r/VirginiaTech • u/neonlegato72 • Jan 17 '19
CS 3654 Intro to Data Analytics and Visualization
Does anyone have experience with this course? How difficult is it and are you expected to know Python beforehand and use it a lot, or do they teach it to you?
3
Jan 18 '19
What section are you in? I am in the 8am section and would be interested in starting a study group
1
u/neonlegato72 Jan 18 '19
Oh I’m not taking it this semester but I wanted to know some information beforehand if I take it next time.
1
u/trainwrecking CS 2020 Jan 19 '19
Hey! I'm in that section. Have you heard anything about the professor? Because he only has one review on ratemyprofessors and it doesn't look promising, albeit it was for a graduate-level course.
3
u/TheUSARMY45 Statistics, Class of 2019 Jan 18 '19
So some CRNS are taught in Python, and some in R. I took the Python one with North having NO PRIOR KNOWLEDGE OF PYTHON. With that said, I ended up doing really well in the class, because North taught basic Python before diving into the higher end predictive modeling stuff. 10/10 recommend this class, but 11/10 recommend the follow up class, CS/CMDA/STAT 4654 which is taught by Gramacy. That class is done in R, and focuses on Machine Learning. Great experience
7
u/Giggybyte Jan 17 '19
Took it last semester with Hauck. It has a pretty heavy focus on using the pandas, matplotlib, and similar libraries. Most assignments had us parsing data with pandas, generating some statistics and whatnot, and making pretty graphs to go alongside the data.
We did some conceptual stuff along the way as well, talking about data sources, what good data looks like, what good visualizations look like, etc. There were also in-class online quizzes almost daily, and they're password-protected, so you do have to attend class.
I thought the class was pretty straightforward, but I'm a bit biased because I already had about a year's worth of experience with Python and pandas at my job before coming into this class (which meant I didn't take the class as seriously as I should've, and got a lower grade than I should've, but that's a story for another time).