The Top 5 Machine Learning Libraries in Python (Udemy.com)
A Gentle Introduction to the Top Python Libraries used in Applied Machine Learning
Created by: Mike West
Last updated April 2025
Our take
Based on the ratings of 4,607 students, a sample of their written reviews and the syllabus, as the course stood in April 2025. No course pays to be reviewed.
This is a free, 100-minute primer on the five Python libraries most beginners meet first in machine learning: pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn, matplotlib and NLTK. Mike West spends the first half hour on vocabulary and the supervised modeling process, then gives each library a short section of three to six lectures. With around 114,000 students and 4,600 reviews, it has a big audience for something this short. It suits people who have heard the library names and want to know what each one does before committing to one of the long bootcamps it sits beside on our machine learning page.
Reviewers like the clear, easy-to-follow explanations and say the terminology section clears up most of the early confusion. Several call the delivery engaging and appreciate getting materials to try the code while watching; the syllabus promises the fully annotated Jupyter notebook. The complaints are consistent. Three-star reviewers say it's a brush-up rather than a lesson, and that nobody could build a model from this alone. One-star reviews call it boring or say the instructor jumps between topics instead of teaching one library properly. One reviewer says the volume could be higher, and the closing bonus lecture is a pitch for the instructor's paid course.
At zero cost and under two hours, there's little risk here. Treat it as an orientation, not a tutorial. It was last updated in April 2025, so the material isn't stale, but there are no coding exercises, only six quizzes and eleven articles. If you want to write real models, the Python for Data Science and Machine Learning Bootcamp or Machine Learning A-Z next to it go far deeper. Watch this first if you aren't sure which of those to buy.
Pros
- Free and only 100 minutes long, so it fits in a single evening
- Opening terminology section that reviewers say clears up most of the early confusion
- Annotated Jupyter notebook included so students can run the code while watching
- Refreshed in April 2025, unusual for a free course first published in 2017
Cons
- Surface level only; three-star reviewers say nobody could build a model from this alone
- Some reviewers say it jumps between topics rather than teaching one library properly
- No coding exercises, and the final bonus lecture is a pitch for the paid course
The lecture is short and precise but covers the most common libraries of Python for beginners and/or those who wants to quickly refresh their Data Science skills.
Stated as beginner and it is; no Python required, though a little Python makes the notebook much easier to follow.
What you will learn
- You'll receive the completely annotated Jupyter Notebook used in the course.
- You'll be able to define and give examples of the top libraries in Python used to build real world predictive models.
- You will be able to create models with the most powerful language for machine learning there is.
- You'll understand the supervised predictive modeling process and learn the core vernacular at a high level.
Course content
6 sections · 32 lectures · 1.7 hours of video 6 quizzes, 11 articles
- 1Introduction 1 free preview9 lectures · 1 quiz · 31 min
- 2Pandas5 lectures · 1 quiz · 19 min
- 3NumPy4 lectures · 1 quiz · 12 min
- 4SciKit-Learn6 lectures · 1 quiz · 14 min
- 5matplotlib3 lectures · 1 quiz · 9 min
- 6NLTK5 lectures · 1 quiz · 14 min
Who it is for
The instructor says it suits
- If you're looking to learn machine learning then this course is for you.
What you need before you start
- There are no prerequisites however knowledge of Python will be helpful.
- A familiarity with the concepts of machine learning would be helpful but aren't necessary.
Course Description
Recent Review from Similar Course:
"This was one of the most useful classes I have taken in a long time. Very specific, real-world examples. It covered several instances of 'what is happening', 'what it means' and 'how you fix it'. I was impressed." Steve
Welcome to The Top 5 Machine Learning Libraries in Python. This is an introductory course on the process of building supervised machine learning models and then using libraries in a computer programming language called Python.
What’s the top career in the world? Doctor? Lawyer? Teacher? Nope. None of those.
The top career in the world is the data scientist. Great. What’s a data scientist?
The area of study which involves extracting knowledge from data is called Data Science and people practicing in this field are called as Data Scientists.
Business generate a huge amount of data. The data has tremendous value but there so much of it where do you begin to look for value that is actionable? That’s where the data scientist comes in. The job of the data scientist is to create predictive models that can find hidden patterns in data that will give the business a competitive advantage in their space.
Don’t I need a PhD? Nope. Some data scientists do have PhDs but it’s not a requirement. A similar career to that of the data scientist is the machine learning engineer.
A machine learning engineer is a person who builds predictive models, scores them and then puts them into production so that others in the company can consume or use their model. They are usually skilled programmers that have a solid background in data mining or other data related professions and they have learned predictive modeling.
