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The Missing Semester of Your CS Education (MIT, 2020)

By Missing Semester

Course audio
Course audio: English
Level
Intermediate
Length
11 lessons · 10.2 hours

What you'll be able to do

  • Use the shell and write shell scripts
  • Process text and data with command-line tools and regular expressions
  • Understand Git's data model and use it confidently
  • Debug and profile programs and work on remote machines over SSH

About this course

MIT's 'Missing Semester' lectures from IAP 2020, 11 sessions and about 10 hours, teaching the practical tools that university courses rarely cover. It starts with the shell, then shell tools and scripting, the Vim editor, data wrangling with command-line tools and regular expressions, and the command-line environment (job control, terminal multiplexers, dotfiles, remote machines over SSH). Later lectures cover version control with Git explained from its data model, debugging and profiling, metaprogramming such as build systems, dependencies and continuous integration, security and cryptography basics, a potpourri of extra tools, and a final Q&A. It suits BS students and self-taught programmers who want to work faster on Linux and in real software teams.

Before you start: Some programming experience and access to a Linux or macOS terminal.

Syllabus

11 lessons · 10:13:46 in total

  1. 1Lecture 1: Course Overview + The Shell (2020)48:17
  2. 2Lecture 2: Shell Tools and Scripting (2020)48:56
  3. 3Lecture 3: Editors (Vim) (2020)48:27
  4. 4Lecture 4: Data Wrangling (2020)50:04
  5. 5Lecture 5: Command-line Environment (2020)56:07
  6. 6Lecture 6: Version Control (git) (2020)1:25:00
  7. 7Lecture 7: Debugging and Profiling (2020)54:14
  8. 8Lecture 8: Metaprogramming (2020)49:53
  9. 9Lecture 9: Security and Cryptography (2020)1:01:00
  10. 10Lecture 10: Potpourri (2020)57:55
  11. 11Lecture 11: Q&A (2020)53:53

What to take next

Videos by Missing Semester, played from their official YouTube channel. Subscribe on YouTube

Official upload by the teacher or institution on their own channel, shown with YouTube's embedded player.

Lessons listed from the official YouTube playlist. Full playlist on YouTube

Lessons last checked Oct 2026. Course summary and lesson structure by Sabaq.

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