Prerequisites

The following skills are recommended to participate in the course.

1. Basic programming skills

   To complete the course, you will need basic programming skills. If you visited an introduction to programming course, you should be good to go. We don't want to bother with advanced programming concepts but get excited with NLP! So don't worry if you just started with programming.

2. Basic Python skills

   The code for this lecture is written in Python, so it is definetely an advantage if you have worked with Python before. However, if you are coming from a different langugage, you should be able to follow along. I tried to keep the language specific parts to a minimum and will provide explanations where necessary.

   Microsoft provides a nice beginner Python course that you can take to get up to speed.

3. Basic knowledge of the Linux command line

   Since the course is designed for a Linux development environment, it is recommended to have some basic skills with the Linux command line. However, all required commands will be provided in the instructions, so it is not necessary to have Linux command line skills. On Linux and Mac, the setup should work out of the box.

   If you are on Windows, it is recommended to use the Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL). Native Windows is not supported, but you should still be able to get everything running in an Anacoda environment.

4. Basic knowledge of Git

   The course material is hosted on GitHub pages and you can access it through the browser. As for the assignments, you will need to clone the repository and set up the development environment. Also since the course is still in development, you will need to pull the latest changes from time to time.