This class is designed to be used with R. R is free, available on almost every operating system (OS), and there are thousands of add-on packages to do almost anything you could ever want to do.
R is a very popular language that has been used in different environments. Therefore, it is relative easy to find answers for your questions on Google (I constantly google codes when I am stuck with a problem). Stack Overflow is a great place to find solutions for your questions or even just google your question by adding the letter R in the end. According to my buddy Alex Cardazzi, the hardest part about programming is knowing what and how to google.
That is it - You now can run any code in R on your computer!!!
If you do not have any experience using R, PLEASE work through the first section (chapters 1-8) of R for Data Science by Garrett Grolemund and Hadley Wickham. It will help you to have a better understanding of the software. Additionally, feel free to read the whole book to improve your coding skills.
I would love if could read the first section before the semester starts !! However, I cannot force anyone to work during Summer, so take this as friendly advice from your favorite professor Alex
We will be using the book by Rob J Hyndman and George Athanasopoulos, Forecasting: Principles and Practice, 3rd edition as the main book for this class. The online version is free, and I highly suggest you to use the online version instead of the print version because the authors constantly update the examples.
Additionally, we will be using a secondary book to cover some theoretical topics by Francis X. Diebold, Forecasting in Economics, Business, Finance and Beyond.
Since we will be using some introductory statistics, please check the book by Hanck et al 2021, Introduction to Econometrics with R (Ch 2 and 3) to fresh up your memory.