Shimon Schocken: The self-organizing computer course

Translator: Joseph Geni Reviewer: Morton Bast

翻译人员: Xiaoma Cheng 校对人员: Peng Shao

So, this is my grandfather,

嗯~这是我爷爷，

Salman Schocken,

萨勒曼·肖肯，

who was born into a poor and uneducated family

他出生于一个贫穷的,没有文化的家庭

with six children to feed,

家里有六个孩子要养活，

and when he was 14 years old, he was forced to

在他14 岁那年，他被强迫

drop out of school in order to help put bread on the table.

辍学，为了能帮助家里挣点吃的。

He never went back to school.

从那以后，他再也没有回去上学。

Instead, he went on to build a glittering empire

不过，他却建立了一个辉煌的

of department stores.

百货公司帝国。

Salman was the consummate perfectionist,

萨勒曼是个极端的完美主义者，

and every one of his stores was a jewel

他的每一个商店

of Bauhaus architecture.

都像包豪斯建筑上的一颗宝石。

He was also the ultimate self-learner,

他也是个根本意义上的自学成才者

and like everything else, he did it in grand style.

和所有事情一样，他做的极为出色。

He surrounded himself with an entourage

他总是在身边安排一位随行人员，

of young, unknown scholars like Martin Buber

他们都是年轻、 默默无闻的学者，像马丁 · 布

and Shai Agnon and Franz Kafka,

血塞 Agnon 和卡夫卡，

and he paid each one of them a monthly salary

他给他们每一个人都支付月薪

so that they could write in peace.

使得他们可以安心写作

And yet, in the late '30s, Salman saw what's coming.

不过，在 30 年代后期，萨勒曼预期到了要发生的事情

He fled Germany, together with his family,

他与他的家人一起逃离了德国，

leaving everything else behind.

把其他所有东西都留下了

His department stores confiscated,

他的百货公司被没收

he spent the rest of his life in a relentless pursuit

他穷尽余生去不懈的追求

of art and culture.

艺术与文化。

This high school dropout

这位高中辍学生

died at the age of 82,

在82岁时过世，

a formidable intellectual, cofounder and first CEO

这样一位令人钦佩的智者，耶路撒冷希伯来大学

of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem,

的创始人和第一位首席执行官，

and founder of Schocken Books,

同时也是肯出版社的创始人，

an acclaimed imprint that was later acquired

肯出版社是个广受好评的影印刊物，后来

by Random House.

被兰登书屋收购。

Such is the power of self-study.

这就是自学的力量。

And these are my parents.

这是我的父母

They too did not enjoy the privilege of college education.

他们也没有享受到大学教育的特权

They were too busy building a family and a country.

他们在忙于建设家庭和国家。

And yet, just like Salman, they were lifelong,

然而，就像萨勒曼、 他们是终身的

tenacious self-learners, and our home was stacked

顽强的自学主义者，我们的家里堆积了

with thousands of books, records and artwork.

数以千计的书籍、 记载和艺术品。

I remember quite vividly my father telling me

我很清楚地记得我父亲告诉我

that when everyone in the neighborhood will have a TV set,

直到社区里的每个人都买了电视，

then we'll buy a normal F.M. radio. (Laughter)

我们才去买台收音机。（笑声）

And that's me,

这就是我，

I was going to say holding my first abacus,

我想说拿着我的第一个算盘

but actually holding what my father would consider

但实际上是拿着的是我父亲认为的

an ample substitute to an iPad. (Laughter)

iPad的充分替代品。（笑声）

So one thing that I took from home is this notion

所以我在家里学到的一件事是这样一个概念

that educators don't necessarily have to teach.

教育工作者不一定必须要教。

Instead, they can provide an environment and resources

相反，他们可以提供环境和资源

that tease out your natural ability to learn on your own.

来梳理出你与生俱来的靠自己学习的能力

Self-study, self-exploration, self-empowerment:

自我学习，自我发现，自我培养。

these are the virtues of a great education.

这些都是伟大教育的优点。

So I'd like to share with you a story about a self-study,

所以我想与大家分享一个关于自学的故事，

self-empowering computer science course

自我发展的计算机科学课程

that I built, together with my brilliant colleague Noam Nisan.

这是我与我的才华横溢的同事Noam Nisan,共同建立的

As you can see from the pictures, both Noam and I

就像你从照片上所见，我和诺姆都

had an early fascination with first principles,

对基本原则有着早期迷恋

and over the years, as our knowledge of

多年来，随着我们的学识在

science and technology became more sophisticated,

科学和技术方面变得更加精深，

this early awe with the basics

这种对于基础知识的早期敬畏

has only intensified.

