Added setup

Author: dabeaz

Notes/00_Setup.md

@@ -0,0 +1,75 @@
+# Course Setup and Overview
+
+Welcome to Practical Python Programming!
+
+## Setup and Python Installation
+
+You need nothing more than a basic Python 3.6 installation or newer.
+There is no dependency on any particular operating system, editor,
+IDE, or extra Python-related tooling.  There are no third-party
+dependencies.
+
+That said, most of this course involves learning how to write scripts
+and small programs that involve data read from files.  Therefore, you
+need to make sure you're in an environment where you can easily work
+with files.  This includes using an editor to create Python programs
+and being able to run those programs from the shell/terminal.
+
+You might be inclined to work on this course using a more interactive
+environment such as Jupyter Notebooks. **I DO NOT ADVISE THIS!**
+Although notebooks are great for experimentation, many of the
+exercises in this course teach concepts related to program
+organization.  This includes working with functions, modules, import
+statements, and refactoring of programs whose source code spans
+multiple files.  In my experience, it is hard to replicate this kind
+of working environment in notebooks.
+
+## Forking/Cloning the Course Repository
+
+To prepare your environment for the course, I recommend creating your
+own fork of the course GitHub repo at
+[https://github.com/dabeaz-course/practical-python](https://github.com/dabeaz-course/practical-python).
+Once you are done, you can clone it to your local machine:
+
+```
+bash % git clone https://github.com/yourname/practical-python
+bash % cd practical-python
+bash %
+```
+
+Do all of your work within the `practical-python/` directory.  If you
+commit your solution code back to your fork of the repository, it will
+keep all of your code together in one place and you'll have a nice
+historical record of your work when you're done.
+
+If you don't want to create a personal fork or don't have a GitHub account,
+you can still clone the course directory to your machine:
+
+```
+bash % git clone https://github.com/dabeaz-course/practical-python
+bash % cd practical-python
+bash %
+```
+
+With this option, you just won't be able to commit code changes except
+to the local copy on your machine.
+
+## File Layout
+
+Do all of your coding work in the `Work/` directory.   Within that directory, 
+there is a `Data/` directory.  The `Data/` directory contains a variety of
+datafiles and other scripts used during the course. You will frequently have
+to access files in `Data/`.  Course exercises are written with the assumption
+that you are creating programs in the `Work/` directory.
+
+## Solutions
+
+The `Solutions/` directory contains full solution code to selected exercises.
+Feel free to look at this if you need a hint.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+

Notes/Contents.md

@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ Python 3.6 or newer and time--especially the latter.
 
 ## Table of Contents
 
+* [0. Course Setup (READ FIRST!)](00_Setup)
 * [1. Introduction to Python](01_Introduction/00_Overview)
 * [2. Working with Data](02_Working_with_data/00_Overview)
 * [3. Program Organization](03_Program_organization/00_Overview)