What is Natural Language Processing?

Time for some pre-class reading. This is a newer book on Python and NLP. The AI course I took was in 2010. I expect some things have happened in this field since then!

Deep learning and machine learning … has revolutionized the topic that I wish to discuss … NLP

This is new. Where I last left off in 2010, NLP was all symbolic type stuff. Prolog comes to mind.

For those who have experience in machine learning and deep learning, NLP is one of the most exciting areas for individuals to apply their skills.

Not sure I’ve caught the vision for it just yet. Wearables & AI is much more exciting IMO.

Why is language processing the one area where CS folks want to do things naturally? I mean, in areas related to UI design, building ‘humane interfaces’ is left to the Human Factors crowd. I’m happy about the ‘natural’ in NLP, but why not a similar amount of effort and interest also in NUI or N Gesture-based interfaces.

single-layer perceptrons

Ah, yes the perceptron. I remember this little oddity.

Moving forward to the second half of the twentieth century, NLP starts to bifurcate into two distinct groups of thought: 1) those who support a symbolic approach to language modeling, and 2) those who support a stochastic approach.

I’m so far more familiar with the first crowd. Language seems to be something made of up of rules so why do you need something stochastic?

ML would be best done in places where you don’t know the rules, production rules, or formulas.

Unless, you concerned with creating language processing that is really natural; because we all know that people don’t walk around with grammars in their head, they do walk around with something like a perceptron in their head.

My 4-year old just walked into my office since they “have nothing to do”. I got up from my chair here and she starting spinning it. I caught the chair mid-spin before the back swung around and hit her in the face. I explained the chair isn’t symmetrical, and not to spin the chair. This got me thinking how natural solutions are not always obvious or formulaic. Maybe there is something to this ML / perceptron thing.


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