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Yes, it really distracted away from the core lessons of that course.

I disagree. I felt the language was very simple and easy to learn, and after the first exercise it was natural to use. Considering the course was very mathematical, the language was a perfect choice.

My impression was that the language was "too natural". I mean Octave notation is so similar to mathematical notation that many exercises could be solved by just typing a formula from lecture almost 1:1. Plus, learning Python and things like NumPy or Pandas would be beneficial on its own rights.

I mean, there's not much difference between NumPy and MATLAB/Octave.

For example, check out https://docs.scipy.org/doc/numpy-dev/user/numpy-for-matlab-u...

Also, IMO the implementation is not the core focus of the course. The key ideas are in the equations, and hopefully implementing them helps you understand the intuition behind those equations.

I disagree as well. I took the ML course a long time ago and now I can't remember anything about Octave but still remember those key ideas and algorithms taught in the course. That's the point.

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