes. This challenge is central to the video, highlighting self-education, discipline, and the ability to master complex subjects independently. The speaker emphasizes the significance of setting a clear, ambitious goal to maintain focus and motivation.

💡Self-education

Self-education is the practice of learning independently, outside of formal educational institutions. The speaker advocates for this method as an alternative to expensive university programs, illustrating how they successfully self-taught MIT’s curriculum using free resources. Self-education is a key theme in the video, emphasizing the potential for learning deeply without the traditional classroom structure.

💡Computer Science

Computer science is the academic discipline focused on programming, algorithms, and computational theory. It is the subject the speaker dedicated 12 months to mastering during the MIT Challenge. Throughout the video, the speaker references various programming languages and complex topics like CPU design and ray tracing, illustrating the depth of knowledge gained in this field.

💡Programming languages

Programming languages are the tools used to write software and create applications. The speaker lists several languages they learned during the challenge, including Python, Java, Scheme, Assembly, and C++. These languages represent both the practical skills and the broader understanding of computing the speaker acquired.

💡Mathematics

Mathematics is a foundational element of both computer science and the broader scientific disciplines. The speaker discusses how they advanced from not knowing how to solve integrals to mastering topics like calculus, linear algebra, and Fourier analysis. This highlights the speaker’s belief that mathematical literacy is essential for understanding not just programming but various scientific fields.

💡Ray tracing

Ray tracing is a technique in computer graphics that simulates the way light interacts with objects to produce realistic images. The speaker mentions this as one of their major programming projects, demonstrating their ability to apply theoretical computer science knowledge to practical, visually impactful work.

💡Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to the simulation of human intelligence in machines. The speaker expresses an interest in continuing their studies in AI, noting that it is a field they only briefly touched on during the MIT Challenge. AI represents a significant area of future exploration for the speaker.

💡Curriculum

A curriculum is a structured set of courses or educational content. In the video, the speaker emphasizes the importance of following a clear curriculum, such as the one provided by MIT, to avoid the overwhelm that can come from choosing random resources. This structure helped them focus and achieve their goal systematically.

💡Public accountability

Public accountability refers to making a personal commitment or goal known to others to maintain motivation. The speaker explains how being public about their MIT Challenge, through blog posts and videos, made the experience feel more formal and kept them accountable, much like being in a traditional school setting.

💡Entrepreneurial projects

Entrepreneurial projects are ventures aimed at creating new products or businesses. The speaker mentions that after completing the MIT Challenge, they plan to use their knowledge of web development, specifically Ruby on Rails, to work on entrepreneurial projects. This reflects their desire to apply their learning in a practical, business-oriented context.

Highlights

Completed MIT's 4-year computer science curriculum in 12 months without taking any classes.

Learned multiple programming languages, including Python, Java, Scheme, Assembly, and C++.

Built a complete CPU design at the gate level specification and ran it in a simulator.

Developed a Sudoku solver that automatically solves puzzles.

Created an instant messaging application with both client and server functionality.

Worked on a large computer graphics project: a complete ray-tracing application handling glossy and matte surfaces, reflections, and refraction.

Gained a deep understanding of mathematics, including calculus, vector calculus, differential equations, and linear algebra.

Studied Fourier analysis, number theory, and Boolean logic as part of the mathematics curriculum.

Found value in learning math and computer science theory as universal problem-solving tools applicable to other disciplines like biology, physics, and chemistry.

Gave advice for self-education: set a clear, specific mission to stay focused and motivated.

Recommended using existing curricula, such as MIT's publicly available curriculum, to guide self-learning efforts.

Emphasized the importance of being public about self-education challenges for accountability and motivation.

Plans to continue learning computer science, particularly in the areas of web development and artificial intelligence.

Encouraged people to pursue learning without the need to enroll in formal education programs.

Ending the MIT Challenge with a sense of accomplishment, but also bittersweet feelings as it marks the end of a significant personal chapter.

