Your course dashboard¶
Tip
I recommend bookmarking this page as your go-to when you visit the site!
Key links:
Warning
To get class announcements, you must get on the Github org’s “classmates” team! Follow the set up steps here.
(Announcements will NOT be made on Coursesite.)
Upcoming Task Deadlines¶
Tasks in black should be completed BEFORE the 10:45am class starts.
| Due By | Task |
|---|---|
| Feb 02 | ASGN 1 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 04 | Code Practice: 3.1.3 |
| Feb 04 | Reading: Start 3.1 and 3.2 |
| Feb 06 | Please complete check-in survey :) |
| Feb 06 | Exercises: 3.2.8 |
| Feb 06 | Reading: Finish all within 3.1 and 3.2 |
| Feb 05 | ASGN 1 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 11 | Reading: 3.3.1-3.3.4 |
| Feb 09 | ASGN 2 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 13 | Reading: Finish all of 3.3 |
| Feb 12 | ASGN 2 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 16 | ASGN 3 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 18 | Reading: 3.4.1 and subparts |
| Feb 20 | Reading: 3.4.2 - 3.4.4 |
| Feb 19 | ASGN 3 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 23 | ASGN 4 due at 8pm EST |
Upcoming Classes¶
| Date | Class |
|---|---|
| Feb 04 | Numpy and Pandas; Peer Eval Guidance |
| Feb 06 | Pandas EDA (exploratory data analysis) |
| Feb 11 | Visual EDA |
| Feb 13 | Visual EDA |
| Feb 18 | Merging and wrangling |
| Feb 20 | Data wrangling outro |
Schedule Overview (Big picture)¶
| MODULE 1: MOTIVATION AND GETTING STARTED |
| install all programs |
| basics of Python (Jupyter Lab) and GitHub |
| debugging (YUCK) and the process of coding |
| project management and programming golden rules |
| -1 Assignment |
| MODULE 2: DATA EXPLORATION, CLEANING, AND ORGANIZATION |
| learn packages: numpy, pandas, seaborn, matplotlib |
| wrangling data with pandas |
| visualization (intro and best practices/tips) |
| playing with our first serious finance datasets |
| merging data |
| -3 Assignments |
| MODULE 3: DATA ON THE WEB |
| learn packages: requests_html, requests, bs4, urllib, re |
| click and download, API plug ins, custom API, and scraping |
| parsing and searching text |
| - 1 Project |
| MODULE 4: PREDICTION MODELS AND DATA ANALYSIS |
| learn packages: scikit-learn |
| keeping analysis methodology in analysis context |
| not just "do this", but "why are we doing this" |
| regressions - how to do > interpret > design > do |
| (un)supervised ML - how to do > interpret > design > do |
| -4 Assignments (last one is the contest) |
| -1 Group Project |
Full semester schedule¶
| Date | Task |
|---|---|
| Jan 21 | Motivation and startup, GitHub basics |
| Jan 23 | Using JupyterLab |
| Jan 28 | Python Basics |
| Jan 30 | More Python and best practices |
| Feb 02 | ASGN 1 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 04 | Numpy and Pandas; Peer Eval Guidance |
| Feb 06 | Pandas EDA (exploratory data analysis) |
| Feb 05 | ASGN 1 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 11 | Visual EDA |
| Feb 09 | ASGN 2 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 13 | Visual EDA |
| Feb 12 | ASGN 2 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 16 | ASGN 3 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 18 | Merging and wrangling |
| Feb 20 | Data wrangling outro |
| Feb 19 | ASGN 3 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 25 | Planning a large project, getting started |
| Feb 27 | Building a spider |
| Feb 23 | ASGN 4 due at 8pm EST |
| Feb 26 | ASGN 4 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Mar 04 | Introductory NLP |
| Mar 06 | Introductory NLP |
| Mar 11 | Spring Break |
| Mar 13 | Spring Break |
| Mar 18 | Intro to Modeling, Year of Learning theme |
| Mar 20 | Regression: Mechanics |
| Mar 21 | Midterm/ASGN5 due at 4pm EST |
| Mar 25 | Regression: Interpretation |
