Learning Tools vs Learning the Craft

Mon, 14 Sep 2026 23:17:22 +0530

This is the second in a series of essays about my experience with the largest data science and programming MOOC in the world—the IIT Madras Degree Programme in Data Science and Applications. The first essay was about learning and practicing programming, and can be read here.

Four years ago, as a part of the data science diploma, I took the Machine Learning Practice course. It had two OPPEs—online proctored programming exams—worth nearly half of the course grade. We were given a list of questions, most of which were numericals, i.e. you needed to type in a number in the answer field. There was a link to a dataset, and a Google colab notebook. While the score depended almost entirely on the answer, the notebook, too, needed to be submitted as a buffer.

A Process for Readable Code

Fri, 17 Jun 2022 05:00:00 +0530

I took a course on data structures and algorithms over the last few months. It is being offered as a part of IIT Madras’ Online Degree Program in Data Science and Programming, taught by Prof Madhavan Mukund. The program is a MOOC in a true sense, with tens of thousands of students enrolling each year. The DSA course itself is offered every trimester, and sees an average of ~700 enrollments every time. It is easy to see how communication becomes critical in running a MOOC at this scale. There is, of course, the operational and logistical communication that goes into the smooth running of the course. But communicating the content of the course is more relevant (the course is also highly interactive - in addition to weekly office hours, there are Discourse forums where students, TAs and faculty are active).

Mooc on Jaidev's Blog

Learning Tools vs Learning the Craft

A Process for Readable Code