Transcripts

hey guys welcome back to the final

update of the MIT challenge just over a

year ago I set myself the goal of

learning mi t--'s four year computer

science curriculum in 12 months without

taking any classes and I'm happy to

announce that that challenge is now

complete it was an interesting year and

I learned a lot both about programming

but also both the fundamentals of

Science and Mathematics it will help me

whenever I want to learn anything from

any of those topics in the future so

from the programming end I learned a lot

of programming languages I learned

Python Java scheme assembly in C++ I

also worked on some very cool and

interesting programming projects there

were part of that curriculum I built a

complete CPU design at the gate level

specification that ran in a simulator

I built of Sudoku solver which

automatically solve Sudoku puzzles an

instant messaging application that had

both a client and a server application

and finally I worked on a big computer

computer graphics project which was a

complete ray tracing application which

handled glossy and matte surfaces mirror

reflections and even refraction in

addition to the programming concepts

which I feel are the most obvious

practical implications of doing the MIT

challenge I feel I learned even more in

the studies of mathematics and of

computer science theory and these are

incredibly important because they're not

just about the specific topics with a

specific implementation they're a

language that if you can speak that

language you can solve many problems and

understand many hard and very

complicated disciplines of science even

those that are unrelated to computer

science so biology physics chemistry

psychology these are all spoken in a

certain extent to the underlying

language of mathematics of which I

learned a lot so starting in the MIT

Challenge I didn't even know how to do

an integral and over the last year I

worked through calculus vector calculus

differential equations probability

Fourier analysis number theory linear

algebra motor logic and many other

different systems of mathematics which

really gave me a fluency and such things

so that if I want to take from any

discipline of science I know I have both

the confidence and also the fundamentals

to start exploring those disciplines not

to mention

the ability that these languages have at

describing and articulating complicated

computer science and programming

problems so that you can work on the

more interesting applications such as

artificial intelligence and networking

and the internet so this has been a

great experience and I've enjoyed

working through it personally but I also

wanted to try to show people that it was

possible to learn things in a deep and

important way without having to go to

school and I feel that I've accomplished

that because I've gotten emails from

tons of people who are interested in not

having to go to school just because

they're interested in learning a subject

and to go through the classroom

structure and learn in a way that costs

a lot of money through tuition and so

they want to start their own self

education challenge and so I wanted to

share three of the things that for me

made a huge difference in the success of

my MIT challenge and I think will help

you if you ever want to take on a self

education challenge of your own so the

first is to come up with an exciting but

specific mission so one of the things

that I felt really helped with my MIT

challenge was calling it the MIT

challenge I just came up with that name

I didn't know how to describe this idea

of doing a 40 year computer science for

come in 12 months but coming up with a

specific name and every specific set of

criteria in my case doing the

programming projects and passing the

final exams for MIT for your computer

science curriculum made it so much

easier to work on because instead of

having a vague nebulous task of becoming

better at programming or learning about

math I mean very specific and that

helped me keep me focused particularly

in the long middle stretches where it

was sometimes more work to get motivated

when I had to wake up in the morning to

work on these ideas so maybe you don't

want to work on something as ambitious

or as under such time constraints as the

MIT challenge but coming up with your

own specific mission even if it's not

out of your reach in terms of difficulty

with specific constraints you can

achieve a lot more than you can if you

keep a vague goal second build a

curriculum or find one online one of the

things that really helped me was that

MIT had a full curriculum online for

their computer science studies

and they have that for every other

course and every other undergraduate and

graduate degree that they teach so if

you're interested in learning something

else in it's an academic topic

I suggest finding a curriculum and

trying to figure out even if you don't

want to do all of it what parts of it

you want to do because something that

can paralyze people is that there's tons

of classes and tons of resources out

there and how do you filter down to what

specifically you should be learning as

opposed to just all of the things that

there are to learn which can be a bit

overwhelming finally I know this worked

for me be public about your quest even

if it's just anonymously and I know that

one of the things that helped me stick

with this over the the long months in

the past year was to be public about it

and to write about it on my blog and to

make these videos with you guys because

being accountable to other people just

as where you are in an actual school

environment makes self-education a lot

more motivating and a lot more real

because I feel that doing this MIT

Challenge in this public way made the

process feel much more authentic and

much more formal than it would be if I

had just been doing some self education

just random haphazard classes on my own

so if you're considering working on your

own self education challenge consider

coming up with an exciting and specific

mission building a curriculum and also

being public about your quest so now the

big question is what's next for me and

there's a bit of a bittersweet feeling

finishing the MIT challenge it's

exciting because I have managed to

complete this hard project especially in

the beginning when I wasn't sure whether

it was going to be possible and I spent

a long year working on it so it's

exciting to be finally finished and to

have achieved that but it's also kind of

sad as it is when you're working on

anything and ending a chapter that's

been part of your life for a while I've

been working on this and it's consumed

my life for the last year so it's

somewhat sad to know that that's over

and that I'm not going to be making

these videos and not going to be doing

the classes and the type constraints

that I was over the last year but that

being said my progress with learning and

specifically with computer science is

far from over I'm probably not going to

be operating under the trying to do

classes and one way

time and doing an entire degree in a

year for for some time if at all in the

future but I think that I'm going to

continue learning computer science and

continue using it in concrete ways so

one of the things I wanted to learn was

Ruby on Rails for doing web development

so I can start kind of making my own

entrepreneurial projects using the

computer science knowledge and I wanted

to continue academically to take online

free online classes on artificial

intelligence because there's a subject

that I feel I've barely scraped the

surface in in my MIT challenge and it's

something that interests me deeply and

the short term however though I'm gonna

be taking a vacation a well-earned

vacation I'm going to Paris for a month

to speak some French and get some sleep

so thank you very much for following

this channel it's been great hearing

your feedback and also to hear from all

the people who have been inspired and

interested in the challenge so thank you

for following and this is Scott signing

out goodbye