(Part 2) Top products from r/berkeley

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We found 23 product mentions on r/berkeley. We ranked the 67 resulting products by number of redditors who mentioned them. Here are the products ranked 21-40. You can also go back to the previous section.

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Top comments that mention products on r/berkeley:

u/holdie · 4 pointsr/berkeley

Check out this book before you apply/commit to a program. I know it's not that helpful for someone to throw a book at you when you asked a question, but I think it's pretty useful for someone considering entering a PhD program.

One other quick piece of advice I'd give is to forego choosing a lab that does the sexiest research in lieu of a lab that

A. Is a fun place to be with good people around you
B. Has a PI that cares about what is best for YOU first and foremost, even if it is different from a traditional academic career.
C. Has projects that involve day-to-day activities that you'd actually enjoy doing (working on nobel-winning work that's really boring and monotonous is still boring and monotonous)
D. Has stability in funding for the entirety of your PhD

u/deathofthevirgin · 30 pointsr/berkeley

This is the most famous Hindu epic, every Indian child knows it and most of the (PG parts, anyway) story. Very exciting story.

One of the core ideas, to me, is that everyone, including the most supreme gods, have their fatal flaws and personality weaknesses, and even the evilest demons have their good sides. Another one is that often in life there is no clear moral choice, and making the right choice seems impossible, even to a god, which brings up the question of what it means to be a moral person at all.

Featuring:

  • a jealous queen that gets the king-to-be, Rama, exiled from his city (turns out: Rama is the incarnation of one of the 3 supreme gods Vishnu), so her own son would be crowned king

  • a demon disgusing himself as a deer in an incredibly clever plot to kidnap Sita, Rama's wife

  • the demon Ravana taking Sita to his island kingdom fortress of Lanka (Sri Lanka)

  • how does Rama cross? He gets his army of monkeys to build a bridge of stones all the way from India to Lanka

  • an incredible and lengthy battle between Rama and Ravana, including Ravana's brother Kumbakarna, who only wakes up every 3 months and then eats everything in sight, and Hanuman, a monkey god (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanuman), lifting an entire mountain on his back all the way to the battleground because he couldn't find the herb he needed

  • Rama crowned king but the people of his city think his wife is impure (since Ravana kidnapped her), so by public opinion Rama is forced to exile his own wife. (being a good governor vs being a good person question here, Rama knew Sita was pure)

    Leaving out a ton of exciting details. Any translation should be fine [although Goldman's one is sure to be interesting!] (https://www.amazon.com/Ramayana-Shortened-Version-Penguin-Classics/dp/0143039679), but I do like illustrated versions (https://www.amazon.com/Illustrated-Ramayana-Children-India-Epic/dp/8184682425) as well.

    If you're looking for a story with more philosophical questions about good vs. evil, morality, and justice, check out the Mahabharata, an even more epic tale. At one point the "good guys" gamble away their wife during a dice game. This is where the famous Bhagvad Gita comes from, which is where Krishna and Arjuna talk about the justness of war.
u/old_TA · 6 pointsr/berkeley

Former 61C ugrad TA here. 61C is broken into 6 main ideas, which you can find on the last slide of the first lecture: http://www-inst.eecs.berkeley.edu/~cs61c/sp13/lec/01/2013Sp-CS61C-L01-dg-intro.pdf

From personal experience, 61C seems to be more difficult for most people than 61A or 61B. On the other hand, if you've been struggling with 61A or 61B, then 61C provides a much more level playing field - the material is new for pretty much everyone, so someone who's been programming since the beginning of high school doesn't have as much of an advantage as they do in the earlier classes.

Also I realize that the advice I'm about to give is devalued since I'm a former staff member, but if you want any type of A, READ THE BOOK CAREFULLY (the book I'm referencing is http://www.amazon.com/Computer-Organization-Design-Fourth-Edition/dp/0123747503/ref=dp_ob_title_bk). There are tons of subtleties in the material that we simply don't have enough time to cover in lecture/discussion/lab but are essential to doing well on projects/exams. The book is meaty, but probably the best book in the world for this material.

Feel free to respond to this if you have more questions.

u/comsciftw · 9 pointsr/berkeley

Hopefully you started freshman year, there is only really 6 semesters and 2 summers on your transcript for high school.

Might be overkill, but I had 2200+ SAT, comparable ACT, 3.8/4.2 GPA, dozen+ APs, lots of good extracurriculars (STEM and others), sports, summer jobs, etc. I would say the biggest thing I lacked was independent projects (not just programming) showcasing my interest, but everything worked out I guess.