进一步加强了。

So it's not surprising that, about 12 years ago, when

所以不足为奇，大约12年前，

Noam and I were already computer science professors,

当诺姆和我已经是计算机科学的教授时，

we were equally frustrated by the same phenomenon.

我们同样对相同的现象感到沮丧。

As computers became increasingly more complex,

因为计算机变得越来越复杂，

our students were losing the forest for the trees,

我们的学生正在失去树木森林

and indeed, it is impossible to connect

而事实上，这几乎不可能与

with the soul of the machine if you interact

机器心灵交通，如果你（只是）去与

with a black box P.C. or a Mac which is shrouded

PC或者Mac的黑盒子互动的话,这些黑盒子被

by numerous layers of closed, proprietary software.

很多层的密闭的专利软件包裹。

So Noam and I had this insight that if we want our students

所以我和诺姆有了这一观点，如果我们想要我们的学生

to understand how computers work,

了解计算机的工作方式

and understand it in the marrow of their bones,

并了解他们的骨头里的精髓，

then perhaps the best way to go about it

那么也许最好的实现方式就是

is to have them build a complete, working,

是让他们建立一个完整的、 工作的，

general-purpose, useful computer, hardware and software,

广泛用途的、 有用的计算机以及硬件和软件，

from the ground up, from first principles.

从基本做起，从基本原则开始。

Now, we had to start somewhere, and so Noam and I

现在，我们必须找到个出发点，所以诺姆和我

decided to base our cathedral, so to speak,

决定，打个比方说，将我们的大教堂在

on the simplest possible building block,

最可能的建造区域打基。

which is something called NAND.

这也被称为 NAND。

It is nothing more than a trivial logic gate

这就是个简单的逻辑门

with four input-output states.

有四个输入输出状态。

So we now start this journey by telling our students

所以我们现在这样开始我们的旅程，告诉我们的学生

that God gave us NAND — (Laughter) —

上帝给了我们 NAND — — （笑声） — —

and told us to build a computer, and when we asked how,

并告诉我们要制造一台计算机，当我们问怎么造的时候，

God said, "One step at a time."

上帝说："一步一步来"。

And then, following this advice, we start

然后，根据他的建议，我们由这个

with this lowly, humble NAND gate,

低端的,简陋的逻辑门开始，

and we walk our students through an elaborate sequence

我们带领我们的学生完成了一些列复杂的

of projects in which they gradually build a chip set,

项目，逐步建立了一个芯片装置

a hardware platform, an assembler, a virtual machine,

一个硬件平台， 一个汇编程序、一个虚拟机，

a basic operating system and a compiler

一个基本操作系统和一个编译器

for a simple, Java-like language that we call "JACK."

为了简洁，我们把像 Java之类的语言称为"Jack。"

The students celebrate the end of this tour de force

学生们用这样的方式庆祝这一段旅程的结束

by using JACK to write all sorts of cool games

通过Jack制作了各种各样的好玩游戏

like Pong, Snake and Tetris.

像乒乓球、 贪吃蛇和俄罗斯方块。

You can imagine the tremendous joy of playing

你可以想象玩起来的巨大喜悦

with a Tetris game that you wrote in JACK

一个你用Jack编写的俄罗斯方块游戏

and then compiled into machine language in a compiler

然后在你编写的编译器中编译成机器语言

that you wrote also, and then seeing the result

然后在你用不过几千个逻辑门开始

running on a machine that you built starting

制造的机器上运行

with nothing more than a few thousand NAND gates.

并观看结果。

It's a tremendous personal triumph of going

这是一场巨大的个人胜利

from first principles all the way to a fantastically complex

从第一的原则一路走到一个极好地复杂的

and useful system.

有用的系统。

Noam and I worked five years to facilitate

诺姆和我用五年完成了

this ascent and to create the tools and infrastructure

它的改善，同时创建了工具和基础设施

that will enable students to build it in one semester.

使得学生们可以在一学期内完成制造

And this is the great team that helped us make it happen.

这是帮助我们实现这一切的伟大团队

The trick was to decompose the computer's construction

而诀窍是将计算机结构分解为

into numerous stand-alone modules,

许多独立的模块，

each of which could be individually specified,

每一个都可以被独自说明

built and unit-tested in isolation from the rest of the project.

制造和单元测设，而与项目的其他部分完全分离。

And from day one, Noam and I decided to put

从第一天起，我和诺姆就决定让

all these building blocks freely available in open source

所有这些制造模块作为公共资源在网上

on the Web.

