Today I interviewed Dr. Ryan Williams of MIT fame, a computational complexity theorist who recently published a paper called "Simulating Time in Sqrt Space". The full interview is on Patreon: www.patreon.com/EasyTheoryYT. The full interview will be posted to this channel at some point.
I asked him about his thoughts regarding his results and many other topics including how we think about computation, relations between "unrelated" problems, and advice for students and anyone else struggling with difficult computational problems.
The full video script is being made now, and will feature Dr. Williams. Video progress will be posted on Patreon, and paid tiers get 2 days early access for when it eventually will go live.
Have you seen the latest video? There is a form in the description if you want a 180-day license to use Aiarty's upscaling video software! The first five to do so will receive a code. Additionally, the first five Patreon subscribers who express interest also get a code!
Some progress! We cleared out the space and painted the desk with a white primer and soon will be adding black chalkboard paint. We also got a key light.
These are because of the generosity of our Patrons and to those who donated on GoFundMe. More pics posted on Patreon. If you want to donate, here are links:
Hey, it’s been a while (again). A lot has been happening behind the scenes.
There’s going to be a slew of exciting announcements coming soon as a video on the channel. Effectively we are going to do a huge revamp of the entire setup with lots of exciting things:
1. Business made exclusively for Easy Theory content. 2. Setting up dedicated video recording studio space for videos. 3. The theory textbook is definitely happening (details to follow). 4. Patreon setup (more to follow). 5. Lots of merch. 6. Nonprofit for providing scholarships to CS majors (in progress).
For the video studio, I need help in raising funds to buy the camera gear, audio gear, lighting, desk, etc. If you wish to donate, the link is: gofund.me/1fcb6821. Important: if you’re a current student, please don’t donate (as you have enough to worry about as it is).
With this new studio I’m planning a massive revamp of the channel’s content and a massive increase in quality and output frequency. The “main” channel will be about all things cool in CS theory including new discoveries: Williams’s square root simulation, the new Busy Beaver 6 candidate, and much more. It will feature interviews and opportunities to really dive into the subject in ways no other channel has done so far.
The “problem solving” channel will have dedicated problems solved in detail.
All content on the channels will remain free, forever. Any support is greatly appreciated.
Comments like these on my videos make everything worth it.
What the comment says: “FINALLY got to understand the pumping lemma!!! YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Very intuitive video, easy to follow and understand an d better than all the slides, notes, and textbook readings l've interacted with so far. Thank you!!!”
The decisions for SIGCSE TS 2025 (the premier CS education conference) papers are out: and I completely struck out! 0 out of 5 papers/panels accepted. 4 of the 5 were full papers. I’m truly aghast because some of these were great works and had great conclusions, and even the reviewers thought so.
We all have failure sometimes, and that’s ok. When this happens we need to pick ourselves back up and try again.
In any case, here’s some of the cool research in these papers! If you’re interested in a collab, let me know! I probably will be posting some of these as preprints soon.
1. Scaffolded research projects in theory for “mock conference” type project. 2. Effectiveness of office hours in a programming language theory course. 3. Impacts of the “mock conference” theory project from #1 on follow-on Computer Science courses, such as Operating Systems or capstone. 4. Analogies in an Operating Systems course - what types of analogies work best for students: none at all, instructor-generated, or student-generated?
And finally, the panel was for discussing Computer Science pedagogy in Theory and Algorithms courses, and was going to feature some big names in both!
What do you think are important things CS educators should research regarding theory?
The new o1 model for ChatGPT is impressively good at math problems. I tested it on a fairly hard theory of computation problem, and it was the first generative AI model to get it right. This will be interesting! Have you tried the new model yet?
Easy Theory
Easy Theory
Today I interviewed Dr. Ryan Williams of MIT fame, a computational complexity theorist who recently published a paper called "Simulating Time in Sqrt Space". The full interview is on Patreon: www.patreon.com/EasyTheoryYT. The full interview will be posted to this channel at some point.
I asked him about his thoughts regarding his results and many other topics including how we think about computation, relations between "unrelated" problems, and advice for students and anyone else struggling with difficult computational problems.
Preprint Link: arxiv.org/abs/2502.17779
Published Link: dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3717823.3718225
The full video script is being made now, and will feature Dr. Williams. Video progress will be posted on Patreon, and paid tiers get 2 days early access for when it eventually will go live.
