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DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2020/2021

Information in the Degree Programme Tables may still be subject to change in response to Covid-19

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences : Language Sciences

Undergraduate Course: Computer Programming for Speech and Language Processing (LASC10079)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences CollegeCollege of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course introduces the concept of computer programming and the Python programming language. It focuses on how to think about solving problems in ways that can be addressed algorithmically, with examples relevant to speech and language.

It combines well with the honours-level courses Speech Processing and/or Speech Synthesis and is particularly well-suited to be taken concurrently with, or in the year before, Speech Processing.

It will be co-taught with the 10-credit postgraduate version of this course and shares lectures, labs sessions and assessments with that course.
Course description This course introduces fundamentals of programming using the programming language Python. It is designed for students interested in using computational tools for research in natural language processing and speech synthesis.
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Students MUST have passed: LEL2B: Phonetic Analysis and Empirical Methods (LASC08018)
Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Students MUST NOT also be taking Computer Programming for Speech and Language Processing (LASC11096) OR Informatics 1 - Functional Programming (INFR08013) OR Informatics 1 - Object-Oriented Programming (INFR08014)
Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesVisiting students should have completed at least 3 Linguistics/Language Sciences courses at grade B or above. We will only consider University/College level courses.
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Not being delivered
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. Understand the basic principles of computer programming
  2. Be familiar with the basics of Python programming language
  3. Be able to address problems from a computational perspective
  4. Write programs to manipulate, reorganise and process speech and text in non-trivial ways
  5. Review and critique computer code written by others
Reading List
The course is mostly self-contained and provides the required materials. The suggested textbooks are:
Beginning Python From Novice to Professional, (Second Edition) Magnus
Lie Hetland, Apress (~£20)
- probably the best introduction for a beginner
Learning Python (4th edition), (~£22) Mark Lutz & David Ascher, O'Reilly
- probably the best introduction for someone with some programming experience
Python Pocket Reference, Mark Lutz, O'Reilly
- very useful reference
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
Additional Class Delivery Information Whole class sessions
Block1-week 1; Block2-week2; Block2-week6: ONE x 2hr lecture
Wednesdays 13.10-15.00

Each student will be in one lab group. For each lab group:
Block1-week 1; Block2-week2; Block2-week6: ONE x 2hr lab session
For six other weeks of semester 1: TWO x 2hr lab sessions
(using of 9 of the 11 available weeks of teaching, as is standard)
With the current class size, the class will divide into two lab groups, requiring a total of FOUR x 2hr lab bookings, at the following times:
Mondays 13:10-15:00 (except Block1-week 1; Block2-week2; Block2-week6)
Wednesdays 13.10-15.00 (except Block1-week 1; Block2-week2; Block2-week6)
Thursdays 11:10-13:00 (every week)
Fridays 11:10-13:00 (every week)
KeywordsNot entered
Contacts
Course organiserDr Korin Richmond
Tel: (0131 6)51 1769
Email: Korin.Richmond@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Lynne Robertson
Tel: (0131 6)50 9870
Email: Lynne.Robertson@ed.ac.uk
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