Category: learning

calmcode.io > video tutorials for open source tools

calmcode.io is an e-learning platform that I really really really recommend to programmers and data scientists:

It is free.

It involves open source tools.

It uses bite-sized tutorial videos.

It explains tools clearly.

It explains everything calmly.

There’s tons of content about computer programming, data science, and personal productivity.

On top of this all, it’s by Vincent Warmerdam, and everything he touches seems to turn to gold.

Check it out here: https://calmcode.io/

You can subscribe to their newsletter here, to receive new content fresh from the presses, straight in your inbox!

There are just so many tutorials on so many different topics! Here are some quick glances at some topics and tools:

Computerphile on Cyber Security

Computerphile is a Youtube sister channel of Numberphile. Where Numberphile’s videos are about the magic behind match and numbers, Computerphile’s videos are all about computers and computer stuff. I recommend both channels in general, and have watched many of their videos already.

Yet, over the past weeks I specifically enjoyed what seems to be several series of videos on Cyber Security related topics.

What makes a good password?

One series is all about passwords.

What are strong passwords, which are bad? How can hackers crack yours? And how do websites secure user passwords?

The videos below are in somewhat of the right order and they make for an interesting insight in the world of password management. They give you advice on how to pick you password, and even a nice tool to check whether your password has ever been leaked.

Probably, you will want to change your password afterwards!

Hacking and attacking

If you are up to no good, please do not watch this second series, which revolves all around hacks and computer attacks.

How do people get access to a websites database? How can we prevent it? How can we recognize security dangers?

You might know of SQL injections, but do you know what a slow loris attack is? Or how ransomware works? Or what exploitX is?

These videos nicely continue the line of a previous post on Try Hack Me’s Cyber Security Challenges, where you can learn how computers work and where there vulnerabilities lie.

Try Hack Me – Cyber Security Challenges

Sometimes I just stumble across these random resources that I immediately want to share with fellow geeks. If you like computers and programming, you should definitely have a look at…

https://tryhackme.com

TryHackMe started in 2018 by two cyber security enthusiasts, Ashu Savani and Ben Spring, who met at a summer internship. When getting started with in the field, they found learning security to be a fragmented, inaccessable and difficult experience; often being given a vulnerable machine’s IP with no additional resources is not the most efficient way to learn, especially when you don’t have any prior knowledge. When Ben returned back to University he created a way to deploy machines and sent it to Ashu, who suggested uploading all the notes they’d made over the summer onto a centralised platform for others to learn, for free.
To allow users to share their knowledge, TryHackMe allows other users (at no charge) to create a virtual room, which contains a combination of theoretical and practical learning components.. In early 2019, Jon Peters started creating rooms and suggested the platform build up a community, a task he took on and succeeded in.
The platform has never raised any capital and is entirely bootstrapped.
https://tryhackme.com/about

I don’t have any affiliation or whatever with the platform, but I just think it’s a super cool resource if you want to learn more about hands-on computer stuff.

Here’s a nice demo on an advanced programmer taking on one of the first challenges. I definitely still have a long way to go, but it’s fun to watch someone sneak into a (dummy) server and look for clues! Like a proper detective, but then an extra nerdy one!

There are many “hacktivities” you can try on the platform.

And if you’re serious about learning this stuff, there are learning paths set out for you!

If you like their content, do consider taking a paid subscription and share this great initiative!

Become a Data Science Professional

Amit Ness gathered an impressive list of learning resources for becoming a data scientist.

It’s great to see that he shares them publicly on his github so that others may follow along.

But beware, this learning guideline covers a multi-year process.

Amit’s personal motto seems to be “Becoming better at data science every day“.

Completing the hyperlinked list below will take you several hundreds days at the least!

Learning Philosophy:

Index

Bayesian Statistics using R, Python, and Stan

For a year now, this course on Bayesian statistics has been on my to-do list. So without further ado, I decided to share it with you already.

Richard McElreath is an evolutionary ecologist who is famous in the stats community for his work on Bayesian statistics.

At the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Richard teaches Bayesian statistics, and he was kind enough to put his whole course on Statistical Rethinking: Bayesian statistics using R & Stan open access online.

You can find the video lectures here on Youtube, and the slides are linked to here:

Richard also wrote a book that accompanies this course:

For more information abou the book, click here.

For the Python version of the code examples, click here.

Google’s Responsible AI Practices

As a company that uses a lot of automation, optimization, and machine learning in their day-to-day business, Google is set on developing AI in a socially responsible way.

Fortunately for us, Google decided to share their principles and best practices for us to read.