CS50 by Harvard
Hacker ApprovedRanked 6 of 17 online courses by recommenders
People recommend it as a strong, free starting point that covers key programming concepts across several languages and teaches you how to think about code.
People recommend it as a strong, free starting point that covers key programming concepts across several languages and teaches you how to think about code.
11 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 11
- criticize it
- 0
- approval share
- 100%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 11 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- Nobody criticizes itNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Enthusiastic, knowledgeable instructor
“His presence, knowledge and overall enthusiasm for the topic are outstanding.”
Comment from 8 Jul 2026 in “Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs Video Lectures” “as competent/articulate/put together/etc as the guy who teaches CS50”
Comment from 26 Dec 2025 in “Ask HN: What's the best lecture or talk you've seen in 2025?” Good foundation and way to start
“I think it's an incredible learning resource and a great way to get started.”
Comment from 31 Aug 2026 in “Harvard Professor on Why You Should Learn C in 2026 [video]” “That would probably be a good foundation to build on”
Comment from 5 Jul 2026 in “Ask HN: How to get a non-technical friend into tech?” “You could take Harvard's CS50 and then tackle it.”
Comment from 15 Apr 2026 in “Want to Write a Compiler? Just Read These Two Papers (2008)”
Other online courses people recommend
The four most recommended other online courses, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Math Academy | 35 | 1 | 97% | 12 | 9 mo6 owners | Approved |
| Nand2Tetris | 31 | 3 | 91% | 10 | — | Approved |
| Neural Networks: Zero to Hero by Andrej Karpathy | 29 | 2 | 94% | 9 | — | Approved |
| CS193p SwiftUI course by Paul Hegarty | 13 | 1 | 93% | 2 | 11.9 yrs5 owners | — |
| CS50 by HarvardThis page | 11 | 0 | 100% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
9 of the 11 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“they simply can't sit through the woo-woo stagecraft”
“I think it's an incredible learning resource and a great way to get started.”
“His presence, knowledge and overall enthusiasm for the topic are outstanding.”
“That would probably be a good foundation to build on”
“You could take Harvard's CS50 and then tackle it.”
“a good "learn how to think about programming"”
“as competent/articulate/put together/etc as the guy who teaches CS50”
“both were incredibly good courses”
“it covers a lot of key concepts and exposes you to a lot of different languages”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.