February 24, 2026
Git gud, purple links, AI drama
The Missing Semester of Your CS Education – Revised for 2026
Finally, the class that teaches what everyone actually uses—plus a dash of AI chaos
TLDR: MIT’s “Missing Semester” returns for 2026, teaching shell, Git, packaging, and weaving AI into every lecture. Comments praise the practical focus, demand even more AI, and chuckle over purple links—proof that learning real-world tools (not just theory) is what saves time and careers.
MIT’s fan-favorite “Missing Semester” is back for 2026, promising to teach the tools students actually use: the shell, command-line, powerful text editors, version control (hello Git), packaging, and even Agentic Coding (their buzzword-y way of weaving AI into every lecture). Videos land on YouTube and chat explodes in the OSSU Discord.
The vibe? A mix of relieved cheers and spicy side-eyes. One commenter crowned it “the most important course,” while another said their uni’s version remains “one of the most useful” years later. The loudest applause goes to version control: Hendrikto calls it “such a shame that almost no CS program teaches” it, and you can feel the collective trauma of messy commit histories and “feature is done” dumps. Translation armies are already rallying across languages, flexing global hype.
Then comes the AI plot twist. The instructors refuse a standalone AI lecture and instead bake tools into every session. qsort approves, arguing it deserves even more space—so long as it doesn’t replace fundamentals. Old‑school purists clutch pearls, pragmatists cheer, and everyone laughs at badc0ffee’s UI roast about those purple links looking already clicked. On Hacker News, it’s classic: tool nerds vs. AI optimists, with jokes, snark, and GIF energy.
Key Points
- •MIT’s Missing Semester course for IAP 2026 teaches practical CS tooling, integrating AI topics across lectures rather than via a standalone session.
- •The schedule runs Jan 12–23, 2026 with sessions on shell, command-line environment, development tools, version control and Git, packaging/shipping code, agentic coding, beyond the code, and code quality.
- •Lecture videos are available on YouTube.
- •Learners can discuss the course on the OSSU Discord using designated channels; the class is co-taught by Anish, Jon, and Jose, with questions directed to missing-semester@mit.edu.
- •The course is shared beyond MIT via posts on multiple platforms and offers community translations in many languages, noted as unvetted; contributors can submit pull requests to add new translations.