1 Machines that read and write: A natural language processing overview

 

This chapter covers

  • The power of human language
  • How natural language processing is changing society
  • The kinds of NLP tasks that machines can now do well
  • Why unleashing the NLP genie is profitable … and dangerous
  • How to start building a simple chatbot
  • How NLP technology is programming itself and making itself smarter

Words are powerful. Words can change minds, and they can change the world. To harness the power of words, you need to understand how natural language processing (NLP) works and how you can make it work for you. Recent advancements in NLP have precipitated a technology explosion in almost every aspect of society and business. This chapter will open your eyes to the power of NLP and help you identify ways to employ it in your work and your life.

1.1 Programming languages vs. NLP

1.1.1 Natural language understanding

1.1.2 Natural language generation

1.1.3 Plumbing it all together for positive-impact AI

1.2 The magic of natural language

1.2.1 Language and thought

1.2.2 Machines that converse

1.2.3 The math

1.3 Applications

1.3.1 Processing programming languages with NLP

1.4 Language through a computer’s “eyes”

1.4.1 The language of locks

1.4.2 Regular expressions

1.5 Building a simple chatbot

1.5.1 Keyword-based greeting recognizer

1.5.2 Pattern-based intent recognition

1.5.3 Another way to recognize greetings

1.6 A brief overflight of hyperspace

1.7 Word order and grammar

1.8 A chatbot natural language pipeline

1.9 Processing in depth

1.10 Natural language IQ