update

Author: andrewrosemberg

class01/class01.md

@@ -18,13 +18,53 @@ In this first class, we will introduce the course, outlining the topics that wil
 
 A few background materials have been selected to help you prepare for the course. Please review these resources before the first class:
 
-- **Git**: Familiarity with Git for version control is recommended. Students should be comfortable with basic Git commands and workflows. Go through the [Git Basics](./background_materials/git_adventure_guide.md) guide to get started.
+### **Git**: 
+Familiarity with Git for version control is recommended. Students should be comfortable with basic Git commands and workflows. Go through the [Git Basics](./background_materials/git_adventure_guide.md) guide to get started.
 
-- **Julia**: The course will use Julia for programming assignments and projects. If you are new to Julia, go through either or all of these resources until you feel comfortable with the language:
+### **Julia and Pluto**: 
+The course will use Julia for programming assignments and projects. If you are new to Julia, go through either or all of these resources until you feel comfortable with the language:
 
-    - [Julia for Beginners](https://juliaacademy.com/p/julia-for-beginners)
-    - [Parallel Computing and Scientific Machine Learning (SciML): Methods and Applications](https://book.sciml.ai/)
-    - [Julia ML Course](https://adrianhill.de/julia-ml-course/)
+- [Julia for Beginners](https://juliaacademy.com/p/julia-for-beginners)
+- [Parallel Computing and Scientific Machine Learning (SciML): Methods and Applications](https://book.sciml.ai/)
+- [Julia ML Course](https://adrianhill.de/julia-ml-course/)
 
+Julia is a high-level, general-purpose dynamic programming language, designed to be fast and productive, for e.g. data science, artificial intelligence, machine learning, modeling and simulation, most commonly used for numerical analysis and computational science.
 
+Pluto is a programming environment for _Julia_, designed to be **interactive** and **helpful**. Like Jupyter but with more features. [Some other Example Notebooks](https://featured.plutojl.org/)
+
+A few steps to get started with Julia and Pluto:
+
+#### Step 1: Install Julia 
+
+Go to https://julialang.org/downloads and download the current stable release, using the correct version for your operating system (Linux x86, Mac, Windows, etc).
+
+#### Step 2: Run Julia
+
+After installing, make sure that you can run Julia.
+
+#### Step 3: Install Pluto and other dependencies
+
+Just activate and instantiate the project environment (provided in the class folder):
+
+```julia
+using Pkg
+Pkg.activate("path/to/Class01_Folder")
+```
+
+`Project.toml` and `Manifest.toml` files are provided in the class folder, which will install all the necessary packages for this course at the correct versions.
+
+#### Step 4: Start Pluto
+
+```julia
+julia> using Pluto
+
+julia> Pluto.run()
+```
+
+#### Step 5: Opening an existing notebook file
+
+To run a local notebook file that you have not opened before, then you need to enter its full path (e.g. `path/to/basics_math.jl`) into the blue box in the main menu.
+
+### **Linear Algebra**: 
+We have prepared a basic (Pluto) [Linear Algebra Primer](./background_materials/basics_math.jl) to help you brush up on essential concepts. This primer covers key topics such as matrix operations, eigenvalues, and eigenvectors besides other fundamental calculus concepts. It is recommended to review this primer before the first class.