免费公开。

So chip specifications, APIs, project descriptions,

所以芯片规格、 应用程序界面、 项目说明

software tools, hardware simulators, CPU emulators,

软件工具、 硬件模拟器、 CPU 模拟器

stacks of hundreds of slides, lectures --

成堆的数以百计的幻灯片，讲座 — —

we laid out everything on the Web

我们把所有东西都放到了网上

and invited the world to come over,

并邀请全世界（的人）来访，

take whatever they need,

带走他们想要的东西,

and do whatever they want with it.

随便他们对此使用。

And then something fascinating happened.

接着奇妙的事情发生了。

The world came.

全世界的人都来了。

And in short order, thousands of people

不久，成千上万的人

were building our machine.

在制造我们的机器。

And NAND2Tetris became one of the first

同时NAND2Tetris 成了第一批

massive, open, online courses,

大规模的、 开放的、 在线课程之一

although seven years ago we had no idea that what

虽然 7 年前我们还不知道我们在做的

we were doing is called MOOCs.

东西被叫做MOOCs。

We just observed how self-organized courses

我们只是观察到自发课程

were kind of spontaneously spawning

就像自发性地大量生产

out of our materials.

我们的材料。

For example, Pramode C.E.,

例如，Pramode C.E

an engineer from Kerala, India,

来自印度喀拉拉邦的一名工程师

has organized groups of self-learners

已经组织了多批自学者

who build our computer under his good guidance.

在他的良好指导下制造我们的计算机

And Parag Shah, another engineer, from Mumbai,

同时另一名工程师，来自孟买的帕尔克 · 沙阿

has unbundled our projects into smaller,

奖我们的项目分类定价成更小的

more manageable bites that he now serves

更加易处理的比特，他现在服务于

in his pioneering do-it-yourself computer science program.

他的开创性的do-it-yourself计算机科学项目。

The people who are attracted to these courses

这些被课程所吸引而来的人

typically have a hacker mentality.

通常有一种黑客的心态。

They want to figure out how things work,

他们想要弄明白计算机是如果工作的

and they want to do it in groups,

同时他们想在群体中来完成这个过程，

like this hackers club in Washington, D.C.,

像这个在华盛顿特区的黑客俱乐部

that uses our materials to offer community courses.

用我们的材料来提供社区课程。

And because these materials are widely available

而因为这些材料是广泛许可

and open-source, different people take them

并且是开放的源代码，不同的人会把它们带

to very different and unpredictable directions.

向非常不同的和不可预知的方向。

For example, Yu Fangmin, from Guangzhou,

例如，余方敏，来自广州市

has used FPGA technology

已使用 FPGA 技术

to build our computer and show others how to do the same

来构造我们的计算机并向别人展示如何做出一样的

using a video clip, and Ben Craddock developed

通过使用视频剪辑，同时本 · 杜克开发

a very nice computer game that unfolds

了一个非常漂亮的计算机游戏

inside our CPU architecture, which is quite a complex

展开了我们CPU的体系结构，Ben开发了个很复杂的

3D maze that Ben developed

3D 迷宫

using the Minecraft 3D simulator engine.

通过使用Minecraft 3D 模拟器引擎。

The Minecraft community went bananas over this project,

Minecraft社区因为这个项目而很生气

and Ben became an instant media celebrity.

同时 Ben 立刻成为了媒体名人。

And indeed, for quite a few people,

事实上，对于很大一批人

taking this NAND2Tetris pilgrimage, if you will,

参加这次NAND2Tetris的朝圣之旅，如果你也愿意的话，

has turned into a life-changing experience.

已经成为了一段改变人生的经历

For example, take Dan Rounds, who is a music

例如，像Dan Rounds，从事音乐

and math major from East Lansing, Michigan.

和数学专业，来自密歇根州的东兰。

A few weeks ago, Dan posted a victorious post

几个星期前，Dan张贴了一张胜利的海报

on our website, and I'd like to read it to you.

在我们的网站，我想读给你们听下。

So here's what Dan said.

这就是丹说的话：

"I did the coursework because understanding computers

"我参加这个课程因为（我）了解计算机

is important to me, just like literacy and numeracy,

对我来说很重要，就像识字和算术

and I made it through. I never worked harder on anything,

我完成了（这个课程）。我从没像这么用功过。

never been challenged to this degree.

从未遇到这么大的挑战。

But given what I now feel capable of doing,

但鉴于我觉得自己现在所能做的事情，

I would certainly do it again.