2 weeks ago | [YT] | 35
View 1 reply
Easy Theory
Have you seen the latest video? There is a form in the description if you want a 180-day license to use Aiarty's upscaling video software! The first five to do so will receive a code. Additionally, the first five Patreon subscribers who express interest also get a code!
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 7
View 0 replies
Easy Theory
First video with the new studio will be posted on 18 November. You can see it 2 days early by subscribing on Patreon: www.patreon.com/EasyTheoryYT
3 weeks ago | [YT] | 27
View 3 replies
Easy Theory
Some progress! We cleared out the space and painted the desk with a white primer and soon will be adding black chalkboard paint. We also got a key light.
These are because of the generosity of our Patrons and to those who donated on GoFundMe. More pics posted on Patreon. If you want to donate, here are links:
GoFundMe: gofund.me/bbf45a40
Patreon: www.patreon.com/EasyTheoryYT
Thank you very much!
1 month ago | [YT] | 17
View 0 replies
Easy Theory
We’re so back! Did you see the announcements video (https://youtu.be/J4cxAaw_4rM?si=fGTSd... Which announcement are you most excited for?
2 months ago | [YT] | 5
View 0 replies
Easy Theory
Huge set of announcements tomorrow!
2 months ago | [YT] | 38
View 5 replies
Easy Theory
Hey, it’s been a while (again). A lot has been happening behind the scenes.
There’s going to be a slew of exciting announcements coming soon as a video on the channel. Effectively we are going to do a huge revamp of the entire setup with lots of exciting things:
1. Business made exclusively for Easy Theory content.
2. Setting up dedicated video recording studio space for videos.
3. The theory textbook is definitely happening (details to follow).
4. Patreon setup (more to follow).
5. Lots of merch.
6. Nonprofit for providing scholarships to CS majors (in progress).
For the video studio, I need help in raising funds to buy the camera gear, audio gear, lighting, desk, etc. If you wish to donate, the link is: gofund.me/1fcb6821. Important: if you’re a current student, please don’t donate (as you have enough to worry about as it is).
With this new studio I’m planning a massive revamp of the channel’s content and a massive increase in quality and output frequency. The “main” channel will be about all things cool in CS theory including new discoveries: Williams’s square root simulation, the new Busy Beaver 6 candidate, and much more. It will feature interviews and opportunities to really dive into the subject in ways no other channel has done so far.
The “problem solving” channel will have dedicated problems solved in detail.
All content on the channels will remain free, forever. Any support is greatly appreciated.
4 months ago | [YT] | 56
View 10 replies
Easy Theory
Comments like these on my videos make everything worth it.
What the comment says: “FINALLY got to understand the pumping lemma!!! YOU ARE AMAZING! THANK YOU SO MUCH! Very intuitive video, easy to follow and understand an d better than all the slides, notes, and textbook readings l've interacted with so far. Thank you!!!”
1 year ago | [YT] | 74
View 7 replies
Easy Theory
The decisions for SIGCSE TS 2025 (the premier CS education conference) papers are out: and I completely struck out! 0 out of 5 papers/panels accepted. 4 of the 5 were full papers. I’m truly aghast because some of these were great works and had great conclusions, and even the reviewers thought so.
We all have failure sometimes, and that’s ok. When this happens we need to pick ourselves back up and try again.
In any case, here’s some of the cool research in these papers! If you’re interested in a collab, let me know! I probably will be posting some of these as preprints soon.
1. Scaffolded research projects in theory for “mock conference” type project.
2. Effectiveness of office hours in a programming language theory course.
3. Impacts of the “mock conference” theory project from #1 on follow-on Computer Science courses, such as Operating Systems or capstone.
4. Analogies in an Operating Systems course - what types of analogies work best for students: none at all, instructor-generated, or student-generated?
And finally, the panel was for discussing Computer Science pedagogy in Theory and Algorithms courses, and was going to feature some big names in both!
What do you think are important things CS educators should research regarding theory?
1 year ago | [YT] | 15
View 2 replies
Easy Theory
The new o1 model for ChatGPT is impressively good at math problems. I tested it on a fairly hard theory of computation problem, and it was the first generative AI model to get it right. This will be interesting! Have you tried the new model yet?
1 year ago | [YT] | 83
View 8 replies
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