In the course we are going to take a look at what machine learning engineers do. We are going to learn about the process of building supervised predictive models and build several using the most widely used programming language for machine learning. Python. There are literally hundreds of libraries we can import into Python that are machine learning related.
A library is simply a group of code that lives outside the core language. We “import it” into our work space when we need to use its functionality. We can mix and match these libraries like Lego blocks.
Thanks for your interest in the The Top 5 Machine Learning Libraries in Python and we will see you in the course.
Instructor Details
- 4.6 Rating
4,607 Reviews
Mike West
I'm the founder of LogikBot. I've worked at Microsoft and Uber. I helped design courses for Microsoft's Data Science Certifications. If you're interested in machine learning, I can help.
I've worked with databases for over two decades. I've worked for or consulted with over 50 different companies as a full time employee or consultant. Fortune 500 as well as several small to mid-size companies. Some include: Georgia Pacific, SunTrust, Reed Construction Data, Building Systems Design, NetCertainty, The Home Shopping Network, SwingVote, Atlanta Gas and Light and Northrup Grumman.
Over the last five years I've transitioned to the exciting world of applied machine learning. I'm excited to show you what I've learned and help you move into one of the single most important fields in this space.
Experience, education and passion
I learn something almost every day. I work with insanely smart people. I'm a voracious learner of all things SQL Server and I'm passionate about sharing what I've learned. My area of concentration is performance tuning. SQL Server is like an exotic sports car, it will run just fine in anyone's hands but put it in the hands of skilled tuner and it will perform like a race car.
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Reviews
By Varun Joshi on 4/9/2019
This is awesome! The concepts related to various libraries that are majorly used in machine learning are explained in very easy way! Though the course is a high level one, it covers the basic aspects which one must know for getting into ML. Overall, liked the course and it encouraged to explore the ML libraries in more depth!
By Jeff YANG on 11/20/2018
Thanks Mike - I like the structure of this course. It's hard to put all of these in such short course as well as to make sure student can pick up efficiently and get covered in main libraries in machine learning. And the code as samples are clean and clear, straight-forward. Love this course. Will recommend it to my friends. Thanks again.
By Jay Perez on 6/10/2018
It got me to understand Python machine learning libraries better. The exercises helped me alot to navigate through Jupyter Notebook, to save my work and to retrieve them for later use. In the future I will take more courses from this instructor, he is very knowledgeable with the teaching material.
By Shalin Bhavsar on 1/19/2018
If you are starting to learn machine learning and dont known where to start this is a good course .You can select whichever lib u want to use and go ahead. As this is just an introduction course you won't find it very much interesting .The tutor is great.We get to learn some simple easy function of each library here.Go as this course is free try it no harm in that. P.S-To the course tutor ,Sir please give some details on where to use this in industrial level work.Add some projects too.Thank you.
By Marcus Noel on 10/28/2017
I'm coming from an extensive SQL Analytics background and have been working for approx 6 months on adding Python as a skillset for Data Science. I was already familiar with Pandas, Numpy, & Matplotlib. Mr. West provided a valuable high level overview of Scikit-learn and NLTK and how those packages complement the other packages in the Python Open Source Machine Learning Framework. This course provided a good frame of reference for going deeper into Machine Learning.
By Soumya Mahata on 8/23/2017
All over the course is excellent. Helped me lot in understanding the basic things about python libraries used for ML. Self-assignment on some real life problem could help us to have a clear understanding in learning how to approach towards a problem in ML way. Deeper explanation of the codes (like whats happening inside) written for Iris Data set was missing.
By Abhilekh Chaudhari on 8/20/2017
If you are a complete beginner to machine learning and python, this course is a very good start. The course did provide a brief knowledge about these libraries and it also introduces you to the work machine learning engineer's do which might prove beneficial to get you started with data science career.
By Timthy John Ellsworth on 7/2/2017
This was a create course for learning machine learning libraries in Python. I didn't have much experience with python or machine learning. I found the explanations to be very simple and easy to follow while getting the important information cross. I liked how the lectures were brief and to the point. The instructor was helpful with getting me setup on Anaconda and the exercises reinforced the material.
By Karli on 5/30/2017
I would have liked a bit more information/clarity in real time. For example, when typing a method, tell me that is what it is instead of having to learn that later. Otherwise, I found this course informative even though I have no idea of how or if I'd apply any of it. After all I'm a beginner taking a beginners course.
By Franz Pouchet on 5/24/2017
Very clear explanations. Very good mix of audio and visual learning tools. Very well paced. I loved the user experience and Mike;s relaxed yet thorough way of explaining things. It was even good to see him make the same mistakes we all make when typing code. It was brilliant Mike, can't wait to do your other courses.
Quality Score
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Overall Score : 92 / 100











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