Project 0: Introduction

Background

We will complete six projects during the class that each take about four days of class. The average student will take 2 hours per class for a total of 8 hours each project to complete the readings, submit any Canvas items, and complete the project. Each project will be structured into sections like this page. This section will provide some context to the project. Make sure you read the background carefully to see the big picture needs and purpose of the project.

During our first two days of class we need to get VS Code prepped for data science programming.

Data

Every data science project should start with data. We will keep to this model for our six projects. Each project will have links after the two items below.

Download: mpg data
Information: Data description

Readings

This section will have links to the readings that you will need to complete the projects. Remember that we are reading this material to build skills. Reading to read will waste your time. Take the time to comprehend the readings and the skills contained within. We recommend that you read through the readings for a general understanding once before the first day of that project’s class. You will reread and reference the readings multiple times as you complete the projects. Those readings that are meant for a reference during the project are included under Optional References. You will see bulleted links to the required readings.

The readings listed below are required for the first two days of class.

Optional References

Grand Questions

This section will list the main objectives for the project. You will need to submit your projects in Canvas by the weekend following the last class day for that project.

  1. Finish the readings and come to class prepared with any questions to get your environment working smoothly.
  2. In VS Code, write a python script to create the example Altair chart from section 3.2.2 of the textbook (part of the assigned readings). Note that you have to type chart to see the Altair chart after you create it. Save your Altair chart as a .png image. This image will be inserted into your final pdf report.
  3. Your final report should also include the markdown table created from the following code. (Assuming you have mpg from Question 2.)
print(mpg
  .head(5)
  .filter(["manufacturer", "model","year", "hwy"])
  .to_markdown(index=False))

Deliverables

This section will be the same for all projects except Project 6. You will be expected to submit a PDF report created using Markdown within VS Code. We will finish Project 0 together in class to give you practice making reports.

Use the provided template to submit your case study. The template has three sections:

  1. A short summary that describes the results of the project and the tools you used. (Think “elevator pitch”.)
  2. Answers to the grand questions. Each answer should include a written description of your results, and may also include charts or tables.
  3. An appendix that provides your commented code. Your code comments should justify any decisions you had to make while programming.

Updated on 15 Sep 2020