I would say this: try to max out your schedule in terms of difficulty (for what you're allowed/meant to take), join relevant clubs and try to get notable achievements in them in what time you have, and perhaps do some CS stuff that you can showcase on your own (app to track sleeping habits, voting website for school elections, etc etc).

If you're looking for reading material, try this, I enjoyed it quite a bit when I read it in high school.

u/artoonie · 1 pointr/berkeley

I've found that just making a lot of people drinks constantly is really good practice.

Of course, a classroom setting is nice, but if you want a way to learn with less overhead, just keep asking your housemates if they want a drink.

Whenever you encounter something weird (eg why does a Washington Apple taste like ass with Maker's Mark but delicious with Crown Royal?) you can read up on it online.

Also, highly recommend this book: http://www.amazon.com/The-Ultimate-Bar-Book-Comprehensive/dp/0811843513/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1346205273&sr=8-2&keywords=bartending

Again, this isn't meant as a suggestion to replace classes, but rather, if you aren't able to find the time or money or tenacity to go to bartending classes.

u/ignoculture · 3 pointsr/berkeley

HW 1&2 are probably logic, proof methods and induction. These are very basic stuff that should always be the same. Course might have changed in advanced material. For example, when I took CS70, we saw Graph Theory, Countability, some Computability and a little Measure; but these are not necessarily thought every semester. Also, probability part (as far as I understand) change pretty profoundly (it is the very last part of the course).

When I took CS70 I went over this textbook: https://www.amazon.com/Discrete-Mathematics-Applications-Kenneth-Rosen/dp/0072899050 but I must say the course was significantly harder than this textbook; and homeworks and class notes were much more beneficial than this book.

u/masterkuch · 1 pointr/berkeley

Thank you for putting in the time to look up these courses. If you don't mind, can you please tell me how taking this modern control sequence compares to just reading the textbook linked below? I am asking strictly in terms of content/knowledge to be gained (as being mentored is always preferable to reading the textbook alone).

https://www.amazon.com/Modern-Control-Engineering-Katsuhiko-Ogata/dp/0136156738

Background in you are curious:

I am preparing to take this course at Waterloo - http://compneuro.uwaterloo.ca/courses/syde-750/syde-556-course-outline.html - which mentions control theory in its description.

u/MedPhysPHD · 2 pointsr/berkeley

This is the best damn self study book I have ever seen on the subject and think it does better than the latter half of Math 53 in setting up many of the key concepts.

It is short, to the point, and from the outset makes the connections to EM abundantly clear. It is not difficult to find copies of that text online.

u/thechihuahua · 25 pointsr/berkeley

I recommend reading this advice by Babak on getting better at solving problems in CS 70, I think it's still applicable here. You can always get better at solving these types of problems with practice; you just need to do the right kind of practice.


You ask an excellent question. There are books written about this matter. You won't have time to read any of them now, before the midterm. But I'll give you a reference, so you (and everyone else reading this message) can give it a good read, or its audio book a good listen as soon as you get a chance. The book is called

Peak: Secrets from the New Science of Expertise
by Anders Ericsson and Robert Poole
https://www.amazon.com/Peak-Secrets-New-Science-Expertise/dp/0544456238/

It's the kind of book I wish someone had written, and someone else had introduced to me, when I was your age, or even younger. I've given a hard copy to my eight-year-old daughter and I've been nudging her to read it. She's intrigued by what she hears in the car when I play portions of the audio book for her.

At the core is what the authors describe as "deliberate practice," or purposeful practice. This is in contrast to mindless practice, which is to repeat the same thing over and over, expecting to improve (like a person who keeps swinging the tennis racket or playing the violin the same way 1000 times, without a deliberate focus on how to improve). Mindless practice doesn't work.

As you read Ericsson's book, you'll also begin to unlearn much of what you may have heard about the 10,000 hour rule, which Malcolm Gladwell promoted. Ericsson wrote his book in part to dispel some of the misunderstandings that Gladwell's popular book (I believe Outliers) caused.

In the case of studying, you have to not only tackle each problem with an eye toward what it is that the problem is trying to get at, but also do post-mortem analysis. After you solve a problem (or solve it partially, or fail to solve it, or solve it incorrectly), you should review what you did right, what you did wrong, what you could have done more efficiently, how many different angles from which you could've looked at the problem, and what different types of tools you could've tapped into as you attacked the problem.

