Data Science & Engineering

ECE 204 (formerly ECE 379)
University of Wisconsin–Madison

Instructor: Laurent Lessard

A hands-on introduction to Data Science using the Python programming language. The course is intended for Freshmen and Sophomores of any major that have limited prior experience in computer programming or data science. The course teaches how to think about data-centric problems in a computational way. Given data from real-world phenomena, students will learn to describe, analyze, and make predictions. To this effect, the course will also introduce programming in Python, which is the most widely used programming language in the data science industry. Topics covered include: how to import, manipulate, summarize, and visualize data of various types, how to perform descriptive analyses such as clustering and principal component analysis, how to perform predictive analyses such as classification and regression, and notions of bias, fairness, and ethics in data science.

Prerequisites: There are no prerequisites for this course. We will provide you with the tools you need and teach you how to use them. Most importantly, we will equip you with the knowledge and ability to continue using what you’ve learned long after you complete the class and for the rest of your career as a student and beyond.

IMPORTANT: The materials below are from Fall 2019-20, which was the last time Prof. Lessard taught this course. More recent offerings of the course might use different notes/materials.


Course material About the class Resources