mit ocw 2008 vs 2011 version?I am on lecture 7 on 2008 course but found this one with more resources,
should i continue there or follow this one

Question

e.mccormick · Answer

Both are good/  The 2008 is aimed at a regular student.  The 2011SC is aimed at students that have a little higher understanding and want to take on harder challeneges.

anonymous · Answer

do the 2008 course then look at the psets and lecture of the 2011 course and do some of those.  there are topics that are only in one or the other and they are all worth knowing.  2011 sequence is structured a bit differently than the 2008.

kilgore · Answer

I'd like to follow up on this one with a version question.  I installed python 2.7.5 instead of 2.5.4 like the course suggests.  Would you recommend that I change?

kilgore · Answer

P.S.  I'm taking the 2011 version.

e.mccormick · Answer

2.7.5 is fine.  3.x is where things really changed.  The 2.x commands are mostly the same so very few stumbling blocks in their example code.  In 3.x, they changed some core functions so the differences are more noticeable and would need to be dealt with.

kilgore · Answer

Awesome! Thanks for the fast response.  I'm sure I'll have some programming questions soon ;)  I did complete the prime number counting program, and it works.  I'm sure It could be a bit more efficient than it is, but I did get it to give me the right answer.

e.mccormick · Answer

And that is really what computer science is:  get a result, but do so while thinking about the best possible way.  And the term best can mean a lot of things.  Best at using less resources.  Best at being fast.  Best at being easy to implement.  Best has many, many options and which best depends on the job.

For example, in a training session on Python, Google admitted that Python is NOT an efficient language.  However, it is easy to write and Python finds that good CPUs are cheaper and easier to find than good programmers.  Therefore, they use Python because programmers like how easy it is to work with.  A very different best than say the best language for writing a low memory using application that can be put on a phone.