How to: Mar 2, 2025
1. Linear Algebra is one of the most important fields of mathematics if you want to build AI systems using modern machine learning techniques. And freeCodeCamp just published a comprehensive course to help you learn it. You'll review foundational concepts from high school like Cartesian Coordinates and the Pythagorean Theorem. Then you'll dive into more advanced topics like Vectors in High Dimensions, Linear Independence, Normalization, Projections, and more. Don't be daunted by advanced math – you CAN learn it and harness its power for your projects. (10 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/learn-linear-algebra-for-machine-learning/

2. Learn how to build a vision transformer from scratch using Python. Transformers are not just the coolest aliens in cartoon history – they're also the key breakthrough that has allowed engineers to create powerful Large Language Models these past few years. And Transformers are useful for computer vision as well. This course will teach you techniques like Image Pre-processing, Multi-head Attention, Patch Embeddings, and more. (1 hour YouTube course): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/build-a-vision-transformer-from-scratch/

3. On this week's freeCodeCamp podcast, I interview modern-day renaissance man Vaughn Gene. After struggling with high school, Vaughn joined the US Navy and spent 10 years in Japan. He became fluent in the Japanese language and worked as a personal trainer for locals. He wanted more flexibility in his work, so he used freeCodeCamp to learn to code, then started lining up freelance clients. Along the way, Vaughn has also taught himself guitar, piano, Spanish, and advanced Mixed Martial Arts techniques. He shares his self-teaching heuristics, and how he's able to cultivate so many skills in tandem. I loved learning from him, and I think you will, too. (2 hour watch or listen in your favorite podcast app): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-go-full-on-renaissance-man-mode-in-2025-with-vaughn-gene-podcast-161/

4. One of the most powerful innovations of the past 30 years – for better or for worse – has been algorithmic recommendation feeds. And as a developer, if you want to build such a Recommender System for your app, you'll first need to overcome what are called Cold Start Problems. This tutorial will explain these challenges and give you conceptual tools for pushing through them. You'll learn about Contextual Data, Preference Collection, Hybrid Filtering, and more. (15 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/cold-start-problem-in-recommender-systems/

5. LaTeX is an open source typesetting tool used to represent mathematical expressions in academic papers. You can also use it to jazz up the typography of your documents. This step-by-step tutorial will teach you how to leverage the power of LaTeX right on your local Windows machine. You'll even learn how to load it into VS Code. (10 minute read): https://www.freecodecamp.org/news/how-to-run-latex-projects-locally-for-free-on-windows/

Quote of the Week: *"The more intelligent you are, the more likely you'll worry: what if I learn it the wrong way or the slow way or the suboptimal way? But in worrying like that – all that time we spend worrying - someone else is just going to spend learning the thing. In learning a new skill, the only bad choice you can make is really just doing nothing."* — Vaughn Gene, on this week's freeCodeCamp podcast