HackerTubewatch
Surprise me
Frame from Lecture 1 | Programming Methodology (Stanford) Plays via YouTube's privacy-enhanced embed

Lecture 1 | Programming Methodology (Stanford)

23 videos recommended on HN
YouTube
2 HN users recommended this lecture2 months2009–2026 score 2
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026

HN suggests it as a free lecture for beginners that eases them into writing readable, reusable code.

First lecture of Stanford's CS106A Programming Methodology by Mehran Sahami, giving a course overview and starting on programming. The course teaches software engineering principles using Java.

“the lecturer eases you into the most important concepts with an understanding of how to engineer readable, reusable code” (HN, 2009)

2 recommendations · 1 citations · Lectures · intro · partly dated

3 Hacker News comments

From the HN archive; up to 20 kept per video, favoring different commenters. Recommendations first.

@jamesk2 Jun 2009 Recommends
on HN thread Ask HN: Where to begin programming?
Python is fantastic but Learning Python might be a bit steep for someone who's not familiar with programming at all. Strangely, I think this youtube lecture series from Stanford is fantastic. [this video] It's java but the lecturer eases you into the most important concepts with an understanding of how to engineer readable, reusable code. So watch it free. Then buy Learning Python. If there is an equivalent python learning video on youtube, I haven't found it.
Free Stanford lecture easing beginners into readable, reusable code design
@TZubiri Jan 2026 Recommends
on HN thread MIT's Computer Systems Security (2024)
Yeah, there were 2 golden ages: 1- When this internet thing came out 2- When this covid thing came out On the first era, here's a Java lecture from Stanford, if it's too basic for you, it still has historical value, iirc it's something like Java 6. And it also reinforces the basics. [this video] It's a bit harder to follow along with online materials since you have to use the Internet Archive, and download older compilers or use options to target older versions, but it's all the more fun for it.
Old Java lecture with historical value and solid basics

Citations, criticism and jokes

@world32 Jun 2019 Cites it
on HN thread Ask HN: How to deal with impostor syndrome when you don't have tech degree?
Read more
Ok I see what you're saying. But if you have learned something through practice, can't you validate it by researching / googling it? See what people are saying on stackoverflow, in blog posts, in books etc.? Also many university film and publish their lectures on youtube, i.e. Stanford Software Engineering course: [this video] > But after years of good performance reviews, successful projects, and promotions, I started to finally allow myself to believe that I knew what I was doing. Back to your original post, this kind of learning is FAR more valuable than anything you will learn in university. You have learned through practice and experience. I have probably interviewed at at ~20 different companies in the last 6 years and never once have I been asked a single question about my university degree, literally never. Nobody cares about them. They know that its the experience that counts, not the degree (though I'm not saying degrees are worthless either). In my experience I would say around 40% of the software developers I have worked with either do not have a degree at all or have a degree in a completed unrelated subject (i.e. Philosophy). The idea that one developer would discount another developer's idea because he doesn't have a degree in computer science is actually laughable. Though I'm only saying all of that in order to tell you that a degree is not the answer to your imposter syndrome. The answer is to educate yourself, read books, experiment with different technologies an
Example of university lectures available free on YouTube

Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Search
j k
Next / previous video
r
Surprise me
l
Like (video page)
w
Watch later (video page)
?
This help
Esc
Close