（如果再给我次选择）我一定会再次选择去做。

To anyone considering NAND2Tetris,

对于每个考虑（参加） NAND2Tetris的人，

it's a tough journey, but you'll be profoundly changed."

这是一个艰难的旅程，但你会被深刻地改变。"

So Dan demonstrates the many self-learners

所以Dan证明了许多自学者

who take this course off the Web, on their own traction,

他们在线下完成了这一课程，靠着他们自己的牵引力

on their own initiative, and it's quite amazing because

靠着他们自己的主动性，这是相当令人吃惊的，因为

these people cannot care less about

这些人不能不在意

grades.

成绩(分数)

They are doing it because of one motivation only.

他们这样做因为只有一个动机。

They have a tremendous passion to learn.

他们有极大的学习热情。

And with that in mind,

因为有这一点在脑中，

I'd like to say a few words about traditional college grading.

我想对传统大学的成绩评定说几句。

I'm sick of it.

我讨厌它。

We are obsessed with grades

我们着迷于分数

because we are obsessed with data,

因为我们沉迷于数据，

and yet grading takes away all the fun from failing,

但是评分标准带走了失败中所有的快乐

and a huge part of education

教育的很大一个部分

is about failing.

都是关于失败的。

Courage, according to Churchill,

丘吉尔说，勇气，

is the ability to go from one defeat to another

是从一个战败走到另一个战败，

without losing enthusiasm. (Laughter)

而却不丧失热情的能力。（笑声）

And [Joyce] said that mistakes

同时Joyce说错误

are the portals of discovery.

是发现的门户。

And yet we don't tolerate mistakes,

但是我们已经无法容忍错误

and we worship grades.

同时我们崇尚等级。

So we collect your B pluses and your A minuses

所以我们收集你的B+和A-

and we aggregate them into a number like 3.4,

同时我们将他们聚集位一个数字，例如3，4

which is stamped on your forehead

把他们印在你的额头

and sums up who you are.

这就概括成了你

Well, in my opinion, we went too far with this nonsense,

嗯，在我看来，我们这种蠢事做的够久了

and grading became degrading.

同时分数变得有辱人格。

So with that, I'd like to say a few words about upgrading,

所以对于这个，我想说几句关于（体系）升级

and share with you a glimpse from my current project,

与你分享下一些我的现行项目

which is different from the previous one,

这与前面的那个项目不一样

but it shares exactly the same characteristics

但他共享了一样的特性

of self-learning, learning by doing,

关于自学，从动手中学习，

self-exploration and community-building,

自我发现和社区建设。

and this project deals with K-12 math education,

同时该项目涉及从幼儿园到12年级的数学教育

beginning with early age math,

从早期的基本数学开始

and we do it on tablets because we believe that

我们在平板电脑上实现了它，因为我们相信

math, like anything else, should be taught hands on.

数学，像其他东西一样，应该被用手教授

So here's what we do. Basically, we developed

所以这里我们做的。根本来讲，我们开发了

numerous mobile apps, every one of them explaining

许多的手机应用程序，每一个解释

a particular concept in math.

一个特定的数学概念。

So for example, let's take area.

所以例如，我们选择面积。

When you deal with a concept like area --

当你涉及到一个概念，如面积-

well, we also provide a set of tools that the child

嗯，我们也提供了一些列工具，孩子

is invited to experiment with in order to learn.

被邀请来参加试验,来学习

So if area is what interests us, then one thing

因此，如果面积是使我们感兴趣的，那么有一件

which is natural to do is to tile the area

很自然的事情就是对面积铺砖

of this particular shape and simply count

用特定的形状，同时简单地计算

how many tiles it takes to cover it completely.

需要多少瓷砖来完全覆盖面积

And this little exercise here gives you a first

这个小练习给了你第一次

good insight of the notion of area.

对于面积概念的领悟。

Moving along, what about the area of this figure?

继续向前，这个图形的面积是多少？

Well, if you try to tile it, it doesn't work too well, does it.

嗯，如果你尝试平铺他，貌似不行，不是吗？

So instead, you can experiment

所以，您可以进行试验

with these different tools here by some process

利用这里的这些不同工具进行

of guided trial and error,

引导性反复试验，

and at some point you will discover that one thing

有些时候，你会发现这一件事

that you can do among several legitimate transformations

你可以做几个合法转换

is the following one. You can cut the figure,

像如下这样。您可以分隔图形

you can rearrange the parts, you can glue them

您可以重新排列部分，您可以将它们的粘合

and then proceed to tile just like we did before.

