Netflix know what movies you'll like. Amazon knows what books you'll enjoy. How do they do that? We'll learn about matrix factorization, which is just about expressing complex data using simple patterns. We'll also talk about how you can use the same ideas to help computers think about relationships between words (did it ever bother you that the dictionary defines words using other words?), let you program computers in English, and even predict the future--or more interestingly, predict the present.

Come with your partly working projects, crazy ideas, language frustrations, cool demos, whatever. I might not have heard of the language you're using, but I can try to help you think clearly about debugging or crafting code. Or we can just sit around and talk about programming. It's okay to be a geek.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to get yourself set up with python and how to write mathematical functions. More importantly, I'll explain just what this "Programming" thing is and some ways about how you should think about learning it

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to manipulate collections of things.

An introduction to programming in python for those who have not programmed before. --- In this section I explain how to compose functions, call functions from other functions... and just what is this "function" thing anyway?

Are you a heretic? You'd find yourself in good company in the first century AD. What made heresy so attractive in the early Christian church? Is there really such thing as "orthodoxy" anyway, or did the winners write the history books? We'll look at some of the heresies of early Christianity and compare them to the "orthodox" views of the time. We'll ask why these variant ideas were attractive, see what happened to them...and maybe even make up a few of our own.

Linux can turn a lowly laptop computer into a very capable server, automate repetitive tasks, or help you keep a bajillion files straight. Learn about shell scripts, package management, server configuration (including web servers), and some other fun stuff like virtualization. Also come with questions (how does it work?) and ideas (wouldn't it be cool if my laptop could...?).

It’s well past 2001, and we still can’t talk with our computers. Well, okay, we can tell our cell phones ...

It's well past 2001, and we still can't talk with our computers. Well, okay, we can tell our cell phones ...