Perhaps you have heard the term machine learning and data mining and are curious to learn more about them. Although these two new branches of science have their roots in statistics, mathematics and computer science, but with significant growth, they are changing society and recognizing the laws of society. In this article from Arman Computer magazine, we don’t want to talk about machine learning and data mining, but we will discuss the educational approaches of these two branches of science and the result of free education. We examine machine learning and data mining.
Free machine learning and data mining training
Many of the famous universities in the world have plans for training Machine Learning and have created that are even available to the audience for free. For example, Harvard University has put data mining and machine learning courses on video content platforms for free so that everyone can learn academic subjects in this field with the best professors of these fields. Seeing these educational ads, the question arose in my mind, why an educational product, which can be very valuable and of course practical, should be available for free and without any cost to all members of the society. No university has yet released medical or engineering courses for free. If there was any activity, it was not in an official and academic way. So, what is the reason for this work in the fields of machine learning and data mining?
Freeware – IBM Corporation
You must remember that in the 1970s-80s, IBM entered the personal computer market and by releasing its computer architecture, it was able to bring other companies along in making IBM-compatible computers. In this way, instead of designing and building various computers with different architectures (such as Sinclair, Commodore, Amiga, etc.), all the companies are unified and build computers compatible with IBM paid.
IBM could have exclusively produced personal computers, but it published its hardware and computer manufacturing plans. Although this work on the part of IBM could be considered a kind of commercial suicide because it put many competitors in front of itself, but instead it helped a lot in the growth and development of personal computers. We see the results of this right decision of IBM today and we see that computers have permeated all industrial activities, production and even social services. This release of personal computer hardware was able to expand the speed and growth of knowledge in this field and bring many innovations, and all scientists in the world can contribute to its development.
Free Software – Linux
On the opposite of hardware, software and especially the operating system is responsible for an important part of the functioning of personal computers and even industrial and commercial computers. Although IBM-compatible personal computers were everywhere, the use of the Windows operating system, which was presented as a closed product (as opposed to open source), limited users to the features of the Windows operating system.
But when the Linux open operating system was introduced, the software world could breathe and taste the freedom. Numerous and customized versions of the Linux operating system were introduced to the market, some of which were commercial versions and some were free. The existence of this operating system penetrated from personal computers to mobile smartphones and became almost universal. The open source (free) nature of the Linux operating system encouraged all experts and even users to develop and improve it, so that the Windows operating system faced a serious competitor and still could not get out of the shadow of this competitor. Even in a way, the Windows operating system is imitating the functions of Linux operating systems. In this part of the computer, the freedom of the operating system and even some of the application software has been effective in developing and improving the performance and diversifying the applications.
Free Learning – Machine Learning and Data Mining
This trilogy has been completed with the help of educational centers and universities that provide free education to the society and will create a completely different future for us. Note that these trainings are carried out in the universities themselves at a high and exorbitant cost, and of course there are many volunteers and applicants. Just like IBM, which made a good profit from the sale of personal computers, universities have considered open education as a solution for the development and spread of machine learning and data mining methods due to their social responsibility. Footnote: I remember the time when they wanted to include the DOS operating system and computers in the elementary school curriculum. I was critical of this and pointed out that with the growing development of computer science, what we learned as computer users at that time is not applicable at all in the present time. Because the speed of computer science is very high and what is considered as education today will be completely useless and obsolete in 5 years.
