Stanford Computer Scientist Answers Coding Questions From Twitter | Tech Support | WIRED

Chris Piech, professor of computer science at Stanford University, answers the internet's burning questions about coding. Do you need to know math to be good at coding? How many computer languages are there? Are programming and coding the same thing? How do you code A.I.? What is the meaning of the "404" error? Chris answers all these questions and much more!


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[potatoradio]

As a software engineer, I always find it difficult to answer such basic questions to people that are not in the field. This guy answers the questions so perfectly.

[acravanevekzor]

I was a student and TA for Chris at Stanford. He taught a stats class for computer scientists and made it a lot of fun despite the difficult material. He cares deeply about his students. One of my favorite professors!

[mud]

“I love this question!”
*proceeds to enthusiastically answer question*

this guy is such a great teacher hes honestly got me thinking about some self studying on coding. He makes it seem so wonderful

[Pierreskiii]

How do you guys find these people, they’re always the perfect teacher

[Omar-wqdz]

If all schools had teachers like the experts Wired finds, things would be much better

[NeverSeenTheFilm]

This guy is so positive I actually got a little misty-eyed. Even when he's talking about stuff other than coding, like the other aspects of web design, he's just so encouraging.

[wholightsuptheworld]

i love how his teaches. his way of explaining, gestures and all, i get why hes a lecturer

[allennaliath]

I'm taking his class right now, and he is EXACTLY like this in class. Amazing professor, one of the best!

[almxs]

I dunno why, but everytime I see someone teaching what they love with so much enthusiasm I just shed a few drops of tear.

[perropequeno]

What a fantastic teacher! I'm watching this whilst coding myself and I gotta say, It's crazy how upbeat and happy this guy is.

[Marcalitus]

Meanwhile 6 years ago my first python instructor at my college was like "how do you guys not know python" scolded us for 6 months and then the same thing happened in our Java courses where they had too many high expectations. We need more humans like this within the world and education sector that are just not 60+ year olds that expect you to know everything they know.

[margodphd]

I love this guy, his whole way of being is really warm. Like a kind hug.

[JosephVM]

I could see why he would be a great teacher. His excitement when reading questions and enthusiasm in answering them shows his personality.

[joe_kelley]

Ten plus years ago, I was a TA (technically they called us section leaders) for Stanford's intro CS class and Chris was the head TA. Even back then and even when he was only talking to us TAs, he had this exact same genuine enthusiasm. When I heard he had become a professor, I knew he was perfect for it. And when this video popped up in my feed, I knew he would be perfect for it too!

My most memorable experience with him was the time we were set to proctor a final exam and the professor no-showed; we had no exams. Chris was running around campus (literally) looking for him. Turns out the prof thought the exam was on a different day and hadn't even finished writing it. Chris had to explain what was going on to a room full of hundreds of stressed students. I think they ended up making the partial exam optional. It was a stressful morning but he handled it well!

[brklynT]

this guy is such a great teacher, he's got me interested in learning how to code in about 5 mins. He's a professor a standford for a reason

[agntdrake]

The first '4' in 404 (and all 4xx errors) means the problem happened on the requesting (frontend) side, whereas a 5xx error means the problem happened on the backend.

[thehellsage]

I absolutely love this professor's energy. I would NEVER miss a class of his.

[orbitalfox]

I bet his classes are amazing! He explains things so easily, and is friendly about it too. It not just him reading it out of a book and reciting what it says. Way to go Chris!

[armc]

I literally still don't understand how the internet works at all, but as usual, WIRED has gotten a charismatic and approachable expert on board and I got sucked in. Love this series!

[carykh]

OH MY GOSH IT'S CHRIS PIECH! I had dinner with him once in 2016 and he was so lovely to talk to. He's actually the one who introduced me to AI by drawing a neural network diagram on a napkin, before then I didn't know what they were!