[GH-ISSUE #322] Student Feedback - Chapter 6 #1363

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GiteaMirror · 2026-04-11T07:45:20-05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 07:45:20 -05:00

Originally created by @jasonjabbour on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024).
Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/issues/322

Originally assigned to: @jasonjabbour on GitHub.

Chapter Six - AI Frameworks

The first thing we wanted to mention here (but applies to whole textbook!) is that, while this is an interactive textbook, a lot of students are still going to download PDFs and export the file to Goodnotes/Notability for note-taking. It would be good to ensure that the textbook supports this functionality -- we noticed that some of the text seems to disappear/become too light when you download the PDF.
Another thing we noticed (but again applies to the whole textbook) is that there is a sense of incoherency from section to section or chapter to chapter. The tone and style shifts noticeably between authors, and the chapters don't seem to build on each other. For instance, the concept of layers (6.4.2 Graph Definition) has already been defined in Chapter 3, but feels redefined here. The same goes for synthetically-expanded datasets (6.4.4 Data Augmentation) and loss functions (6.4.5 Optimization Algorithms).
There is a lot of text in this section. Our first suggestion is to pare it down a bit; things began feeling a bit repetitive (especially between 6.8 Examples and 6.9 Choosing the Right Framework), and some things just felt like they could've been excluded from the chapter (like 6.7 Embedded AI Frameworks). Adding in images and graphs could also help space out the text a bit.
After reading 6.4.1 Tensor Data Structures, we felt like we understood what a tensor is, but not how it is used. We would love more detail on that.

Machine Learning Systems - 6 AI Frameworks.pdf

Originally posted by @sgiannuzzi39 in https://github.com/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/discussions/256#discussioncomment-9755325

Originally created by @jasonjabbour on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024). Original GitHub issue: https://github.com/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/issues/322 Originally assigned to: @jasonjabbour on GitHub. **Chapter Six - AI Frameworks** - The first thing we wanted to mention here (but applies to whole textbook!) is that, while this is an interactive textbook, a lot of students are still going to download PDFs and export the file to Goodnotes/Notability for note-taking. It would be good to ensure that the textbook supports this functionality -- we noticed that some of the text seems to disappear/become too light when you download the PDF. - Another thing we noticed (but again applies to the whole textbook) is that there is a sense of incoherency from section to section or chapter to chapter. The tone and style shifts noticeably between authors, and the chapters don't seem to build on each other. For instance, the concept of layers (**6.4.2 Graph Definition**) has already been defined in Chapter 3, but feels redefined here. The same goes for synthetically-expanded datasets (**6.4.4 Data Augmentation**) and loss functions (**6.4.5 Optimization Algorithms**). - There is a lot of text in this section. Our first suggestion is to pare it down a bit; things began feeling a bit repetitive (especially between **6.8 Examples** and **6.9 Choosing the Right Framework**), and some things just felt like they could've been excluded from the chapter (like **6.7 Embedded AI Frameworks**). Adding in images and graphs could also help space out the text a bit. - After reading **6.4.1 Tensor Data Structures,** we felt like we understood what a tensor is, but not how it is used. We would love more detail on that. [Machine Learning Systems - 6 AI Frameworks.pdf](https://github.com/user-attachments/files/15809340/Machine.Learning.Systems.-.6.AI.Frameworks.pdf) _Originally posted by @sgiannuzzi39 in https://github.com/harvard-edge/cs249r_book/discussions/256#discussioncomment-9755325_

GiteaMirror added the area: book type: improvement labels 2026-04-11 07:45:20 -05:00

GiteaMirror closed this issue

2026-04-11 07:45:21 -05:00

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 07:45:22 -05:00

@jasonjabbour commented on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024):

Look into PDF conversion issues.
Adjust tone and style to be more consistent between sections
Remove repetition of concepts between sections.
Provide better explanation and motivation for Tensor Data Structures

@jasonjabbour commented on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024): - [ ] Look into PDF conversion issues. - [x] Adjust tone and style to be more consistent between sections - [x] Remove repetition of concepts between sections. - [x] Provide better explanation and motivation for Tensor Data Structures

GiteaMirror commented

2026-04-11 07:45:24 -05:00

@jasonjabbour commented on GitHub (Jul 31, 2024):