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Originally Posted by DeltaLover
Developing software and handicapping horses are two completely distinct things!
If you really want to learn how to program, my advice to you will be to not try to immediately apply it to handicapping and forget about getting any immediate benefit from it.
Programming is an extremely sophisticated craft, which requires years of dedicated study and professional exposure to be mastered. If you do not have the dedication, time and money to spend and (some) talent, my advice to you will be to just stay clear. If you really are serious about it, your best bet might be to attend college getting a CS degree (of course programming and CS are not exactly the same but it still is as close they get).. Hint: If you find the MIT course I posted above, difficult to follow, you probably need to forget about it and try something different...
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Programming is nothing more than creating a set of instructions for a machine to execute. It is--in its essence--no more complex, and no more difficult, than creating any other set of instructions.
The MIT course posted is not overly complex--just boring, ponderous, pompous, and dull. Anyone who believes that watching someone repeat some jingoist phrase--then write it on a blackboard and stand silently and patiently as if waiting for applause--is education needs to get out in the real world more.
Of course, that is just my own personal opinion. I have no patience whatsoever for dry, boring lectures that contain little or no real instruction. I will take a Malan or Sahami or Zelenski any day in preference to those who seem to be saying, "I suffered and bled for my little dripple of knowledge, and I want to be sure you suffer and bleed a sufficient amount as well." That isn't teaching. That is self-aggrandizement.
Watch the 11th lecture in the series:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkPsD58nUIE
It is a real gem.
