GSB 544: Data Science and Machine Learning with Python

Author

Kelly Bodwin and Hunter Glanz

Published

September 1, 2023

Preface

This text was created for the Cal Poly course “GSB 544: Data Science and Machine Learning with Python” by Dr. Kelly Bodwin and Dr. Hunter Glanz. Some parts of the material and text are borrowed from Dr. Emily Robinson’s R course and Dr. Dennis Sun’s python course

This text is not meant to be a complete course or textbook by itself; rather, think of it as “long-form” class slides. We will summarize the main concepts in each chapter, show you examples, point you to more in-depth readings from outside sources, and ask you to try out short tasks in python as you go.

How to Use This Text

Warning

Watch out sections contain things you may want to look out for - common errors, etc.

Example

Example sections contain code and other information. Don’t skip them!

Note

Note sections contain clarification points (anywhere I would normally say “note that ….). Make sure to read them to avoid any common pitfalls or misconceptions.

Required Reading

Consider these sections to be required readings. This is where we will direct you to existing materials to explain or introduce a concept.

Required Video

Similarly, consider these sections to be required viewing for the course material.

Check In

Check-in sections contain small tasks that you need to do throughout the reading, to practice or prepare. Although they are not graded, please treat them as required!

Practice Activity

Each chapter will have a longer practice exercise to complete and turn in. These are intended to be done with help from instructors and peers.

Learn More

Consider these to be optional readings/viewings. The world of python programming has so many interesting tidbits, we can’t possibly teach them all - but we want to share them with you nonetheless!

We will usually make these “click to expand” so that they don’t distract from your reading.

Just our opinion...

These are personal opinion comments from the authors. Take them with a grain of salt; we aren’t the only python programmers worth listening to, we are just sharing what has worked for us.

We will usually make these “click to expand” so that they don’t distract from your reading.

Additional Resources

References or additional readings may come from the following texts:

For extra practice with python programming, we recommend the DataQuest interactive tutorials or working through some lessons on Python for Everybody.