This repository contains solutions to assignments of the Reinforcement Learning (RL) course I took at IIT Madras during Jan-May (2020). I created this repo primarily with the intention of helping out students like me from non-CS backgrounds who registered for the course due to fascination for AI.

RL is probably one of the most hyped up courses in insti. But it does live up to the expectations. Few universities in India, or as a matter of fact, even in US offer this course. Prof. Ravindran has cherry picked the material including recent advances in the field, and not to mention, his style of teaching is a class apart. Many people drop this course after midsem thinking they're going to end up with a bad grade due to low score. But what they don't realize is that assignments contribute to a huge chunk course of the course (~70%) and so if all the assignnments are done properly, B or even an A should be easy. Also, if you're looking to apply in the field of computational and data sciences, it is definitely a good course to have on your transcript. In gen, If you're into AI, or like computing in general, go for it.

Make it a habit to spend few hours weekly in order to get a good grasp of the concepts. Remember, marks are a reflection of how well you have understood the material, not the vice-versa.

There are NPTEL videos for the course posted on YouTube. Watching videos on relevant topics before each class will make life easier and save a lot of your time, helping you avoid going through them multiple times before the exam.

Regarding the programming assignments, always write up code from sratch, on your own. It'll be tempting to look at the solutions of others, but if you do so at the start, you'll most likely end up copying the entire code which might get you a penalty for plagiarism. So, be careful and refer to the codes provided only if you're stuck somewhere or don't know where to start.

You might have to read some research papers for solving the written assignments. It'll be quite irritating at first, but as you grind more and more, you'll become comfortable at it. After finishing this course, you'll have the confidence and the drive to take up courses solely based on interests without worrying about the difficulty level.

ALL THE BEST! EMBRACE THE LEARNING