When I chat with my advisees or students, I recommend that they keep a log, as in a notebook or an electronic equivalent. Each page of the log consists of three columns. The first column you can name "Concept(s)"; the second column "Address(es)"; and the third column "Technique(s)." When you look at a problem, say on a previous midterm, ask yourself, "What is the concept or set of concepts that this problem is covering?"

Sometimes the answer is fully apparent from the surface of the problem. Sometimes it's only partially apparent from a cursory read, and you must read more carefully or think more deeply before you gain access to the treasure inside. And sometimes there's deliberate or unavoidable camouflage that hides the inner core of the problem. With deliberate practice, you get better at dealing with the third kind of problem---by cutting through the clutter or the veil and glimpsing inside.

You can list the identified concepts in Column 1. In Column 2 you write the address of the problem---for example, MT2.3(a)-F18, which might stand for Midterm 2, Problem 3, Part (a) in Fall 2018. In Column 3 you write down the various techniques you can use to tackle the problem. You'll encounter a richer set of tools if you work in a group. I recommend that you get together with study buddies to go over old exams. Each member of your group is bound to see each problem from a unique angle, in a way that the others may have missed. This way you accumulate an arsenal of tools in your toolbox. Interacting with peers, even when you're the one doing the explaining, sharpens your own understanding. The goal is that after some time, you gain proficiency and can dip your hands in your toolbox blindfolded, take the appropriate set of tools, and chisel away at the problem like an expert.

Adapting the words of one of my favorite mathematical writers, G. W. (Pete) Stewart, at the University of Maryland, I'll say that solving problems "is like cutting diamonds. Tap a problem in just the right way, and it decomposes into one or two informative expressions. Smash it with a hammer and it shatters into ugly, uninterpretable pieces." The aim of deliberate practice is to cultivate the craft of problem solving with the dexterity of a diamond sculptor.

Do the practice I suggested for every problem that you encounter---whether in lecture, in discussion, during random conversations about the course with the TAs or with fellow students ... wherever a relevant problem appears before you.

Then, as an exam nears, you have in your possession a full list of concepts that you've come across in the prior weeks. By then you have a good sense of what you're comfortable with and what you're shaky on. Go attack those concepts that you're shaky on.

In front of each concept you'll have at least one (hopefully many more than one) address, telling you where you need to go to strengthen your understanding of that concept or set of concepts. And try to tackle the problem without looking at Column 3. Look at Column 3 only after you've exerted your fair share for that problem (never keep banging your head against the wall on any problem ... this should not be an issue if you work in a group).

The other important aspect of deliberate practice, as Ericsson discusses, is the necessity of feedback. You can get that feedback from the staff, but given the student/TA ratio we have it's not going to be anywhere near enough. Here enter your study buddies or other fellow students, who can given you feedback on what you did right, what you did wrong, and how you can tackle the problem more efficiently.

Yes, all this takes effort. But it's not mindless effort. It's a focused, methodical effort with a vigilant eye toward what you need to do to improve.

It's the valuable interaction with peers that a student misses when they skip lecture I'll issue a separate tome about that in the coming days. Right now, I have to make some exam problems for you! :)

I hope this helped.

Cheers,

Babak.

Hope this helps! Please don't give up; I believe that I actually had the biggest delta in knowledge and grew as problem solver the most in the last third of 61A, which you're in now.

u/Mallnourished · 1 pointr/berkeley

I know. I already took ochem anyway. I just wanted another HGS kit to combine with my existing one so I can build large complex molecules. I'm nerdy like that.

u/adrianmendez16 · 12 pointsr/berkeley

This reminds me of the book "How to Lie with Statistics"
http://www.amazon.com/How-Lie-Statistics-Darrell-Huff/dp/0393310728/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1404410530&sr=8-1&keywords=how+to+lie+with+statistics

Manipulating stats is quite easy, but how many people are really going to investigate how they collected those stats.

u/Andyklah · 1 pointr/berkeley

I'm not a U.C. Berkeley student yet, I just live in Berkeley. It is a first year book.

Here's a pic

u/[deleted] · 1 pointr/berkeley

If you didn't already know something about particle physics, you probably won't have learned anything from this talk. This will give you some idea on what it's about, but you really can't understand it without math.

u/the_blitzkrieg_bop · 3 pointsr/berkeley

There "Freedom's Orator: Mario Savio and the Radical Legacy of the 1960s". They gave it out to all the freshmen my year but I never read it.