veniversum/iaml2018

This repository contains the lab exercises and coursework materials for a university course called "Introductory Applied Machine Learning." It is designed for students at the University of Edinburgh, giving them everything they need to start learning practical machine learning using Python. The project itself is a collection of interactive Jupyter notebooks. These are documents that mix explanatory text with runnable code, allowing students to read a concept and immediately experiment with it. The README focuses on walking students through the setup process: installing a Python package manager called conda, creating an isolated software environment, and downloading the course materials. Once set up, students open the notebooks to work through the labs and assignments. The primary users are students enrolled in the course, as well as distance learners who want to follow along on their own computers. A concrete example of how this works is a student downloading the materials, opening the first notebook ("Lab 0: Introduction"), and running the provided code to learn the basics before moving on to more advanced topics. Distance learners must still submit their final assignments through the university's internal system. A notable aspect of this repository is its thorough, beginner-friendly approach to setup. The instructions assume the reader has little to no experience with command-line tools, carefully explaining concepts like software environments and system paths. It also includes extensive troubleshooting for common issues across different operating systems, particularly Windows. The README notes that Git is not taught as part of this course, so students can simply download a zip file of the materials if they are not familiar with version control.