然后进行平铺的过程就像我们之前的那样。

(Applause)

（掌声）

Now this particular transformation

现在这个特定的转换

did not change the area of the original figure,

没有改变原始图形的面积，

so a six-year-old who plays with this

因此，一个六岁（孩子）玩这个程序

has just discovered a clever algorithm

刚发现一个聪明的算法

to compute the area of any given parallelogram.

来计算任何给定的平行四边形的面积。

We don't replace teachers, by the way.

顺便说下，我们不想代替教师

We believe that teachers should be empowered, not replaced.

我们相信教师应被准许，而不是替代。

Moving along, what about the area of a triangle?

继续向前，三角形的面积怎么办呢？

So after some guided trial and error,

所以在一些引导性反复试验后

the child will discover, with or without help,

儿童将会发现，有或没有帮助，

that he or she can duplicate the original figure

他或她可以复制原始图

and then take the result, transpose it,

然后将复制出的图形，转置它，

glue it to the original and then proceed [with] what we did before:

将其粘附到原始图形，然后继续 [进行] 我们之前做的：

cut, rearrange, paste — oops— paste and glue,

剪切、 重新排列、 粘贴 — — 哦 — — 粘贴和粘合，

and tile.

和铺砖。

Now this transformation has doubled the area

现在这种转型将原始面积扩大了一倍

of the original figure, and therefore we have just learned

因此我们已经学习到

that the area of the triangle equals the area of this rectangle

三角形的面积等于此矩形的面积

divided by two.

除以二。

But we discovered it by self-exploration.

但是我们是通过自我发掘发现的。

So, in addition to learning some useful geometry,

所以，除了学习一些有用的几何知识外

the child has been exposed to some pretty sophisticated

儿童接触了一些相当复杂的

science strategies, like reduction,

科学方法，像减少

which is the art of

这是一种

transforming a complex problem into a simple one,

将复杂问题简单化的艺术

or generalization, which is at the heart

或泛化，这是

of any scientific discipline,

任何科学学科的核心

or the fact that some properties are invariant

或在某些转化下

under some transformations.

有些属性是不变的。

And all this is something that a very young child

所有这些东西都是一个很小的孩子

can pick up using such mobile apps.

可以通过这样的移动程序所学会的。

So presently, we are doing the following:

所以目前我们就在做如下的事情：

First of all, we are decomposing the K-12 math curriculum

首先，我们将从幼儿园到12年级的数学课程

into numerous such apps.

分解到许多个此类的应用程序。

And because we cannot do it on our own,

因为我们不能靠自己来完成，

we've developed a very fancy authoring tool

我们开发了一个非常富有想象力的开发者工具

that any author, any parent or actually anyone

任何作者,任何父目，或着说任何人

who has an interest in math education,

只要对数学教育感兴趣

can use this authoring tool to develop similar apps

可以使用此开发工具来开发类似的平板电脑软件

on tablets without programming.

而无需编程。

And finally, we are putting together an adaptive ecosystem

最后，我们组合成一个适应性生态系统

that will match different learners

它将匹配不同的学习者

with different apps according to their evolving learning style.

根据他们不断演变的学习风格，匹配不同的应用程序。

The driving force behind this project

这一项目背后的驱动力

is my colleague Shmulik London,

是我的同事 Shmulik London,

and, you see, just like

你瞧，就像

Salman did about 90 years ago,

萨勒曼在 90 年前做的那样，

the trick is to surround yourself with brilliant people,

诀窍是让你身边围满杰出的人，

because at the end,

因为归根到底，

it's all about people.

都是关于人。

And a few years ago, I was walking in Tel Aviv

几年前，我走在特拉维夫

and I saw this graffiti on a wall,

我看到这个墙上的涂鸦

and I found it so compelling

我觉得它是如此引人注目

that by now I preach it to my students,

现在我把他宣扬给我的学生

and I'd like to try to preach it to you.

同时我想试着宣传给你们。

Now, I don't know how many people here are familiar

现在，我不知道有多少人熟悉

with the term "mensch."

这个术语"君子"。

It basically means to be human

它基本的意思是

and to do the right thing.

做正确事的人。

And with that, what this graffiti says is,

紧接着，这个涂鸦的说是，

"High-tech schmigh-tech.

"高科技 君子科技。

The most important thing is to be a mensch." (Laughter)

最重要的事情就是君子。"（笑声）

Thank you. (Applause)

谢谢。（掌声）

(Applause)

（掌声）