Computational Linguistics & Phonetics Computational Linguistics & Phonetics Fachrichtung 4.7 Universität des Saarlandes

Formalities

Every computational linguistics BSc student must participate in one software project. In the current study regulations, the project is worth 12 credit points; the rules for earlier versions of the study regulations may differ. Coli MSc students don't need to participate in a software project, but you can attend this course for 8 credit points. Other students are welcome, but should see me beforehand so we can sort out what kind of certificate you would get.

A software project is the single most valuable class, in terms of credit points, of the entire BSc curriculum: 12 credit points are 33% more than "Programming I". I assume that your weekly workload will reflect this. During the lecture phase of the course, I will assign some reading material each week, and would very much appreciate -- in your own interest -- that you read it so we can discuss the material in class during and after the lecture. When the second part of the semester starts, you will need to figure out how to work on your project regularly enough that you can finish in time. I will help you with this; a software project is a place where you learn how to deal with a nontrivial programming project, in a team. But ultimately, it is your responsibility to ensure that your project succeeds.

In addition to the programming, I will require each student in the class to give a short talk about their project. In each team, one student will present the project goals to the rest of the class in November; one student will present the finished project to the rest of the class in February; and one student will present the finished project in public (this means whoever in the department is interested) after the end of the semester, in March or so. I will also ask each student to write a seminar paper about some part of the code that their team produced. This will ensure that every student participated actively in the project, and allow me to assign individual grades to students. The final grade will be composed of 50% project work, 30% seminar paper, and 20% talk.

The software project is primarily a BSc course, and so by default will be taught in German. If MSc students attend who don't speak German, we will switch to English. This website is in English just in case.