Online courses directory (684)

Why has it been easier to develop a vaccine to eliminate polio than to control influenza or AIDS? Has there been natural selection for a 'language gene'? Why are there no animals with wheels? When does 'maximizing fitness' lead to evolutionary extinction? How are sex and parasites related? Why don't snakes eat grass? Why don't we have eyes in the back of our heads? How does modern genomics illustrate and challenge the field?

This course analyzes evolution from a computational, modeling, and engineering perspective. The course has extensive hands-on laboratory exercises in model-building and analyzing evolutionary data.

6.776 covers circuit level design issues of high speed communication systems, with primary focus being placed on wireless and broadband data link applications. Specific circuit topics include transmission lines, high speed and low noise amplifiers, VCO's, mixers, power amps, high speed digital circuits, and frequency synthesizers. In addition to learning analysis skills for the above items, students will gain a significant amount of experience in simulating RF circuits in SPICE and also building RF circuits within a lab project.

6.012 is the header course for the department's "Devices, Circuits and Systems" concentration. The topics covered include modeling of microelectronic devices, basic microelectronic circuit analysis and design, physical electronics of semiconductor junction and MOS devices, relation of electrical behavior to internal physical processes, development of circuit models, and understanding the uses and limitations of various models. The course uses incremental and large-signal techniques to analyze and design bipolar and field effect transistor circuits, with examples chosen from digital circuits, single-ended and differential linear amplifiers, and other integrated circuits.

JavaScript is a client side scripting language and is one of the most widely used programming languages for the web. The most common use of JavaScript is to write functions which are part of HTML pages and that interact with the Document Object Model (DOM) of the web page. jQuery is used as a library of JavaScript functions that simplifies web page development and AJAX interactions. This free online web programming course will greatly increase your understanding of JavaScript, jQuery and AJAX by showing examples of code and how they function together to provide the interactive and dynamic web pages that are widely used in today’s web environment. You will also learn about AJAX and how it provides JavaScript programmers with a way of coding that widens the scope and functionality for real time updates such as retrieving data from the server side without reloading the entire web page. This free online web programming course will be of great interest to IT and business professionals who would like to learn more about the functionality of JavaScript, jQuery and AJAX and how they work to provide much more dynamic and engaging web pages.<br />

This course examines how randomization can be used to make algorithms simpler and more efficient via random sampling, random selection of witnesses, symmetry breaking, and Markov chains. Topics covered include: randomized computation; data structures (hash tables, skip lists); graph algorithms (minimum spanning trees, shortest paths, minimum cuts); geometric algorithms (convex hulls, linear programming in fixed or arbitrary dimension); approximate counting; parallel algorithms; online algorithms; derandomization techniques; and tools for probabilistic analysis of algorithms.

6.844 is a graduate introduction to programming theory, logic of programming, and computability, with the programming language Scheme used to crystallize computability constructions and as an object of study itself. Topics covered include: programming and computability theory based on a term-rewriting, "substitution" model of computation by Scheme programs with side-effects; computation as algebraic manipulation: Scheme evaluation as algebraic manipulation and term rewriting theory; paradoxes from self-application and introduction to formal programming semantics; undecidability of the Halting Problem for Scheme; properties of recursively enumerable sets, leading to Incompleteness Theorems for Scheme equivalences; logic for program specification and verification; and Hilbert's Tenth Problem.

The course covers the basic models and solution techniques for problems of sequential decision making under uncertainty (stochastic control). We will consider optimal control of a dynamical system over both a finite and an infinite number of stages. This includes systems with finite or infinite state spaces, as well as perfectly or imperfectly observed systems. We will also discuss approximation methods for problems involving large state spaces. Applications of dynamic programming in a variety of fields will be covered in recitations.

This course teaches simple reasoning techniques for complex phenomena: divide and conquer, dimensional analysis, extreme cases, continuity, scaling, successive approximation, balancing, cheap calculus, and symmetry. Applications are drawn from the physical and biological sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Examples include bird and machine flight, neuron biophysics, weather, prime numbers, and animal locomotion. Emphasis is on low-cost experiments to test ideas and on fostering curiosity about phenomena in the world.

This course is based on the work of the MIT-African Internet Technology Initiative (MIT-AITI). MIT-AITI is an innovative approach by MIT students to integrate computers and internet technology into the education of students in African schools. The program focuses upon programming principles, cutting-edge internet technology, free open-source systems, and even an entrepreneurship seminar to introduce students in Africa to the power of information technology in today's world.

MIT-AITI achieves this goal by sending MIT students to three African nations in order to teach both students and teachers through intensive classroom and lab sessions for six weeks. The AITI program is implemented with emphasis on classroom teaching, community-oriented projects, and independent learning.

This course has two major components:

1. Content from a spring 2005 preparatory seminar offered by the MIT-AITI leadership. The goal of this seminar is to adequately prepare the AITI student teachers for their upcoming summer experiences in Africa.
2. A snapshot of the summer 2005 MIT-AITI program. This includes the Java®-based curriculum that MIT-AITI ambassadors teach in Africa each year, as well as content from an entrepreneurship seminar offered concurrently with the IT class.