Question

hey m a new student here, needs some help in downloading this course material

Answer 1

You don't necessarily have to download the course material. If you have a good internet connection, then you can access everything on-line. You do need to install Python on your computer, which is explained here:

http://python.org/download/

Make sure you install version 2.7.2 instead of 3.2.2 because the class uses some version of 2.6. There are differences between the two that will get confusing.

Answer 2

Some of the later problem sets have you download and install other python packages, too (numpy, matplotlib, etc.). But the course materials are from 2008, which in computer time is ancient history. There are newer versions of the packages that you should install, and if you install python 2.7.2 (which you SHOULD do) then you should NOT use the versions of these other packages that the problem sets link to. Do a google search for newer versions of the packages to use with 2.7.2. If that sounds too hard, and you actually make it to those problem sets, ask here for help and someone will surely point you in the right direction.

I watch the lectures online, but I downloaded all the problem set files before starting anything (manually, file-by-file). I put each problem set's files (pdf, py, txt, etc.) in a directory for just that problem set. It might also make sense to make a separate directory for each lecture's handouts.