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- Hacker News
- I had Prof. Beazley as a CS undergrad at University of Chicago. He was an amazing professor and much loved. Seeing how little the university valued his contributions is a big reason I chose not to pursue an academic path.by fros1y
- I think that even if you will never code, it will teach you how to think—especially if you also learn math, stats, and other engineering courses.
You start to see patterns that let you understand what input leads to what output, and so to organize your actions in a way that will generate preferred outcomes.
by Frannky - I wish there was video material of the courses taught by Dave available for purchase.by xqb64
- You can find some video material from O'Reilly Mediaby 0xpgm
- Seeing even these experienced professionals quit teaching programming, it seems like AI has had a big impact on the education marketby jdw64
- I do not think this is actually AI: currently, there is a narrative (gradually dying out) that AI will replace software engineers and you don't need CS/Software Engineering education as a result. It's the "leaders" who listen to this.
Will change back in 12 - 24 months.
by g42gregory - Learning itself hasn't fundamentally changed because of AI, period. Anyone claiming otherwise probably isn't thinking seriously about what learning actually is. What has changed is the demand for certain types of courses, especially computer science and programming courses, which has declined significantly. Honestly, this was entirely predictable.
People don't want learn tools anymore. Programming education experienced tremendous growth from the 2000s onward because coding became a valuable skill in the job market. Today, the market has shifted. Learning to code in 2010 is, in many ways, the equivalent of learning to use AI effectively for software development in 2026. The underlying goal is the same: acquiring the skills that employers and the market value.
What's happening to David is the same thing happening to many "learn to code" platforms. Their catalogs were built for a different era, and declining demand reflects changes in the job market, not a decline in people's interest in learning.
Maybe David is simply tired of teaching programming and changing a catalog that he put a lot of hard work for the last 20 years seems like a lot of work, and that's completely fair. But he could also adapt his expertise and content to fit this new reality instead of relying on a curriculum designed for a thriving market that no longer exists.
by f18m - David Beazley taught fundamentals above tools. People seem to no longer want to know the fundamentals.by AlexeyBelov
- Very sad. I never took his courses, for various reasons, but having something like this as an option available was quite inspiring in my never ending quest to become a better software engineer.
I wish David the best with his new teaching direction. And I hope David will find a practical way to make these courses available for self-study.
by potro - Sad to learn that future generations of programmers won’t benefit from learning from him directly. I took his SICP course a couple of years ago after numerous failed attempts at reading the book and even watching the MIT videos. David’s course was the first time the concepts really clicked.by avilay
- I've decided to go back to graduate school to get my Professional Educator's License in Secondary Education, final destination unknown
He's long been a fabulous teacher to adults; kids will be lucky to have him.
Best wishes to him going forward.
by mellosouls - I took dabeaz's course on the Raft algorithm a few years ago.
It was engaging, challenging, and all the other students were there specifically because they wanted to be there. I've never experienced anything like that in school, it was uniquely motivating.
I always thought I'd get to try his compilers course one day, but I waited too long!
All the best to him on his next adventure.
by giant_fern - I took Dave’s “Write a compiler” course several years ago, and it was mind-blowing in the absolute best sense of the term. What a great teacher and person.
Programmers are worse off for his retirement, but (given his career change) Chicago-area high school kids are in for a real treat.
by adrianh - "It's sad, but true. The courses that I used to offer here have to come to end. ... Honestly, I thought I might be teaching these courses into my retirement, but the enrollment numbers don't lie. Since 2023, there has been a complete collapse in the market for continuing education."
Personally, I'm finding this kind of story lately shocking and heartbreaking.
by Exoristos - I kept coming back to his course listing to find some that were on site, but they were all online. I wanted to take my current team to the same onsite experience I had with Dave over 15 years ago. Classes taught in person are so much better.by pokstad
- Can we update the title? I was aware of Beazley's programming courses and didn't bother clicking until I read this comment.
- David's talks at PyCon are all amazing. My favorite is this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCs5OvhV9S4
Funny enough, a few months ago we decided to start a new project and we chose async Python. I had no clue how'd work so I decided to read the PEP and learn a bit more. Big was my surprise when I realized I "knew" all the fundamentals just by understanding how coroutines and generators worked low level, thanks to David's talks.
EDIT: His talks about the GIL are also super informative!
- he has a way to make it lean and engaging that is very sweetby agumonkey
- He is a natural born teacher. The kind of person whose excitement and love to share is contagious. Best of luck to him!
I saw some old code of mine that used PLY a few weeks ago and god damn is that a fine library. Fast, to the point, and a beautiful API.
by jjice - My favourite is lambda calculus in Python. It's something to save for a rainy day and follow along with. Great fun and really enlightening.