Talks to Watch

Lecture 1: Introduction to Information Theory

412K views · Apr 26, 2014 · 1:01:51 · 3 HN recommenders · 6 mentions · discussed 2018–2024

The first lecture of David MacKay's Cambridge course on information theory, pattern recognition and neural networks. It introduces the core ideas of his book Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms.

Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended as an enjoyable, clear introduction to information theory that pairs well with MacKay's free textbook.

“It was very enjoyable for me to learn the material from his lectures.”HN comment, 2020

What Hacker News said 6

Recommendsswframe2Feb 2018

“I recommend David MacKay's Intro to Info Theory class”

David MacKay's introductory information theory course.

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I recommend David MacKay's Intro to Info Theory class: this video There is a free book for it at: link Daphne Koller's 3 coursara classes on Probabilistic Graphical Models are also really good.

in “Probabilistic Programming and Bayesian Methods for Hackers (2013)” · view on HN
RecommendsmaxovJun 2020

“It was very enjoyable for me to learn the material from his lectures.”

Enjoyable lectures that supplement MacKay's textbook.

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Had . Unfortunately Professor MacKay passed away from cancer in 2016. We lost a great soul. I concur that his textbook and sense of humor were fantastic. It was very enjoyable for me to learn the material from his lectures. They are a great supplement to the textbook (or maybe vice versa?) and you can find them here: this video

in “Ask HN: What, in your opinion, are the greatest and most useful textbooks?” · view on HN
Recommendssamch93Oct 2021

“I recommend his lecture on information theory which is available on youtube [1].”

MacKay's lectures on information theory.

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It‘s such a tragedy that he died so young. Prof Mackay was a role model who impacted our world in many positive ways (e.g. his work in information theory, Bayesian statistics, environmental science). I recommend his lecture on information theory which is available on youtube [1]. He also documented the progress of his cancer very detailed on his blog [2], which is a very interesting (and sad) read. [1] this video [2] link

in “Sustainable Energy without the Hot Air (Revised, Community Edition)” · view on HN
Cites itnoudFeb 2023

“I found the videos on youtube as well”

Alternate YouTube source for the lecture videos.

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"Your browser does not support playback of available video formats. Please install Adobe Flash player or upgrade to a more modern browser." ...Okay? I found the videos on youtube as well: this video

in “David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms: The Book” · view on HN
Cites itscythmic_wavesFeb 2023

“Lol, this is great.”

Lecture 1 includes a funny line about Mr. Binomial.

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From lecture 1 [1]: > Ok, so, we have an answer of 1000 plus or minus 30 thanks to "Mr. Binomial", the inventor of the distribution that bears his name. Lol, this is great. [1]: this video

in “David MacKay: Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms: The Book” · view on HN
Cites itteleforceMay 2024

“The lectures based on the book by David MacKay himself”

Lectures by David MacKay based on his book.

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Thanks for the list. Interesting to see that the book by the late David MacKay made it to the list, it is available to download in several formats from the book's website. Information Theory, Inference, and Learning Algorithms: link The lectures based on the book by David MacKay himself: this video Probably it's not a surprise that the father of information theory Claude Shannon is the earliest one to propose stochastic LLM based on Markov chain.

in “Reading list to join AI field from Hugging Face cofounder” · view on HN