MIT OpenCourseWare: the videos Hacker News recommends
Not the channel's most viewed videos: the ones HN commenters kept linking with real commentary. The top pick, "How to Speak", hN treats it as the canonical, near-universally recommended lecture on giving talks and presentations.
- lecture recommended in 16 different months by 17 HN users, 2020–2025HN treats it as the canonical, near-universally recommended lecture on giving talks and presentations.
- lecture recommended in 12 different months by 11 HN users, 2011–2020It is HN's default recommendation for learning linear algebra, praised for Strang's teaching and for building real understanding useful in machine learning.
- lecture recommended in 10 different months by 10 HN users, 2019–2026HN people recommend the SICP lectures as a deeper, livelier route into the book and a formative course even for seasoned programmers.
- lecture recommended in 9 different months by 11 HN users, 2012–2024Seen as a classic and often the moment programming 'clicks'; commenters praise Abelson's opening that computer science is not about computers.
- lecture recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2017–2025HN recommends Herb Gross as an unusually clear teacher whose explanations make calculus click for people who struggled elsewhere.
- course recommended in 4 different months by 5 HN users, 2020–2023Recommended as a free, first-principles finance course for software engineers wanting to learn business and finance.
- lecture recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2016–2021Recommended as a clear introduction to dynamic programming from a well-regarded instructor.
- course recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2010–2012HN commenters recommend it as a simple, direct entry point for beginners who want to learn computer science, not just programming.
- lecture recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2018–2022HN recommends it as a clear, high-quality introduction to succinct data structures from a leading authority.
- lecture recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2021–2025HN recommends Sipser's free lectures as the companion to the standard theory of computation textbook and a path to understanding how computers fundamentally work.
- lecture recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2021–2025Recommended as the detailed technical account of exactly what happened at Chernobyl.
- lecture recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2017–2018HN users recommend it as a good discrete math course for programmers, praising Leighton's relatable stories that motivate new concepts.
- lecture recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2021–2022Recommended as a fascinating insider account of how the F-22's software makes it easier to fly than a Cessna.
- lecture recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2021–2022Recommended as a solid, level-headed academic introduction to blockchain, often noted because Gensler later led the SEC.
- lecture recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2020–2023HN holds the SICP lectures up as joyful classics, and this lecture as the moment the evaluator is revealed.
- lecture recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2015–2017HN commenters hold it up as an unmatched introduction to programming and quote Sussman's line that knowing a spirit's name gives you power over it.
- lecture cited on HN 3 times, 2013–2019HN commenters cite it as the classic explanation of eval and the meta-circular evaluator.
Questions
Which MIT OpenCourseWare video does Hacker News recommend most?
How to Speak: recommended in 16 different months by 17 HN users between 2020 and 2025.
Is this every MIT OpenCourseWare video?
No. Only videos that at least three different HN users linked, in at least three different months, with at least a sentence of their own commentary. That filter is what makes the list useful.