1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:02,260

2
00:00:02,260 --> 00:00:04,860
>> DAVID MALAN: This is Sanders Theatre.

3
00:00:04,860 --> 00:00:07,290
This is where CS50's lectures are held.

4
00:00:07,290 --> 00:00:09,090
Thanks so much for coming to campus.

5
00:00:09,090 --> 00:00:10,610
Shall we start with introductions?

6
00:00:10,610 --> 00:00:11,580
I'm David.

7
00:00:11,580 --> 00:00:12,380
>> AMY: I'm Amy.

8
00:00:12,380 --> 00:00:15,590
I work on the web, and I
live here in Cambridge.

9
00:00:15,590 --> 00:00:18,024
>> JACK: I'm Jack and I'm
from Dublin, Ireland.

10
00:00:18,024 --> 00:00:19,190
I'm a junior in high school.

11
00:00:19,190 --> 00:00:21,840
>> DAVID MALAN: And what brings you here
today in particular from so far away?

12
00:00:21,840 --> 00:00:23,174
>> JACK: Eh, for a visit of Boston.

13
00:00:23,174 --> 00:00:23,840
DAVID MALAN: OK.

14
00:00:23,840 --> 00:00:27,030
AMY: How has CS50 evolved
as you've been teaching it?

15
00:00:27,030 --> 00:00:31,180
DAVID MALAN: It's definitely gotten
more dramatic over the years.

16
00:00:31,180 --> 00:00:34,110
We've been filming since 2007, so
you can literally go back in time

17
00:00:34,110 --> 00:00:37,680
and watch past years, first
lectures in particular.

18
00:00:37,680 --> 00:00:41,550
And I think the first lecture in
2007 is pretty much me coming out

19
00:00:41,550 --> 00:00:45,370
in front of the class
saying hello, this is CS50.

20
00:00:45,370 --> 00:00:47,730
And we dove into the day's material.

21
00:00:47,730 --> 00:00:49,640
>> All right, so welcome
to Computer Science

22
00:00:49,640 --> 00:00:51,950
50: Introduction to
Computer Science One.

23
00:00:51,950 --> 00:00:55,620
My name is David Malan, and I will
be your instructor this semester.

24
00:00:55,620 --> 00:00:56,940
>> Now there's music.

25
00:00:56,940 --> 00:00:58,270
The lights go down.

26
00:00:58,270 --> 00:00:59,730
We drop down a huge screen.

27
00:00:59,730 --> 00:01:02,145
There may or may not be
Muppets in a given year.

28
00:01:02,145 --> 00:01:07,725

29
00:01:07,725 --> 00:01:11,500
And it's funny, because this
has all happened very gradually

30
00:01:11,500 --> 00:01:13,670
over the years, just a
little bit more each year.

31
00:01:13,670 --> 00:01:16,330
But the delta now between the
first year and the last year

32
00:01:16,330 --> 00:01:20,540
is actually rather atrocious just how
different the first five minutes are.

33
00:01:20,540 --> 00:01:25,530
>> AMY: I'm curious, what do you see
as the differences between the edX

34
00:01:25,530 --> 00:01:28,349
version and the live course?

35
00:01:28,349 --> 00:01:30,390
DAVID MALAN: So curricularly
and technologically,

36
00:01:30,390 --> 00:01:35,670
CS50 on campus and CS50x off
campus are fundamentally the same.

37
00:01:35,670 --> 00:01:38,380
What does differ between the
two is the level of support

38
00:01:38,380 --> 00:01:40,460
that we're able to provide.

39
00:01:40,460 --> 00:01:44,590
Even though CS50 has a huge team of
some 100 teaching fellows, course

40
00:01:44,590 --> 00:01:47,620
assistants, myself, and
our production team,

41
00:01:47,620 --> 00:01:51,110
we can just barely keep up
with the 700 students on campus

42
00:01:51,110 --> 00:01:55,925
and the 150 extension school students
who are local or online themselves.

43
00:01:55,925 --> 00:01:59,690
>> And so for CS50x, we simply don't have
the support structure of office hours,

44
00:01:59,690 --> 00:02:01,887
for instance, four nights
a week for several hours.

45
00:02:01,887 --> 00:02:05,220
JACK: And what do you guys talk about in
office hours that will be different to,

46
00:02:05,220 --> 00:02:08,063
say, what you have on lectures,
or on sections, or in shorts?

47
00:02:08,063 --> 00:02:09,979
DAVID MALAN: On campus
office hours are really

48
00:02:09,979 --> 00:02:12,922
opportunities for
students to pose questions

49
00:02:12,922 --> 00:02:16,130
one on one with a member of the teaching
staff, or even a classmate of theirs

50
00:02:16,130 --> 00:02:20,390
nearby, and generally wrestle with bugs
that they're having in their codes.

51
00:02:20,390 --> 00:02:24,170
>> AMY: I think Reddit kind of gives
a reasonable facsimile of an office

52
00:02:24,170 --> 00:02:24,800
hours.

53
00:02:24,800 --> 00:02:25,740
>> DAVID MALAN: Agreed, agreed.

54
00:02:25,740 --> 00:02:29,031
I've been really impressed, though, with
the Reddit community and the newcomers

55
00:02:29,031 --> 00:02:32,520
to the group too and just how
eager and helpful people have been.

56
00:02:32,520 --> 00:02:35,740
And Reddit definitely lends itself
better, I think, to posting of code

57
00:02:35,740 --> 00:02:37,620
and having threaded discussions.

58
00:02:37,620 --> 00:02:39,440
>> JACK: And do you think
people should try,

59
00:02:39,440 --> 00:02:41,460
if they know they're
doing something wrong,

60
00:02:41,460 --> 00:02:44,640
or it's like they've implemented
it, like spent too much time on it,

61
00:02:44,640 --> 00:02:49,080
then they should stop and start again,
or look for help, or how should they--

62
00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:51,140
>> DAVID MALAN: Take a break minimally.

63
00:02:51,140 --> 00:02:55,530
Sometimes, especially for me at least
as your stress level starts to rise,

64
00:02:55,530 --> 00:02:58,810
you start hacking away and copying and
pasting, forgetting what you've already

65
00:02:58,810 --> 00:03:01,640
tried, it's just time to go
to sleep, or go take a jog,

66
00:03:01,640 --> 00:03:05,250
or go shower, and just
kind of get some distance.

67
00:03:05,250 --> 00:03:08,100
This has happened many,
many times to me where

68
00:03:08,100 --> 00:03:11,020
I'll be lying there in bed
even, or even driving to work

69
00:03:11,020 --> 00:03:13,320
or walking somewhere, kind
of debugging in my head.

70
00:03:13,320 --> 00:03:15,350
And knowing once you have that
distance and a lot less stress

71
00:03:15,350 --> 00:03:18,460
on your shoulders, I think can you
realize like, oh, you're an idiot.

72
00:03:18,460 --> 00:03:23,220
Like I had forgot to call this
function or initialize some variable.

73
00:03:23,220 --> 00:03:27,350
>> So as a little surprise, if you'd like
to take a look under your CS50 seat

74
00:03:27,350 --> 00:03:29,430
cushion, a little something awaits you.

75
00:03:29,430 --> 00:03:35,844

76
00:03:35,844 --> 00:03:36,760
Those were good looks.

77
00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:37,551
We get those looks?

78
00:03:37,551 --> 00:03:38,930
[LAUGHTER]

79
00:03:38,930 --> 00:03:40,587