In the past couple of weeks, I have tried to finish off one class and start four others on Coursera.org. I bet you can already see where this is going...and you would be right, just look at that "About Me" bit to the right -->.
I have been trying to finish off the second Virology course on top of starting the following:
Which would be okay if I already knew or had some experience with the associated programs. As I learned last year (2013) at SAMSI's Undergraduate Modeling Workshop on hurricane data, I am not as good as I would like to be at R Programming (I know what needs to be done, I just cannot often implement that in R). The current courses listed above are good but too much for an "old timer" like me at one time. On the plus side, Johns Hopkins is offering a specialization track on Data Science, which means that all of these courses will be repeating every three months for the next 9 months (including this month).
I can get through the first and the last on the list but the other courses are a bit difficult to get through what with stumbling around the new programs. Those new programs are: Python, Git, Github and RStudio. There is not too much difference between R and RStudio ... alright, there are a number of differences and nice things about RStudio but I still want my "Run" button, damn it! ...And Git! Git reminds me of Lotus 1, 2, 3 and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz command line game from 1985! Yeah, I am that old. I guess I should also point out that I am not really a programmer; I don't even do html! It is a lot to take in at one time and different ways of thinking about data & information...this is probably why I am drinking three to four mini pepsi's a day right now.
Frustration (usually with myself), limited time and desire to do all my hobbies (i.e. sewing, reading, cooking, baking, human languages (Russian, Korean, Latin, Cajun, etc), knitting, genealogy, finding a job *is that really a hobby?*, ...) does not make for a good learner. *sigh*
Decision: I shall try to keep up with the quizzes, videos and assignments for the Python programming and Toolbox courses but probably wait for the other classes to come around again, taking part in as much as I can.
Post Script:
Let's hear it for 5.25 floppys, when floppys were actually floppy!
....Ummh, that takes me back to the days of Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail!
I have been trying to finish off the second Virology course on top of starting the following:
- Programming for Everyone (University of Michigan)
- R Programming (Johns Hopkins)
- Getting and Cleaning Data (Johns Hopkins)
- The Data Scientist's Toolbox (Johns Hopkins)
Which would be okay if I already knew or had some experience with the associated programs. As I learned last year (2013) at SAMSI's Undergraduate Modeling Workshop on hurricane data, I am not as good as I would like to be at R Programming (I know what needs to be done, I just cannot often implement that in R). The current courses listed above are good but too much for an "old timer" like me at one time. On the plus side, Johns Hopkins is offering a specialization track on Data Science, which means that all of these courses will be repeating every three months for the next 9 months (including this month).
I can get through the first and the last on the list but the other courses are a bit difficult to get through what with stumbling around the new programs. Those new programs are: Python, Git, Github and RStudio. There is not too much difference between R and RStudio ... alright, there are a number of differences and nice things about RStudio but I still want my "Run" button, damn it! ...And Git! Git reminds me of Lotus 1, 2, 3 and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz command line game from 1985! Yeah, I am that old. I guess I should also point out that I am not really a programmer; I don't even do html! It is a lot to take in at one time and different ways of thinking about data & information...this is probably why I am drinking three to four mini pepsi's a day right now.
Frustration (usually with myself), limited time and desire to do all my hobbies (i.e. sewing, reading, cooking, baking, human languages (Russian, Korean, Latin, Cajun, etc), knitting, genealogy, finding a job *is that really a hobby?*, ...) does not make for a good learner. *sigh*
Decision: I shall try to keep up with the quizzes, videos and assignments for the Python programming and Toolbox courses but probably wait for the other classes to come around again, taking part in as much as I can.
Post Script:
Let's hear it for 5.25 floppys, when floppys were actually floppy!
 |
| http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/aa/Floppy_disk_2009_G1.jpg |
....Ummh, that takes me back to the days of Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego and Oregon Trail!
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