The MIT Challenge is Complete
Summary
TLDRIn 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
🎓 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.
🚀 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.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡MIT Challenge
💡Self-education
💡Computer Science
💡Programming languages
💡Mathematics
💡Ray tracing
💡Artificial intelligence
💡Curriculum
💡Public accountability
💡Entrepreneurial projects
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
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