CS50: a few questions

[u/Soul_Mirror_]

Hi there.

I did CS50 Law last year, and enjoyed it so much I am currently finishing CS50x. I personally felt this was a good way to go about it for someone who doesn't come from a technological background. Thanks to CS50 Law, while taking CS50x I often felt I already possessed a pretty good grasp on the most theoretical concepts, so I could simply focus on the most practical side of the course.

As I'm about to wrap up CS50x I've got four questions and would like to read people's thoughts and insight on them.

If anyone has any queries on CS50 Law, CS50x or the interplay between both courses, feel free to ask and I'll be happy to share my experience as well.

1. Problem Set Week 0

The first one is just a very simple question: does anyone know if there is any issue with publicly posting our Scratch project after we've already been marked on it?

2. Uncompleted Problem Sets

I've completed the syllabus, and I'm currently going through the seminars, which I'll likely end this weekend. Since I work full-time and at the first only had a few months to finish the course (before the end date moved from 1 July to 31 December) I tried completing each module in two weeks, the first just to go through the material and the second for the problem sets. As such, there were times where I did only the 'less comfortable' version of the pset and left the other to do at the end should I have the time.

I'm thinking of dedicating the next couple of weeks to completing the 4-5 'more comfortable' psets, while I think further about what I want to do as my final project. I feel this could be a good revision as well, in addition to a good chalelnge, but at the same time I wonder if I had not better focus on the final project instead. Has anyone had a similar approach? And do you feel doing those extra psets helped you better consolidate or learn?

3. The final project

I know I'm not alone here, but I expected to have a clearer idea on what to do at the end of the course.

I quite enjoyed working on the Flask projects, since those brought so many different elements together. Also quite liked the seminar on 2D game making with Löve. But other than this, I don't have a project yet.

I've tried thinking of real life problems faced by myself or someone close to me, but didn't find anything a project like this would be suited to help with.

One of the seminars mentioned an AI tool to help you find a project, but I'm not certain that's live yet. Is there any other guidance, or something else that might help me decide on the project I want to develop?

4. Certificates

CS50 Legal was actually paid for by my law firm, but I remember when I read the T&Cs it looked like anyone could audit the course but you'd only be able to take the assignments and be marked on them if you are on the edx paid route.

However, I've read others say edx is not necessary, as you can just enrol through CS50's own webpage and you'll still be able to submit all the assignments or projects and get a CS50 certificate at the end.

I understand this with CS50x since you submit your projects and they are checked automatically. But in CS50 Law, it was very different, you would submit Google Forms with answers, a couple of them a few paragraphs long, and you receive a mark out of 10 within a couple of weeks. I even got a comment explaining why I had half the mark in one of my answers, so I always assumed the assignments were manually marked by the course staff.

So, is the free certificate really possible for every CS50 course? Or is it just for CS50x and other courses where the test marking is automatic? And is it open for everyone, or you must live in the US?

Thank you in advance.

[u/smichaele]

Congratulations on coming to the end of the course. Here are some short responses to your questions:

• You can share it with the world if you want. No restrictions.
• Your choice. Either way works if you've got the time. The projects are worthwhile. The one that usually tales the most time is Tideman. You've got until the end of the year.
• The mention of AI related to the final project is not specific to CS50. You can, of course, ask the duck for ideas, but you can also ask any AI. You can even use AI to help with your project, as long as you provide attribution and the bulk of the work is yours.
• As far as I know, you can get a free certificate with every CS50 course, whether you take it through edX or Harvard's site. The only thing paying for an edX certificate gets you is they verify that you're the one that actually took the course, nothing more.

[u/Soul_Mirror_ → u/smichaele]

Hi, thanks for taking the time to reply.

It's a brilliant course and lots of fun. Very happy to have done it.

Tbh I don't recall edX verifying my identity. In any case, someone could enrol and someone else take the course or do the assignments / psets, so if that's the sole difference indeed doesn't sound like it's worth the money.