Class Setup

Sketch Notebook

Like… an actual physical notebook with paper and some pens. This will be needed for notes, sketches and drawings during class and for sketching out ideas and prototypes for projects and assignments. If you’re already using a digital notebook app on a tablet… that’s also fine.

Git and Github

Sign-up for a free github account and add your name to your profile (video).

I recommend creating an organization for keeping this course’s materials separate from other repositories or materials you might want to add to your account (video).

Download and install GitHub Desktop. This is the easiest way to install and setup git, specially on Windows computers (video). (Feel free to skip this if you already have git installed or you are comfortable using the command line interface).

Python

The easiest way to get started is to use Google Colab notebooks online.

OTHERWISE, if running locally, install conda to manage python versions and packages:

IDE (if running locally)

VSCode and the following extensions are useful if running on a local computer:

Feel free to use other IDEs/text editors. VSCode is nice because it makes it easy to work with git and Jupyter notebooks.