I’m in dire straits - very little programming experience except some academic loose theory. I cannot even get past the 1st assignment, the first of 10. Don’t even know if my code is on track or not, just get SyntaxErrors. I really am, lost.
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Sorry to hear that. I am not a mentor for that course (anything in M4ML), but note that all the courses here that involve python programming are not “intro to python” courses. You need to know python at least to a reasonable level of competence before you start. They will in some cases explain things that might be new like the numpy library for doing linear algebra, but you need to be a python programmer already.
If this is literally your first exposure to any kind of actual python programming, then you should really consider taking an introductory python course first before starting here.
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Thank you for the reply, Paul,
Not that your reply helps me at all…
The course description clearly states the it is for beginners.
I’ve done 22 courses in a variety of academic areas, with great success. I am disappointed, however, about this one, as it is misleading. I have expected course material that would steer students in the right direction, seeing that “beginners” clearly is attached to the requirements.
So, you actually expect of me to stop the course, just like stopping to lick a lolly, and then return many weeks later to redo it? No, not acceptable to me. I’ve always been a fervent advocate in favour of Coursera, but I am disappointed. I can sense in the quality of the videos also, that there is something amiss, even if I just mention the English pronunciation of some lecturers. I found myself repeating the videos again and again, just to catch what is said.
Anyway… as the note burnt out on skin against Hatchet Jack’s body said in Robert Redford’s “Jeremiah Johnson” -
“I, Hatchet Jack, being of sound mind and broke legs, do leaveth my bear rifle to whoever finds it. Lord giveth it be a white man. It is a good rifle, and kilt the bear that kilt me. Anyway, I am dead.
Signed. Hatchet Jack.” [Or something similar.]
Thank you.
Beyers Serfontein
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I haven’t read all of your response because of the odd scrolling behavior of the way you formatted it, but I get the point.
Well, the course is a “beginner” course from the point of view of Machine Learning, meaning that you do not need any previous exposure to ML concepts. But it requires that you be a python programmer with at least moderate competence. In general they seem to be hesitant to be too clear about prerequisites, because they seem to feel this will scare people away and perhaps limit their subscriptions. I personally think this is a mistake on their part precisely because it leads to the type of situation in which you find yourself very dissatisfied because of mistaken expectations.
Please note that I do not work for Coursera and I do not work for DeepLearning.AI. The mentors are simply fellow students who volunteer to help people on the forums. We don’t get paid to do this. That is how the business model works here: if you are only paying the equivalent of $50US/month, they can’t afford to actually pay anyone to support the courses in the manner that a real university would (e.g. actual TAs with office hours). So I can tell you how things are, but it was not my choice to make them as they are. And I do not have the power to change them. If you don’t like the way things are, you’ll need to find someone in a position of authority to further explore your complaints.
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The other way to proceed here would be to post a thread asking a specific question about a specific problem in one of the assignments that you are having trouble with. The hope would be that would then be noticed by one of the mentors who actively support the M4ML Specialization. There are a number of them who are active in supporting the students here.
But as I mentioned, the best way to get help is to ask a specific question rather than just saying “I’m in dire straits”. Before you give up and go off in a huff, it would at least be worth trying that and seeing whether that can get you beyond these initial hurdles and help you understand what it will take to succeed here.
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OK, I’ll do that… but I accidentally pushed the button to enroll for Course 3, so I’m thinking… same old same old? Same trouble with the other courses, C1 & C2?
Think I’ll ask Coursera to put me on hold for C3, and then first do Python. Don’t know if I’ll succeed, because more and more there are less avenues to talk to someone at Coursera, officially. Too big, the organization. I’ve tried, nobody answered on the flag. Was different, decade or so ago. [More work for you as super mentor… uhhh… unpaid.]
Talk later – thank you.
P.S. Since 1991 I’ve been on Apple Mac, and now Apple has been withdrawing support for older clients (actually older devices), so I sent them to blazes. Got a Windows laptop, but I’m howling like a wolf every day, with this crap of Bill Gate & Co. on my desk. Think I’m getting too old for this era!
Greetings.
Beyers
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Yes, I’ve been a Mac user since the hammer got thrown through Big Brother’s screen in January 1984. I’ve had to use Windows for work occasionally and I feel your pain. 
It was probably not a good choice to start with C3 of M4ML. In a Specialization, they usually design things with the assumption that you’ll start at the beginning. So you would have gotten a gentler introduction to how the assignments are structured and all that.
But the bigger question is what your goals are here. If you’re new to Machine Learning and want to find out about that, I’d recommend starting with the Machine Learning Specialization. That is taught by Prof Andrew Ng and he is the master teacher here. Of course there you will also need to know python to start with.
The only reason to take M4ML first is if you are not familiar with basic Linear Algebra. But since you started with M4ML C3, I’m assuming you already know Linear Algebra. You don’t need anything as sophisticated as eigenvalues, but if you know what an eigenvalue is, then you’re golden on that. You need to understand matrix multiplication and operations like transpose. Matrix multiply is not commutative, right? If you understand that point, you’re good for MLS from a math standpoint.
Then after MLS, take DLS.
But for both python competence is required. If you have solid experience in other languages like JavaScript, C# or C++, then you can “wing it” and learn python on the fly. But if you’ve never done programming on a daily basis, then you really need to take a basic python course first.
Cheers,
Paul
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OK, I’ll do that… but I accidentally pushed the button to enroll for Course 3, so I’m thinking… same old same old? Same trouble with the other courses, C1 & C2?
Think I’ll ask Coursera to put me on hold for C3, and then first do Python. Don’t know if I’ll succeed, because more and more there are less avenues to talk to someone at Coursera, officially. Too big, the organization. I’ve tried, nobody answered on the flag. Was different, decade or so ago. [More work for you as super mentor… uhhh… unpaid.]
Talk later – thank you.
P.S. Since 1991 I’ve been on Apple Mac, and now Apple has been withdrawing support for older clients (actually older devices), so I sent them to blazes. Got a Windows laptop, but I’m howling like a wolf every day, with this crap of Bill Gate & Co. on my desk. Think I’m getting too old for this era!
Greetings.
Beyers
1 Like
OK, I’ll do that… but I accidentally pushed the button to enroll for Course 3, so I’m thinking… same old same old? Same trouble with the other courses, C1 & C2?
Think I’ll ask Coursera to put me on hold for C3, and then first do Python. Don’t know if I’ll succeed, because more and more there are less avenues to talk to someone at Coursera, officially. Too big, the organization. I’ve tried, nobody answered on the flag. Was different, decade or so ago. [More work for you as super mentor… uhhh… unpaid.]
Talk later – thank you.
P.S. Since 1991 I’ve been on Apple Mac, and now Apple has been withdrawing support for older clients (actually older devices), so I sent them to blazes. Got a Windows laptop, but I’m howling like a wolf every day, with this crap of Bill Gate & Co. on my desk. Think I’m getting too old for this era!
Greetings.
Beyers
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What course are you asking about? It might be a better idea to create a new thread with a title that is specific to the assignment that you are asking about.