5/2     I'm out of school. What's the best link to self learn stuff like
        k-means, clustering with gaussian mixtures, gaussian bayes,
        EXPECTATION MAXIMALIZATION, EM convergence, inference engine,
        classifier, desnity estimator, regressor, etc?
        \_ Start with wikipedia, follow links.
           \_ Uh, no. This is not the kind of stuff you can learn
              from wikipedia.
              \_ Take the first item.  K-means.  It described the basics
                 and had pretty informative links to outside sites.  Some
                 of those links have references to books to read/other places
                 to look.  Wikipedia is not a place to learn, but it's a
                 damn good place to start, esepecially for computer stuff.
                 The real answer is "find a highly recommended textbook,
                 buy it and read it." but you were clear about wanting
                 an online resource.
        \_ Go back to school and take a course or two. If you are going
           to put in the work you may as well get credit for it. Also,
           the structure and ability to ask for help are plusses.
           \_ What good is a course credit or two to someone who already has
              a long and successful career?  He wants to learn a few specific
              topics.  He should buy a book or find an online tutorial and
              read the parts that matter to him.  He may (or may not) stumble
              into other interesting things that would've been covered in a
              class and without the hassle of class.
              \_ Many Master's programs are only about 8 classes so 2
                 classes and you are already 25% of the way there. I know
                 lots of people with PhDs even who went back for an MS or
                 even more than one MS. Like I said, if you're going to
                 put in the work you may as well get the credit. Put
                 another way: Why *not* take classes? What's the advantage
                 to avoiding class other than cost, which may not be an
                 issue if work pays for it?
                 \_ Because learning a few specifics from a book/article is
                    a hell of a lot less effort than taking a class, doing
                    homework, being there at specific hours several days a
                    week, kissing some instructor's ass for the "A", paying
                    fees (poss. covered by work as you noted), having your
                    learning slowed down by the inevitable time wasting
                    morons in class, etc, etc.  If he wants to learn entirely
                    new branches of knowledge then sure take a class, but that
                    isn't what OP appears to be looking for.  I wouldn't
                    suggest someone take all of Math 1B if they only wanted
                    to learn Taylor's Series which can be learned in a few
                    hours at worst.  Some people are addicted to school, that's
                    fine, gather up all the dgrees on the planet if that's
                    your thing, other people just want to get work done.
           \_ I've learnt a hell of a lot post school without going back.
              Having a degree means you should know how to learn.  (Unless
              your problem is a lack of discipline.)
              \_ I didn't say you couldn't learn that way. I just don't
                 think it's the best way. Who do you ask for help when you
                 get stuck? Without exams how do you know that you really
                 "get it" or just think you do? Who helps you separate the
                 wheat from the chaff? I think every engineer or
                 programmer does a lot of self-learning. That's almost a
                 requirement. However, "knowing how to learn" isn't really
                 the issue here.