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MIT Missing Semester 2026

(missing.csail.mit.edu)
91 points vismit2000 | 3 comments | 15 Dec 25 12:45 UTC | HN request time: 0.001s | source
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ternus ◴[15 Dec 25 15:27 UTC] No.46275715[source]▶
It's interesting to see that MIT is still like this. Canonically, there were no classes that taught programming per se: if you needed that, there were (often volunteer-taught) courses over IAP, the January Independent Activities Period, that would attempt to fill the gap - but you were still expected to pick it up on your own. I taught the Caffeinated Crash Course in C way back when. Good times.
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1. dnackoul ◴[15 Dec 25 16:41 UTC] No.46276804[source]▶
During my time there (late 2000s) there was a Software Lab (6.170) that focused on programming fundamentals and culminated in a four-person, month-or-so long project. At least at the time, it was one of the more notorious courses in terms of time investment. It was common for people to live like monks during project time.

Unfortunately I heard that class was retired and there was no direct replacement, which is a shame. It was an excellent crash course in shipping.

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2. ghaff ◴[15 Dec 25 16:59 UTC] No.46277064[source]▶
Project courses were pretty notorious. I had a few. 2.70 (which I think is a different number now) in mechanical engineering was a HUGE time sink. [For others: was a design challenge competition with a live context.] Did another all-terrain vehicle competition in grad school which was probably an even bigger time sink.
3. fsckboy ◴[16 Dec 25 03:31 UTC] No.46284446[source]▶
when i took 6.170 it was CLU. it was 15 units because of lab, but yeah, time sink.