Python Resources

Python is an extremely popular programming language. While programming is a skill that takes time to learn (like any other practical skill), the syntax of Python is relatively easy to learn. There are many, many tutorials and other resources available online. Here are a few:

• Coursera course Fundamentals of Computing (Parts 1-4)
• Interactive Python tutorial at codeacademy.com
• Interactive Python tutorial at learnpython.org
• The official Python Tutorial
• The official Python Documentation (for Python 3)
• or just google for “python tutorial” and pick one that you like

The following Python concepts should be clear to you by mid-November: data types (including lists and dictionaries); control structures (if, for, etc.); functions; and how to use modules and classes (not necessarily how to create your own).

We are going to use the NLTK library, which implements a number of algorithms and data structures for computational linguistics so you won’t have to. You can find a tutorial on NLTK in the NLTK book.