Hello, and welcome to NLP class!
Let's talk about the class itself for a bit first, so we can get that over with and then talk about NLP.
I'm Alex, and I'll be teaching the class. I'm not a professor, and I'm not a doctor yet, so it's just awkward if you call me either of those things. Just call me Alex.
A little bit about me: I'm a PhD student here; I work with Mike Gasser on translation. I've worked at Google on a few different things. I used to go to Georgia Tech. I speak Spanish. alexr@
We have a TA! Her name is Can Liu. She's in China right now, but she'll be back shortly. She also works on NLP; had a job at LexisNexis. liucan@
Go around the room really quick and say your name and one fun fact about yourself! I'll send out a survey very soon.
For this class, there will be some readings, and there will be some programming, and there will be some discussion. Probably most of the effort will be in programming, but I think that's a really good way to get a handle on an idea: once you get to the point where you can implement it, you probably understand it pretty well.
The textbook is listed on the webpage, it's Jurafsky and Martin, second edition! You should get one of these.
There may be some other readings, but those will be from things that are free online.
I want to have about one homework every two weeks; you'll usually have two weeks to do each one. There will typically be a "homework ping" due the week before the homework, just to encourage you to get started.
We'll default to Python 3 for the programming, and I'll usually give you some code to start with; your job will be to fill out the rest of the program. A few people asked about using other languages, and I mentioned that this would be OK. So if you want to do the class on HARD MODE, that's fine -- you can use some other language. If you do that, you should, for the homework ping, rebuild everything in the starter code with the other language. (you might do this if you're, for example, an incorrigible PL geek). But if you really feel like you need HARD MODE, I would recommend finding ways to go above and beyond with the NLP instead of using some exotic language. You're of course in no way obligated to do the class on HARD MODE. I'm just glad you're here.
Talk to me about how you're feeling! If things aren't going well, let me know; if you need more challenge, let me know!
Feel free to collaborate on the homeworks! But you should have typed all the bytes in the files that you turn in. Homeworks will be due an hour before class, so at 1:30pm. (so you can actually get to class, having submitted it)
10 floating Late Days. (idea taken shamelessly from: http://cs.jhu.edu/~jason/465/late-policy.html)
Please come to class.
Official policies will show up soon on the official webpage.
Email me. Email Can. Talk to your friends. Come to office hours. Come on IRC.
(Demo for how to get on IRC)