Hi Tim, thanks so much for the positive response and your well wishes! I welcome feedback on the book from anyone, either here on the list or sent directly to me ([email protected]).
And my offer stands: If there are any Core Contributors (maintainers, contributor experience, etc) who would like a paperback copy, I would truly be delighted to send you one! It’s very low-cost for me to ship an author copy to any of these countries: US, UK, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, Ireland, Japan, Canada, Australia. Best, Kevin On Mar 12, 2026 at 11:57:30 AM, Tim Head via scikit-learn < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi Kevin, > > In a crazy way: this is good news! I was worried that you had talked to > lots of users and they all told you "we are stuck with 0.23 because ...". > That would have meant a lot of work for the scikit-learn maintaienrs. > > If it is "just" because writing a book and getting it shipped is a boat > load of work, then that is good news (for the scikit-learn maintainers). > > Good luck with the book!! I'll keep reading (not just the intro section) > > T > > On Thu, 12 Mar 2026 at 15:47, Kevin Markham <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Hi Tim, >> >> That's a great question. Thank you for asking and giving me the >> opportunity to explain! >> >> The book actually began as a video course, which I started working on in >> 2020. I locked down most of the code examples that year (using 0.23.2), and >> thought I would be able to publish the course in 2021. >> >> However, the script writing and recording and editing took far longer >> than expected, plus there were long breaks while I worked on other >> projects, and ultimately I was not able to publish the course until 2024. >> Many scikit-learn updates had occurred by the time I was recording the >> later chapters, but I couldn't afford (time-wise) to re-record and re-edit >> the earlier chapters. I felt it was critical that the course used one >> consistent scikit-learn version, so it remained at 0.23.2. >> >> Because I received such great feedback about the video course, I decided >> (in 2025) to convert the course into a book. Even though Quarto did much of >> the heavy lifting, it still took hundreds of hours to turn 7.5 hours of >> video into a published book with four formats (website, EPUB, ebook PDF, >> print-ready PDF). >> >> I would have loved to update the scikit-learn version (and incorporate >> newer features) while writing, but I knew that if I committed to updating >> the content (rather than just adapting it from video to text), the book >> would never get done. >> >> I do assume that readers of the book will be using a much more modern >> version of scikit-learn, and in fact 98% of the code in the book is still >> correct today. For the last 2%, I mention the relevant API changes within >> the text. >> >> In short, the decision to use 0.23.2 is a legacy of the process I took to >> get here, not a strategic choice, and I'd much rather have used the latest >> version! I'm deeply grateful for the work that continues to go into >> scikit-learn development, and I continue to personally benefit from the >> latest changes. >> >> Ultimately this book is a passion project, and I expect to make very >> little money from it. But I sincerely hope that I can find the passion (and >> time!) to publish a second edition that incorporates the latest features! >> >> Thanks again, >> Kevin >> >> >> On Mar 12, 2026 at 3:11:12 AM, Tim Head via scikit-learn < >> [email protected]> wrote: >> >>> Hi Kevin, >>> >>> out of interest, how did you decide to use scikit-learn v0.23 in the >>> book? I was surprised by that because it is a fairly old version. Lots of >>> effort has gone into scikit-learn since then, so understanding why people >>> choose (or are forced to?) use such old versions would be useful. >>> >>> T >>> >>> On Wed, 11 Mar 2026 at 22:38, Kevin Markham <[email protected]> wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Thomas, >>>> >>>> Thank you so much for your suggestion! I’d love to include that (and >>>> many of the other newer features) in a future edition of the book, assuming >>>> there’s enough interest! >>>> >>>> Best, >>>> Kevin >>>> >>>> >>>> On Mar 11, 2026 at 3:33:31 PM, Thomas Fan via scikit-learn < >>>> [email protected]> wrote: >>>> >>>>> Thank you for sharing! >>>>> >>>>> In the “Tuning the decision threshold” section, scikit-learn now has a >>>>> TunedThresholdClassifierCV! >>>>> It could be worthwhile to include in the second edition. 😆 >>>>> >>>>> 3.3. Tuning the decision threshold for class prediction >>>>> <https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/classification_threshold.html#tunedthresholdclassifiercv> >>>>> scikit-learn.org >>>>> <https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/classification_threshold.html#tunedthresholdclassifiercv> >>>>> [image: favicon.ico] >>>>> <https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/classification_threshold.html#tunedthresholdclassifiercv> >>>>> <https://scikit-learn.org/stable/modules/classification_threshold.html#tunedthresholdclassifiercv> >>>>> >>>>> Best, >>>>> Thomas >>>>> >>>>> On Mar 11, 2026, at 10:30 AM, Kevin Markham <[email protected]> >>>>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> Hello scikit-learn community! >>>>> >>>>> Last week I published a new book called “Master Machine Learning with >>>>> scikit-learn”, and as my gift to the community, I’ve made it free to read >>>>> online (with no ads and no registration required): >>>>> >>>>> https://mlbook.dataschool.io >>>>> >>>>> I designed it to be a “practitioner’s handbook" for the effective use >>>>> of scikit-learn, covering many practical topics that I’ve not seen covered >>>>> elsewhere. I hope that it fills a useful role in the ecosystem of >>>>> scikit-learn educational resources, and perhaps even plays a tiny role in >>>>> ensuring the long-term success of the library. (I’ve already heard from >>>>> two >>>>> teachers who would like to use the book in their classrooms, which is >>>>> great >>>>> news!) >>>>> >>>>> If you're a current or former Core Contributor, I would be honored to >>>>> send you a free paperback copy as a token of my appreciation. Just reply >>>>> to >>>>> me (not the list!) with your mailing address and I’ll ship you a copy from >>>>> Amazon. (It’s already available in a dozen countries, and I’m actively >>>>> working to expand distribution elsewhere.) >>>>> >>>>> Thanks! >>>>> Kevin >>>>> >>>>> P.S. In case you’re curious, I used Quarto to output the book website, >>>>> ebook (PDF and EPUB), and paperback from a single set of source files. >>>>> Quarto is amazing!!! >>>>> >>>>> Kevin Markham >>>>> Founder, Data School >>>>> ML book on Amazon: https://geni.us/MasterML >>>>> Data Science courses: https://courses.dataschool.io >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] >>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org >>>>> Member address: [email protected] >>>>> >>>>> _______________________________________________ >>>>> scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] >>>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org >>>>> Member address: [email protected] >>>>> >>>> _______________________________________________ >>>> scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] >>>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>>> https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org >>>> Member address: [email protected] >>>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] >>> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >>> https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org >>> Member address: [email protected] >>> >> _______________________________________________ >> scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] >> To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] >> https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org >> Member address: [email protected] >> > _______________________________________________ > scikit-learn mailing list -- [email protected] > To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] > https://mail.python.org/mailman3//lists/scikit-learn.python.org > Member address: [email protected] >
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