Harvard Professor: CS50, What Matters More Than CS, Lecturing Well | David J Malan
Harvard Professor: CS50, What Matters More Than CS, Lecturing Well | David J Malan ย 
Podcast: The Peterman Pod
Published On: Mon May 11 2026
Description: David Malan is a Harvard professor known for turning CS50 into a popular online computer science course. We discussed the story behind CS50, how to lecture well, and how AI is changing CS education including in cheating/academic dishonesty.โ€ข My ergonomic keyboard project I mentioned, you can follow along here: https://read.compose.llc/๐—ฃ๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฐ๐—ฎ๐˜€๐˜ ๐—น๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ธ๐˜€:โ€ข YouTube: https://youtu.be/bB2o81DnKHkโ€ข Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-peterman-pod/id1777363835โ€ข Transcript: https://www.developing.dev/p/harvard-professor-cs50-what-matters๐—ง๐—ต๐—ฎ๐—ป๐—ธ ๐˜†๐—ผ๐˜‚ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ'๐˜€ ๐˜€๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ป๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜€ ๐—ณ๐—ผ๐—ฟ ๐˜€๐˜‚๐—ฝ๐—ฝ๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐˜๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ด ๐—บ๐˜† ๐˜„๐—ผ๐—ฟ๐—ธ:โ€ข Cursor 3: a unified workspace for building software with agents, check it out at https://cursor.com/โ€ข WorkOS: makes your app Enterprise Ready with easy to use APIs to add SSO, SCIM, RBAC, and more in just a few lines of code, check them out at https://workos.com/๐—ง๐—ถ๐—บ๐—ฒ๐˜€๐˜๐—ฎ๐—บ๐—ฝ๐˜€:0:00 - Intro1:09 - Getting into computer science3:27 - Becoming the professor of CS5011:19 - How to lecture well14:25 - Depth vs engagement in education18:11 - Why don't we consolidate educational resources23:20 - Why start with C31:51 - The ideal use of AI in education34:54 - Cheating and AI38:21 - Should we really learn CS still?45:24 - College vs online education47:06 - The most difficult concept to learn51:00 - Growth vs fixed mindset52:35 - The future of CS5055:56 - Biggest career regret1:00:29 - Top book recommendations1:02:36 - Advice for his younger self1:03:35 - Outro๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐——๐—ฎ๐˜ƒ๐—ถ๐—ฑ:โ€ข Personal website: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/โ€ข Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dmalanโ€ข Github: https://github.com/dmalanโ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidjmalan/โ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/malan/โ€ข Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/user/davidjmalan/โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/davidjmalanโ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@davidjmalan๐—ช๐—ต๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ ๐˜๐—ผ ๐—ณ๐—ถ๐—ป๐—ฑ ๐—ฅ๐˜†๐—ฎ๐—ป:โ€ข Newsletter: https://www.developing.dev/โ€ข X/Twitter: https://x.com/ryanlpetermanโ€ข LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanlpeterman/โ€ข Threads: https://www.threads.com/@ryanlpetermanโ€ข Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ryanlpetermanโ€ข TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@ryanlpeterman๐—ฅ๐—ฒ๐—ณ๐—ฒ๐—ฟ๐—ฒ๐—ป๐—ฐ๐—ฒ๐—ฑ ๐—ถ๐—ป ๐˜๐—ต๐—ถ๐˜€ ๐—ฒ๐—ฝ๐—ถ๐˜€๐—ผ๐—ฑ๐—ฒ:โ€ข His first program for CS50: https://x.com/davidjmalan/status/1432538424590929920โ€ข Paper about CS50 improvements: https://cs.harvard.edu/malan/publications/fp310-malan.pdfโ€ข Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hitchhiker%27s_Guide_to_the_Galaxyโ€ข How Computers Work book (not affiliate link): https://www.amazon.com/How-Computers-Work-Evolution-Technology/dp/078974984X