| Mar 23 | Midterm/ASGN5 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Mar 27 | Regression: Conclusions |
| Mar 30 | ASGN 6 due at 8pm EST |
| Apr 01 | Setting up a website to show off your work |
| Apr 03 | Intro to prediction modeling |
| Apr 02 | ASGN 6 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Apr 08 | Pipelines: Prediction modeling done right |
| Apr 10 | Pipelines continued |
| Apr 11 | Initial Project Proposals due at 4pm EST |
| Apr 15 | Optimizing pipelines |
| Apr 17 | Better predictions: Preprocessing |
| Apr 18 | Project Proposal Revisions due at 8pm EST |
| Apr 20 | ASGN 7 due at 8pm EST |
| Apr 22 | Discussion: recap, A7, A8, projects |
| Apr 23 | ASGN 7 Peer review due at 8pm EST |
| Apr 24 | A quick journey into The Future |
| Apr 29 | Project working groups |
| Apr 27 | ASGN 8 (Prediction contest) due at 5pm!!! |
| May 01 | Presentations, contest results, outro |
| May 01 | Project presentations |
| May 01 | Project websites due |
| May 02 | Project peer evals due at 11pm EST |
| May 02 | Personal website graded |
Completed Tasks¶
| Due By | Task |
|---|---|
| Jan 30 | (Optional) Do Chapter 2 (basic syntax) to 14 (modules) of Whirlwind of Python. Read and run code on your computer too. |
| Jan 30 | Reading: 2.1-2.8 |
| Jan 28 | Read "How to do assignments" |
| Jan 28 | Reading: 1.1-1.8 |
| Jan 28 | Finish the Jupyterlab exercises |
| Jan 23 | Finish all the set up tasks (1.2) |
| Jan 23 | Read the syllabus section on the site |
| Jan 23 | Complete the GitHub Exercises |
| Jan 23 | Invite Keisha (@keishamodi) and me (@donbowen) to your Class Notes repo |
| Jan 22 | Once I accept you into the organization, go to the GitHub discussion board,find the link to start the first assignment and click it! |
| Jan 21 | Create GitHub account |
| Jan 21 | Fill out this survey |
| Jan 21 | Click on the link in coursesite to join the class's GitHub organization |
Add the schedule to your Google Calendar¶
This is a good idea!
Step 1: Add Assignment Due Dates¶
Visit Google Calendar’s Add Calendar from URL page
Mac Calendar users: Open Calendar app → Go to File → New Calendar Subscription → Paste URL below → Adjust refresh frequency
Outlook users: Settings → Import calendar → From web → Paste URL below → Name and click import
Copy and paste this URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeDataSciFi/ledatascifi-2025/refs/heads/main/content/about/fin377_due_dates.icsClick “Add calendar”
Set up notifications for assignment due dates:
Find “FIN377 due dates” in your calendar list (left sidebar)
Click the three dots next to it and select “Settings”
Scroll to “Event notifications”
Recommended: Add notifications for “1 day before” and “1 hour before”
Optional: Under “Other notifications”, select “Email” for “New events” and “Changed events” to be notified when assignments are added or modified
Step 2: Add Tasks Calendar¶
Return to Add Calendar from URL page
Add this URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeDataSciFi/ledatascifi-2025/refs/heads/main/content/about/fin377_tasks.icsSet up notifications as desired for “Tasks due for FIN377” calendar
Step 3: Add Your Class Section¶
If you’re in the 12:10pm section:
Add this URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeDataSciFi/ledatascifi-2025/refs/heads/main/content/about/fin377_class1.ics
If you’re in the 1:35pm section:
Add this URL:
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/LeDataSciFi/ledatascifi-2025/refs/heads/main/content/about/fin377_class2.ics
Notes¶
The calendars will automatically update when changes are made
You can toggle calendars on/off using the checkboxes in the left sidebar if it clogs your calendar view
You can change the color of each calendar by clicking the colored circle next to the calendar name
You can not modify any events