Computational Ling Adv Python

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This course presents topics in Natural Language Processing (NLP) and Python programming. The goal of this class is to explore techniques in NLP, with a strong emphasis on hands-on instruction that progressively matures basic Python users into expert Python developers. We will examine topics such as text classification, model evaluation, machine translation, and distributed representations. Throughout the semester, students will select and read a book on AI ethics to motivate discussions on the social impact of modern NLP technologies. Applications include authorship identification, retrieval, and textual similarity, to name a few. About half of the total class time is devoted to addressing an essential but often neglected piece in software development education: moving from typical data science programming workflows (such as writing basic scripts) to developing sophisticated Python projects. In other words, students will learn to design professional-grade software that they and others will be proud to contribute to together. Programming topics are explored in great depth, including Python best practices, object-oriented design, project structuring, and more. This class will give students the skills they need to contribute to the professional software repositories they work with already and even develop their own.